Irish Poet Anne F. O’Reilly to be Featured in “The Nature of Creativity” Workshop at South Kent School in Connecticut

The Center for Innovation at South Kent School is hosting “The Nature of Creativity” workshop, presented by the New Milford, Conn.-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. The workshop is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, and will take place at the Center for Innovation’s classroom at 170 South Kent Road in South Kent, Conn.

The workshop will feature Irish poet and teacher Anne F. O’Reilly and director of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination Steven Dahlberg, along with several collaborators who will guide an exploration of how nature inspires us to be more creative. The workshop is open to everyone – from teachers, business people and artists to community leaders, environmentalists and individuals looking to create positive change. It starts with the premise that everyone is a creative being.

The event will take place at the new classroom at South Kent School’s Center for Innovation, where participants of the workshop will take part in experiential exercises to help them tap into and develop their creativity. They also will explore connections to how nature inspires the creative process and connect with others who are seeking purposeful engagement in their communities.

Using nature as a guide, participants will explore these themes – (re)discovering your capacity to be creative, cultivating a sense of place, fostering curiosity and wonder, discovering rhythm, valuing diversity, nurturing interconnectedness, awakening the senses, and more. Plus, they will learn how to overcome blocks to creativity, practices for accessing their creative inner nature, and ways for connecting beyond themselves to take action in their communities.

The day will conclude with a special event on “The Nature of Wine,” exploring the intersection of creativity, wine and the brain, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 28 at Hopkins Vineyard at 25 Hopkins Rd. in New Preston, Conn. The winemaker and winery manager will join Dahlberg and O’Reilly to continue exploring lessons and metaphors from nature that inspire creativity and learning. This event looks at how master sommeliers learn to understand wine, what’s happening in the brain when they taste wine, and how they transfer this knowledge and experience to others. Participants will look at, smell and taste wine as the experts do, sampling four Hopkins wines in the process. Registration information is at .

Poet Anne F. O’Reilly will be “Creator in Residence” at the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination from September 25 to October 7, and will be leading a series of workshops and poetry performances while she is in Connecticut. She is based in Dublin, Ireland, and is the author of a print collection of poetry, Singing From the Belly of the Whale, a CD collection, Breathsong, and the book, Sacred Play: Soul-Journeys In Contemporary Irish Theatre.

The Center for Innovation is located on the property adjoining South Kent School’s main campus in South Kent, Conn. Through its hands-on learning experiences and community outreach, the Center for Innovation encourages inquiry into the dynamic interplay between human creativity, intuition and sustainability.

To register and for more information, visit http://natureofcreativity.org/.

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]

Creative Leadership Capacities ... From the Connecting Creative Communities Summit

Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, asks in the "Building Your Capacity: Creative Leadership in the Creative Sector" session at the Connecting Creative Communities Summit on March 11, 2010:

Creativity matters in all aspects of society, work and life. And it matters for how we lead. Creativity motivates people to do what they love and are good at. Likewise, as Teresa Amabile, director of research at Harvard Business School, and one of the leading creativity researchers, says: “When people are doing work that they love and they’re allowed to deeply engage in it – and when the work itself is valued and recognized – then creativity will flourish. Even in tough times.” Yet, sometimes our organizational cultures and practices get in the way of allowing creativity to be cultivated and expressed. Creativity also engages employees in meaningful work. Engaged employees lead to engaged audiences, customers and clients in our organizations. The Gallup Organization says: “Engaged employees [– that is, those who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their organization –] are far more likely to suggest or develop creative ways to improve management processes. They’re also far more likely to find creative ways to solve customer problems or to involve their customers in creative service innovations. Leaders who want to drive growth through innovation should first create an environment that welcomes new ideas – and should make engaging employees a key component of that strategy.” Gallup has also found that 71% of the workforce is not-engaged or actively disengaged in their work, meaning 71% of the workforce is either under performing or actively undermining their work. Therefore, we must ask ourselves:

1. What do we do to help employees intentionally develop and apply their creativity?
2. What does “creativity” mean to me as a leadership practice?
3. How do we develop creativity in our employees … or, how do we help our employees imagine “what if, what else, why not”? What processes do we use to harness and apply more creative thinking, imagination and ideas in our organization? How do we engage our employees? How do we help them connect to their purpose? How do we motivate our employees to do what they love and are good at?
4. What gets in the way and blocks creativity WITHIN our organization and its employees? What deliberate actions do we take to create a culture for creativity WITHIN our organization?

Danbury Students Collaborate With Artist for Aldrich Museum Installation

More than 320 students and staff at King Street Intermediate School in Danbury, Connecticut, recently fingerprinted themselves to begin a collaboratively produced art installation for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Artist Sandy Garnett is working with KSI students and their art teacher, Doreen Cherniske Colonna, to incorporate an individual fingerprint contribution from each student and staff member into a final piece. Garnett, who is based in Norwalk, Connecticut, has been producing fingerprint-based artwork himself for more than 20 years. Through his Fingerprint Project, he explores contemporary identity through sculpted and painted fingerprints, human silhouettes and signatures.

"The Fