Creativity in Pi(-ku)

Check out several pi-inspired, modified haikus about creativity, written by members of my "Creativity + Social Change" course at the University of Connecticut this week -- in celebration of Pi Day. And don't forget to leave YOUR creativity in pi-ku in the comments below! [18 March 2011 - Creativity + Social Change]

 

A-Ha! The Neural Mechanisms Of Insight

Although it is quite common for a brief, unique experience to become part of our long-term memory, the underlying brain mechanisms associated with this type of learning are not well understood. Now, a new brain-imaging study looks at the neural activity associated with a specific type of rapid learning, insight. The research, published by Cell Press in the March 10 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals specific brain activity that occurs during an "A-ha!" moment that may help encode the new information in long-term memory. "In daily life, information that results from moments of insight is, almost by definition, incorporated in long-term memory: once we have realized a new way to solve a problem, or to perform a task better and faster, we are not likely to forget that insight easily," explains senior study author, Dr. Nava Rubin, from the Center for Neural Science at New York University. "We were interested in determining the neural basis of this long-lasting nature of insight." [9 March 2011 - Neuron/Cell Press via redOrbit - More]

Berenice "Bee" Bleedorn -- Celebrating and Remembering a Great Educator, Philosopher, Humanist, Artist

To my fellow creative dreamers,

This morning I received word that we have lost one of The Great Ones in the creativity field. My dear friend -- our dear friend -- Berenice "Bee" D. Bahr Bleedorn has died. She was my friend and mentor and inspiration and colleague and teacher who got me into the creativity field 20 years ago this fall at the University of St. Thomas. Her passing leaves a (w)hole in the world. When Bee's 2005 book came out, the "book warming" invitation had a poem on it that was written for her by a Metropolitan State University student in the early 1970s. It really states the impact of Bee on us, and the way we should continue to always see the creative potential in others:

SEED WOMAN
By Kathleen Kuehnast

Seed Woman
Sower of human potentials,
Like a chemist
You experiment with possibilities
And mix together the unordinary
Until it becomes extraordinary.

We will always need in this world
Flowers and roots, seeds and ground,
and a sower -- whether it be the wind
Or you.

For those of you on Facebook, several comments have been left. Please add your thoughts, if you would like.

It looks like the funeral will be Tuesday afternoon at St. Joan of Arc in Richfield, Minnesota. Bee's daughters will confirm this on Friday. A full obituary will be in the papers on Sunday. You can also add comments to the online legacy in the Star Tribune obituary listing.

FRIENDS, please plan to come and join us to celebrate Bee's life with us ... most likely after the funeral on Tuesday. Please share this information and invitation with others, and we will update you with the specifics in the next day or so.

With a heavy heart, filled with gratitude for the 20 years of knowing Bee ...

Steve Dahlberg
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
http://www.appliedimagination.org/

# # #



On Purpose, Learning and Strengths

“(Teaching) children is vastly more than fixing what is wrong with them. It is about identifying and nurturing their strongest qualities, what they own and are best at, and helping them find niches in which they can best live out their strengths.” -- Martin E.P. Seligman

“If you don’t recognize a young man’s will for meaning, you make him worse, you make him dull, you make him frustrated, you still add and contribute to his frustration … there must be a spark, a search for meaning. Let’s recognize this, let’s presuppose it and then you will elicit it from him and make him become in principle what he is capable of becoming.” “If you take man as he really is, you make him worse. But if we seem to be idealists in our overestimating, overrating man and looking at him that high … you know what happens? We promote him to what he really can be.” -- Victor Frankl

(h/t David A. Weisberg)

Creativity Book - Cult-ure: Ideas Can Be Dangerous

Check out this new book by Rian Hughes ... visually appealing ... imagination provoking ... creativity inspiring. Read it and view it to challenge yourself and learn something new.

The Seven Deadly Sins That Choke Out Innovation

Even companies serious about innovation can fall victim to their own, well-meaning creative process.In most companies, there's a profound tension between the right-brainers (for lack of a better term) espousing design, design thinking and user-centered approaches to innovation and the left-brained, more spreadsheet-minded among us. Most C-suites are dominated by the latter, all of whom are big fans of nice neat processes and who pay good money to get them implemented rigorously. So often, the innovation process is treated as a simple, neat little machine. Put in a little cash and install the right process, and six months later, out pops your new game-changing innovation -- just like toast, right from the toaster. But that, of course, is wrong. [9 February 2011 - Co.Design - More]

Oliver Sacks says: This Year, Change Your Mind

... One does not have to be blind or deaf to tap into the brain’s mysterious and extraordinary power to learn, adapt and grow. I have seen hundreds of patients with various deficits -- strokes, Parkinson’s and even dementia -- learn to do things in new ways, whether consciously or unconsciously, to work around those deficits. That the brain is capable of such radical adaptation raises deep questions. To what extent are we shaped by, and to what degree do we shape, our own brains? And can the brain’s ability to change be harnessed to give us greater cognitive powers? The experiences of many people suggest that it can. ... Neuroplasticity — the brain’s capacity to create new pathways — is a crucial part of recovery for anyone who loses a sense or a cognitive or motor ability. But it can also be part of everyday life for all of us. While it is often true that learning is easier in childhood, neuroscientists now know that the brain does not stop growing, even in our later years. Every time we practice an old skill or learn a new one, existing neural connections are strengthened and, over time, neurons create more connections to other neurons. Even new nerve cells can be generated. ... Whether it is by learning a new language, traveling to a new place, developing a passion for beekeeping or simply thinking about an old problem in a new way, all of us can find ways to stimulate our brains to grow, in the coming year and those to follow. Just as physical activity is essential to maintaining a healthy body, challenging one’s brain, keeping it active, engaged, flexible and playful, is not only fun. It is essential to cognitive fitness. [31 December 2010 - New York Times - By Oliver Sacks - More]

How Aha! Really Happens

The theory of intelligent memory suggests that companies relying on conventional creativity tools -- such as brainstorming, where people are encouraged to turn off their analytical left brain and turn on their creative right brain to produce new ideas -- are getting shortchanged. [4 January 2011 - strategy+business - By William Duggan - More]

The Role of Beauty in Community Satisfaction - Richard Florida

"Beautiful Places: The Role of Perceived Aesthetic Beauty in Community
Satisfaction"
Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick
This research uses a large survey sample of individuals across United States locations to examine the effects of beauty and aesthetics on community satisfaction. The paper conducts these estimations by ordinary least-squares, ordered logit, and multinomial logit. The findings confirm that beauty is significantly associated with community satisfaction. Other significant factors include economic security, schools, and social interaction. Further, community-level factors are significantly more important than individual demographic characteristics in explaining community satisfaction. [3 January 2011 - Creative Class - More]

11 of the Best Innovation 2010 Essays - Fast Company

Here at Co.Design, we pride ourselves on being a house of many mansions. To that end, we’ve spent the past several months sharing the perspectives of some of the finest experts working in design, from Bruce Nussbaum on the dangers of design imperialism to Gadi Amit on what’s wrong with American design schools (hint: everything). We might not agree with all the opinions, but we’re totally convinced that the dialogue about design is richer because of them. What follows is a collection of the most popular -- and occasionally controversial -- columns of 2010. [4 January 2011 - Fast Company's Co.Design - More]

A Positive Mood Allows Your Brain to Think More Creatively

People who watch funny videos on the internet at work aren't necessarily wasting time. They may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science--putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively.

"Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem solving and flexible yet careful thinking," says Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario. She and colleagues Rahel Rabi and John Paul Minda carried out a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. For this study, Nadler and her colleagues looked at a particular kind of learning that is improved by creative thinking.

Students who took part in the study were put into different moods and then given a category learning task to do (they learned to classify sets of pictures with visually complex patterns). The researchers manipulated mood with help from music clips and video clips; first, they tried several out to find out what made people happiest and saddest. The happiest music was a peppy Mozart piece, and the happiest video was of a laughing baby. The researchers then used these in the experiment, along with sad music and video (a piece of music from Schindler's List and a news report about an earthquake) and a piece of music and a video that didn't affect mood. After listening to the music and watching the video, people had to try to learn to recognize a pattern.

Happy volunteers were better at learning a rule to classify the patterns than sad or neutral volunteers. "If you have a project where you want to think innovatively, or you have a problem to carefully consider, being in a positive mood can help you to do that," Nadler says. And music is an easy way to get into a good mood. Everyone has a different type of music that works for them--don't feel like you have to switch to Mozart, she says.

Nadler also thinks this may be a reason why people like to watch funny videos at work. “I think people are unconsciously trying to put themselves in a positive mood”--so that apparent time-wasting may actually be good news for employers. [15 December 2010 - Association for Psychological Science - More]

WSJ: What Makes Kids Creative

Researchers believe growth in the time kids spend on computers and watching TV, plus a trend in schools toward rote learning and standardized testing, are crowding out the less structured activities that foster creativity. Mark Runco, a professor of creative studies and gifted education at the University of Georgia, says students have as much creative potential as ever, but he would give U.S. elementary, middle and high schools "a 'D' at best" on encouraging them. "We're doing a very poor job, especially before college, with recognizing and supporting creativity," he says. Many parents are stepping into the breach by nurturing their kids' creative skills. They are challenging them to generate new ideas or encouraging them to notice problems in the world around them and research possible solutions. By tolerating "wrong" answers or allowing their children to live in a fantasy world for a while, parents can put off the emphasis on skill-building and achievement, researchers say. ... Some parents are signing their children up for programs designed to foster creativity. One such program, Destination ImagiNation. ... Similar programs include Odyssey of the Mind, and Future Problem-Solving Program International. ... Parents also need to refrain from judging kids' ideas, even if they seem crazy or naive. ... It is best to avoid paying too much attention to the outcome of kids' creative efforts, says Dr. Kaufman, the professor. "The more emphasis put on the final product—'It's so beautiful I'm going to frame it and tell my friends about it,' " he says, the greater is "the risk that the kid is going to do pictures for the praise, and not for the enjoyment." Instead, emphasize effort over results. ... Raising a creative child can be taxing. Such kids tend to have above-average "spontaneity, boldness, courage, freedom and expressiveness," Dr. Kim says. So they sometimes behave like little anarchists. [15 December 2010 - Wall Street Journal - More]

Pure Genius [... It Doesn't Come From the Classroom]

In the popular imagination, geniuses are a breed apart. They are capable of insights or artistic creations that no amount of training and effort could produce in mere ordinary folk. You can squander your genius or fail to fulfil it but, ultimately, you either have it at birth or you don't. Four new books about genius all interrogate this powerful myth. At the very least, they show that the soil in which genius grows matters at least as much as the seed, which is why particular cultures produce particular types of genius at particular times in history. This is the implicit message of Peter Watson’s The German Genius and Robert Uhlig’s Genius of Britain, which look at collective as well as individual brilliance. In Sudden Genius? Andrew Robinson goes further in undermining the myths of genius, suggesting that virtually none of the common-sense ideas we have about it stack up. And in The Genius in All of Us, David Shenk claims the idea that genius is dispensed at birth is still based on discredited genetics. ... All four authors converge, however, on two trends common to genius. The first, most apparent in Uhlig and Watson’s books, is that the minds of geniuses almost always first form themselves outside the confines of formal, standard education. The best education money can buy may be good for most but for true, original creativity, it is more of a hindrance than a help. Einstein was not the under-achiever of legend at school but his autodidactic pursuits were more important for his intellectual development and he only came into his own in private study. The second condition of genius is that it does not emerge without tremendous effort. Robinson describes this in terms of the “ten-year rule”, an idea which Malcolm Gladwell popularised in Outliers: The Story of Success. To achieve something truly outstanding requires about 10 years of regular and extensive work and practice. [10 December 2010 - Financial Times - More]

Why Google’s "20 Percent Time" Isn't Stemming Its Brain Drain

The time and space Google gives engineers to work on their own projects used to be the key to luring in PhDs and other brilliant minds. The recent talent exodus suggests it's no longer enough. ... All of which begs the question: Can a company get so large that innovative incentives, like 20 percent time, simply aren’t enough to hold on to the kinds of pioneering, entrepreneurial employees who are the key to helping companies remain on the cutting edge? [29 November 2010 - Fast Company - More]

Reconnecting Nature and Culture - Webinar Today

Earthscan invites you to join a free webinar presented by the authors of Biocultural Diversity Conservation and Sacred Natural Sites for an event that explores the important relationship people have with nature and how vital it is for the future of our natural world.

Reconnecting Nature and Culture

• Understand the concept of biocultural diversity
• Learn how to integrate cultural and spiritual values into conservation, tourism and heritage management practices
• Discover how embracing the values of local people can dramatically increase the success of conservation and sustainability efforts, for the benefit of all.

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 17:00 (UK time – GMT), 12:00 (EDT), 9:00 (PDT)
Click here for free registration

Luisa Maffi will introduce the concept of biocultural diversity; and explain the benefits of understanding the linkages between biodiversity and culture for conservation and sustainability. Robert Wild will further the discussion through a focus on sacred natural areas. He will explore the benefits of utilising the connection between these natural areas and cultural values in order to protect landscapes.

• Luisa Maffi is co-author of Biocultural Diversity Conservation, she is a linguist, anthropologist, and one of the originators of the field of biocultural diversity. She is co-founder and Director of the international NGO Terralingua. She is based in British Columbia, Canada.

• Robert Wild is co-editor of Sacred Natural Sites. An ecologist and social scientist with 25 years practical experience of working with communities at protected areas in East Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Europe. He is chair of the IUCN's Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas, and is based in Scotland.

Who should register? Professionals and academics working in the fields of conservation, tourism and heritage management. Can’t make the date? Simply email Rachel.Butler@earthscan.co.uk with Reconnecting Nature and Culture recording in the subject line and we will send you a link to the archived event.
Receive a 20% discount on a book, too: type EARTHCAST into the voucher code box in your shopping cart when ordering any book. For more information, and to view all previous Earthcasts, please visit http://www.earthcasts.co.uk. [17 November 2010 - Earthscan Ltd]

The Mad Artist's Brain: The Connection between Creativity and Mental Illness

More evidence for the long-suspected physiological link between inventiveness and mental illness ... The popular perception of creative thinkers and artists is that they often also have mental disorders -- the likes of Vincent van Gogh or Sylvia Plath suggest that creativity and madness go hand in hand. Past research has tentatively confirmed a correlation; scientific surveys have found that highly creative people are more likely to have mental illness in their family, indicating a genetic link. Now a study from Sweden is the first to suggest a biological mechanism: highly creative healthy people and people with schizophrenia have certain brain chemistry features in common. A research team at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied 13 mentally healthy, highly creative men and women. As noted in the paper published in May in PLoS ONE, other scientists had previously found that divergent thinking, or the ability to “think outside the box,” involves the brain’s dopamine communication system. The Swedish research team used PET scanning to determine the abundance of a particular dopamine receptor, or sensor, in the creative individuals’ thalamus and striatum, areas that process and sort information before it reaches conscious thought -- and that are known to be involved in schizophrenia. The team found that people who had lower levels of dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus also had higher scores on tests of divergent thinking -- for instance, finding many solutions to a problem. Previous work has shown that people with schizophrenia also have lower dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus -- and the scientists suggest in their paper that this striking similarity demonstrates a “crucial” link between creativity and psychopathology. “Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box,” writes lead author Fredrik Ullén, a cognitive scientist at Karolinska. [22 November 2010 - Scientific American - By Elizabeth King Humphrey - More]

National Creativity Network Launched in Oklahoma City

In conjunction with the seventh annual Creativity World Forum 2010 held in Oklahoma City, November 15-17, the National Creativity Network officially launched at a special meeting with Founding Chair, Sir Ken Robinson, on November 15 from 9:00-11:30 am at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.

For two years, creativity and innovation leaders in the U.S. have gathered with Sir Ken Robinson and leaders in Oklahoma who began a statewide creativity movement, Creative Oklahoma, linking education, commerce and cultural efforts, in 2006. On November 15, representatives from the states of Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York joined with Oklahoma leaders to announce the formation of a new National Creativity Network, linking statewide and regional creativity initiatives in the United States.

The National Creativity Network will facilitate the exchange of ideas, share best practices, and encourage collaboration among partnering geographic districts committed to creativity and innovation in America across the three sectors of education, commerce, and culture. Network members are committed to the urgent need in the U.S. to nurture and promote the development and expression of creativity and innovation, in education, in business and in the community; ideas and actions so that America can remain a world leader in innovation, discovery, free enterprise, and learning.

“As the pace of change quickens around the world, many communities throughout America are facing powerful economic challenges. In addition to the recession, they include the decline of old industries and the need to generate new forms of businesses and employment. Patterns of community life also continues to change and evolve, causing social challenges,” explains Sir Ken Robinson, Author of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything and Founding Chairman, National Creativity Network.

“To face these challenges, we must develop high levels of imagination. Throughout the country there are many regions that are rising magnificently to these challenges. The purpose of the National Creativity Network is to connect these regions so that they can support and enrich each other's work and promote the vital spirit of economic and social innovation across the whole United States," said Robinson.

The National Creativity Network will be based in Oklahoma City with a national board. Sir Ken Robinson is the Founding Chair and George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, is the Board Chairman.

NATIONAL CREATIVITY NETWORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sir Ken Robinson, Founding Chairperson, NCN
International Creativity, Innovation, and Human Resources Consultant
California

Dennis Cheek, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Pennsylvania

Steven Dahlberg
Director
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
Connecticut

Carrie Fitzsimmons
Executive Director
ArtScience Labs
Massachusetts

Jean Hendrickson
Executive Director
Oklahoma A+ Schools/University of Central Oklahoma

Wendy Liscow
Program Officer
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
New Jersey

Susan McCalmont
Executive Director
Kirkpatrick Foundation
Oklahoma

Robert Morrison
Founder
Quadrant Arts Education Research
New Jersey

Scott Noppe Brandon
Executive Director
Lincoln Center Institute
New York

David O’Fallon
President
Minnesota Humanities Center

Mark Robertson
Attorney
Robertson & Williams
Oklahoma

Susan Sclafani
Director, State Services
National Center on Education and the Economy
Washington, DC

George Tzougros
Executive Director
Wisconsin Arts Board

[15 November 2010 - Creative Oklahoma For more information, contact: Kathy Oden-Hall, Creative Oklahoma, 405-203-5742, kodenhall@stateofcreativity.com]

Ken Robinson and National Thought Leaders to Join “Shaping the Future of Creativity Today” Workshop at the Creativity World Forum

Following the launch of the National Creativity Network on Monday, November 15, more than 50 people from around the country will gather to work on the “Shaping the Future of Creativity Today.” This workshop runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and is part of the seventh annual Creativity World Forum 2010 to be held in Oklahoma City, November 15 to17.

Noted creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson will help officially launch the National Creativity Network from 9 to 11:30 a.m., and then will join the opening of the workshop at 2 p.m. Both events take place at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City.

Robinson is author of The Element and speaks globally about the importance of creativity and arts in education, work and society. He will join several other national thought leaders who will help in the first hour of the workshop to set context about creative alternatives that are already happening related creativity across society. This group includes:

• Carrie Fitzsimmons – executive director of ArtScience Labs.
• Jean Hendrickson – executive director of Oklahoma A+ Schools.
• Dan Hunter – arts advocate and policy expert.
• Mary Alice Long – play consultant and advocate.
• Scott Noppe-Brandon – executive director of the Lincoln Center Institute and co-author of Imagination First.
• Scott Rich – assessment specialist at Scholastic Testing Service.

Steven Dahlberg, director of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and Cheryl Whitesitt, executive director of the Minnesota Future Problem Solving Program, will facilitate the workshop, which focuses on:

• Exploring the state of creativity today.
• Engaging creative alternatives about the future of creativity.
• Directly involving participants in creative processes and tools that help move beyond merely advocating the value of creativity to igniting action for change about creativity's role in society.

The workshop is open to all, and seeks diverse participants -- representing education, business, arts, government, nonprofits and beyond -- who all share an interest in applying more personal, organizational and community creativity. The workshop fee is $45 and people may participate whether or not they are attending the Creativity World Forum. More workshop information is available at www.appliedimagination.org/cwf.

More information about the Creativity World Forum is available at http://www.stateofcreativity.com/ and about the National Creativity Network at http://www.nationalcreativitynetwork.org/. [8 November 2010 - National Creativity Network - For more information, contact Kathy Oden-Hall, Creativity World Forum, (405) 203-5742 or kodenhall@stateofcreativity.com]

Dan Pink on Creativity, Motivation, Work, Education and Play

Listen to "Creativity in Play" interview with creativity guru and author Dan Pink. Highlights from Dan Pink's interview about creativity, motivation, education, play and policy:

• What drives Dan? To find out about stuff and to follow his own curiosity.
• How do you motivate people to do creative work?
• If you want to do simple things, if/then motivators work.
• Interesting creative things outside of the U.S.: Role of workplace design in Australia ... how physical architecture can enhance creativity.
• Knowing "why" you are doing things is more motivating.
• Humor is an incredibly important management tool.
• Humor can diffuse difficult situations.
• Humor can be part of bonding.
• On play ... doing things because they are challenging and provide flow experiences. These are crucial for intrinsic motivation.
• Google's "20% rule" to work on what you want is like recess at work.
• The difference between making decisions for instrumental reasons rather then fundamental reasons.
• Policy changes to support creativity? Changes in education, increasing public support for the arts, and public support for research and development.

ART Today in New Haven - SERA Salon: Social Experiments Relational Acts

[8 October 2010 - By City Wide Open Studios 2010]
This weekend at the Alternative Space, City-Wide Open Studios hosts SERA (Social Experiments Relational Acts) Salon, examining the notion of art as service – in a vacant, fully-outfitted nail salon.

Artspace has cleaned the salon, but left its original trappings – magazines, customer autographs, nail polish tubes, manicure tables and pedicure tables – intact. From 12 pm – 5 pm on Saturday, October 9, and Sunday, October 10, visitors will be able to participate in a series of site-specific experiments, developed by various artists and organized by Ted Efremoff.

One such experiment is “IMAGICURE: an imagination exchange for creative alternatives,” developed by Steven Dahlberg. In IMAGICURE, visitors are invited to to contribute an idea about how to infuse more creativity in education.  In his statement to Artspace, Dahlberg adds that, “A salon is inherently a place of social interaction, where ideas are exchanged and community is built….This experience explores creativity in service to self and the community.”

Dahlberg focuses on applied imagination in search of creative alternatives. He is interested in how creativity improves the well-being and flourishing of those who engage in it. He directed an international creativity conference and currently heads the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination.

The project also includes the relational act, WAIT.  WAIT engages its participants through a “Take-a-Number” ticket dispenser “Take-a-Number” ticket dispenser, and other permutations of symbolic place holders, that only exist to allow access to a future experience or object.  This is a relational act intended to discover, or at least approximate what we are waiting for?   What are the philosophical existential implications of  waiting? When do we wait? What does waiting feel like?

WAIT has been developed by John O’Donnell.  O’Donnell was conceived on Halloween, born on his father’s birthday, and raised in Montana. He lives and works in Connecticut. He has exhibited at the Chelsea Art Museum, the International Print Center in New York, and the Seoul Museum of Art in Korea. John creates installations, videos, performances, prints and works on paper.

Also participating are PRAXIS, the joint project of Delia Bajo and Brainard Carey.  Among many other notable achievements and innovations, the pair have previously participated in the Whitney Biennial.

Please join us this weekend to celebrate this unique event.  Social Experiments and Relational Acts await you ...

More about SERA ...

Pilobolus on Creativity - LIVE Friday at noon EDT

Pilobolus' Itamar Kubovy on Connecting the Creative Process in the Studio and the Organization ... on Creativity in Play, 8 October 2010, 12:00 p.m. Eastern ... listen LIVE online at http://www.creativityinplay.com/ or via telephone at +1 347 826 7082.

Pilobolus is an arts organization that operates with a principle of  "radical democracy" - where everyone's creativity matters. Their challenge to themselves is to reflect that process in not only how they create and perform dance, but in how they run the organization itself as an organic, creative entity. We'll explore what lessons other organizations can learn from the Pilobolus experience, as well as the importance of movement in creativity. Itamar will participate in the Creativity World Forum in Oklahoma City, November 15-17, 2010. Discover more about Pilobolus at: http://www.pilobolus.com/

ABOUT CREATIVITY IN PLAY: Exploring the importance of creativity, play and imagination across society. Hosted by Steven Dahlberg (International Centre for Creativity and Imagination) and Mary Alice Long, Ph.D. (Play=Peace). Produced by the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, in partnership with the National Creativity Network. ... 'The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.' – Carl Jung

Engaged in What You Love - bell hooks on writing

It's the birthday of writer and activist bell hooks, born Gloria Jean
Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (1952). Her father was a janitor, and
her mother cleaned homes for white people. She went to a segregated
school until she was 10. ... She said: "Writing is my passion. It is a
way to experience the ecstatic. The root understanding of the word
ecstasy—'to stand outside'—comes to me in those moments when I am
immersed so deeply in the act of thinking and writing that everything
else, even flesh, falls away." [25 September 2010 - The Writer's Almanac]

Creative thinking to save planet's threatened species

People using their creative energies in the E-Day Ark can help raise awareness of the plight of some of the world's most threatened species, says Matt Prescott, founding organizer of E-Day. In this week's Green Room, he encourages people to get involved to help give biodiversity a voice. ... Do you agree with Dr Matt Prescott? Can collective creative energy help raise awareness of the plight of the planets most threatened species? [17 September 2010 - BBC (UK) - By Matt Prescott - More]

Huff Post: Innovation Shifted To China During The Downturn: U.N. Report

It's an unfortunate fact of a downturn: declining corporate cash flows and slumping confidence usually induce firms to file fewer patents and slash spending on research and development. Apparently, China didn't get the memo. As much of the world invested fewer resources in innovation during the global downturn, Chinese firms spent more on innovative efforts, such as R&D and patent and trademark applications, according to a report by a UN agency. On Wednesday, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said that patent applications in China jumped 18.2 percent in 2008 and another 8.5 percent in 2009. Over the same period, ZTE, China's second-largest telecom equipment maker, boosted R&D spending 44.8 percent. In the U.S., patent filings fell 11.7 percent in 2008 and 2009, while companies like General Motors, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft slashed their R&D budget by more than 20 percent from 2008 to 2009. In Europe and Japan new patent filings dropped 7.9 and 10.8 percent, respectively, in 2009. [16 September 2010 - Huffington Post - More]

CREATIVITY NETWORKING: Creativity and Sustainability in Communities ... with Creativity Educator Steven Dahlberg and Community Farmer/Educator David Cherniske

If you are interested in food, "local" and sustainable agriculture, come and explore the symbiotic relationship between creativity and sustainability. Challenge yourself to think in new ways and imagine new possibilities about food, agriculture and the environment. Explore how creative thinking helps us understand systems, connections and alternatives better as we consider what we eat, how we eat, where food comes from and the impact of all of this on the environment. Led by creativity educator Steven Dahlberg, community farmer/educator David Cherniske and additional guests from local food and sustainable farm projects.

=====================
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010, 2:00-3:30 P.M.
The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm,
New Milford, Connecticut 06776
$10 to Creativity Networking; open to all.
RSVP to: 860.355.0300 or news [at] appliedimagination [dot] org

Please help spread the word about this workshop by printing and posting this flyer:
http://appliedimagination.org/sept2010.pdf
=====================

MORE ABOUT WORKSHOP LEADERS AND CREATIVITY NETWORKING:

• Steven Dahlberg is director of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He teaches "Creativity + Social Change" at the University of Connecticut, and leads professional development workshops for educators, nonprofits and businesses. He facilitates creative thinking and problem solving sessions, writes about creativity, and contributes to various media about creativity, imagination and innovation. He currently curates a monthly Creativity Networking series in Connecticut and organizes Imagination Conversations in Connecticut as part of a national initiative of the Lincoln Center Institute. He has worked with Yale University, Guggenheim Museum, Yahoo!, Americans for the Arts, Danbury Public Schools, World Knowledge Forum, City of Providence, 3M, Aldrich Museum, State of Connecticut, and Rhode Island College, among other organizations. He helped toy inventors launch a creativity consulting business and taught an undergraduate creativity course for incarcerated men. He is particularly interested in creative education, creative community building, local food and sustainable agriculture, and creative aging. Find more at http://www.appliedimagination.org.
• David Cherniske is a community farmer and educator. He is currently collaborating with middle school students on a garden project at the Pratt Nature Center in New Milford, Connecticut. He has a deep interest in integrating age-old farming practices with cutting-edge thinking about farming, agriculture, land and animals. Find more at http://www.prattcenter.org.
  

The Creativity Networking Series is presented each month by The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm and the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, both based in New Milford, Conn. The series provides a forum for exploring the many facets of creativity and for discovering other people interested in creativity.
http://www.appliedimagination.org
http://www.hunthillfarmtrust.org

Sir Ken Robinson to be First Guest on 'Creativity in Play' Radio Show

We are pleased to announce that Sir Ken Robinson will be the inaugural guest on the new Creativity in Play online radio show, which will debut at noon Eastern Daylight Time (-4 UTC) on Thursday, September 23. Hosts are Steven Dahlberg (International Centre for Creativity and Imagination) and Mary Alice Long (Play=Peace). Sir Ken will also be part of the opening session with Daniel Pink at the Creativity World Forum on November 16, 2010, in Oklahoma City. Creativity in Play is produced by the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, in partnership with the National Creativity Network. [14 September 2010 - International Centre for Creativity and Imagination - More]

Creativity, Culture and Innovation: finding new links

The very dynamic culture sector, the cultural and creative industries in particular, generates and stimulates considerable potential for creativity which makes it an important actor for meeting the challenges with which the European Union is confronted today. Within the context of the implementation of the “EU 2020” strategy, the goal is to highlight and promote the considerable potential of the cultural and creative industries. The colloquium (8 September 2010 to 9 September 2010) will focus on the innovative aspect of the sector. Cultural and creative industries are gradually being recognised as essential contributors to innovation. The goal is to now create an environment in which these industries can develop their potential to its fullest. It will be a matter of, on one hand, demonstrating that innovation plays a significant part in the development of the cultural sector and that, inversely, culture is a major asset for innovation. In addition, and based on this observation, the goal will be to provide potential ways to develop the cultural and creative industries. Special attention will be paid to the self-employed, micro-enterprises and to small and medium enterprises which guarantee cultural diversity and play a determinant role in the development of the cultural and creative sectors. [September 2010 - The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union - More - Program]

America's 21st-Century Business Model ... Innovation, Business and Immigration

The U.S. will thrive based on its innovative business culture driven increasingly by a diverse pool of immigrants. ...  Current attitudes aren't too kind to the old American way of doing business. In our globalized economy, the most enthusiastically touted approaches are those adopted by centralized, state-dominated economies such as China, Brazil and Russia as well as--somewhat less oppressively--those of the major E.U. states. Yet the U.S. may well be constructing the best sustainable business model for the 21st Century. It is an approach built on the country's greatest enduring strength--an innovative business culture driven increasingly by a diverse pool of immigrants. [31 August 2010 - Forbes - By Joel Kotkin - More]

The Creativity Crisis ... Explored

Stay tuned in the coming days for my new online radio show, Creativity in Play, co-hosted with play expert Mary Alice Long and produced in partnership with the National Creativity Network. First guest on deck ... Po Bronson, co-author of the Newsweek article, "The Creativity Crisis."

UPDATE: Po Bronson has cancelled. Sir Ken Robinson will be the first guest on September 23, 2010, at noon Eastern.

U.S. House Designates "Arts in Education Week" in September

[27 July 2010 - Americans for the Arts] Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Con.Res. 275, legislation designating the second week of September as "Arts in Education Week." Authored and introduced by California Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA), this resolution is the first Congressional expression of support celebrating all the disciplines comprising arts education. This is a very positive showing of support for arts education and comes at a key time when Congress is making plans to overhaul federal education policy. Take two minutes to send a message of support for arts education to your member of Congress! The resolution seeks to support the attributes of arts education that are recognized as instrumental to developing a well-rounded education such as creativity, imagination, and cross-cultural understanding. H.Con.Res. 275 also highlights the critical link between those skills and preparing our children for gaining a competitive edge in the global economy. This is an important message for policy makers to acknowledge as they prepare to reauthorize federal education policy. To send a message to your member of Congress in support for arts education, please visit our E-Advocacy Center.  As a House resolution, the bill does not require signature by the President upon its passage. You can read the resolution here.  We salute Rep. Speier and the more than 101 original cosponsors for their support of arts education and for this truly special recognition of the value of culture for our country's students. Americans for the Arts was happy to help provide assistance to Rep. Speier in this endeavor.

Pilobolus on Creativity and Everyday Movement ... at June Creativity Networking in Connecticut

The next monthly Creativity Networking session will feature Pilobolus and their take on creativity and everyday movement. The workshop will be Sunday, June 20, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, 44 Upland Road, in New Milford, Conn. Creativity Networking is open to all and admission is $10. For more information or to RSVP, go to http://appliedimagination.org/networking or call 860-355-0300.

Renee Jaworski, rehearsal director and artistic associate for Pilobolus Dance Theatre, will lead the session on "Discovering Creativity Through Everyday Movement," along with Steven Dahlberg, curator of the Creativity Networking series.

Jaworski has performed and taught for MOMIX, Group Motion, and Carolyn Dorfman. She has been dancing, teaching and choreographing with Pilobolus since 2000. Dahlberg is director of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He also teaches the "Creativity + Social Change" course at the University of Connecticut.

"Some people need to move their bodies to think, while other people think their bodies are incapable of moving," says Dahlberg, host of Creativity Networking. "Yet, we are made to move. It's a fundamental aspect of who we are and what we do everyday. Sometimes, however, we lose touch with this capacity."

The public is invited to explore creativity and movement -- in two parts. First, see Pilobolus perform free at Hartford's Riverfront Recapture stage (riverfront.org/events/performances) at 7 p.m. on June 19. Then, attend the Creativity Networking workshop the following afternoon at 2 p.m. on June 20, in which participants will explore how movement and play can help them tap into more of their creativity and reconnect with their physical selves. The workshop -- led by a master of movement from Pilobolus -- seeks to inspire, provoke and encourage people to enhance their creativity and communication through everyday movement. The session will be part Pilobolus story, part creative process and part experiential ... and is open to everyone, no special skills required.

The Creativity Networking Series is presented each month by the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination and The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, both based in New Milford, Conn. The series provides a forum for exploring the many facets of creativity and for discovering and networking with other people interested in creativity. Find more at http://appliedimagination.org and http://hunthillfarmtrust.org.

Pilobolus began in 1971 as an outsider dance company, and quickly became renowned the world over for its imaginative and athletic exploration of creative collaboration. Nearly 40 years later, it has evolved into a pioneering American cultural institution of the 21st century. The Pilobolus Dance Theatre is the umbrella for a series of radically innovative and globally acclaimed concert dance companies. Find more at http://pilobolus.org.

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SUMMARY - CREATIVITY NETWORKING:
Creativity and Everyday Movement ... with Pilobolus

SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010, 2:00-3:30 P.M.
The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, New Milford, Connecticut 06776
$10 to Creativity Networking; open to all.
RSVP to: 860.355.0300 or news [at] appliedimagination [dot] org
More at: http://appliedimagination.org/networking
Print and post: http://appliedimagination.org/june2010.pdf
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[Photo above by (c)John Kane.]

Ken Robinson ... TED Part II

Ken Robinson returned to TED earlier this year and talked about the intersection of talents, passion and education.

[May 2010 - TED] In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish. More

As he did in his first TED talk about creativity and education, he sums up in less than 18 minutes key ideas that seem so obvious, yet are so far from the practices we employ in schools and society. Some of Ken's insights from his 2010 talk:

• There is a crisis of human resources -- we make poor use of our talents.
• Many people simply endure what they do rather than enjoy what they do.
• But some people do what they ARE and engage part of their authentic selves.
• Education dislocates people from their natural talents.
• We have to create the circumstances where talents show themselves. Education should be where this happens, but too often it's not.
• Education REFORM is not enough -- reform is only improving a broken model.
• We need not an evolution in education, but a revolution ... to transform it into something else.
  
• It needs innovation, which is hard because it challenges what we take for granted.
• Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Ken talked about "rising with the occasion" and the idea of "disenthralling ourselves."
• Life is organic ... not linear.
• We are obsessed with getting people to college. College does not begin in kindergarten. Kindergarten begins in kindergarten.
• Problem of conformity in education -- like fast food where everything is standardized.
• Human talent is tremendously diverse.
• Passion -- what excites our spirit and energy -- is important.
• Education doesn't feed a lot of people's spirits.
• Education, which is primarily based on a manufacturing model, should shift to one based on principles from agriculture.
  
• Human flourishing is an organic process. We cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do is create the conditions under which they begin to flourish.
• Customizing and personalizing education is the answer to the future.
  

And he finished with a poem excerpt from W. B. Yeats about how we spread our dreams before others' feet -- like kids do everyday -- and askied us to "tread softly, because you tread on my dreams."

If you care about the future of children and education and society, show Ken's two TED talks (and this one, too!) to your friends and colleagues and family and talk about how you can begin to act to make positive change in the ways we educate and work. Show these clips in a public meeting at your children's school. Show them in your workplace with your colleagues. Show them at the public library. You'll be amazed who cares about these topics, who shows up and what you might accomplish together. Imagine what if ...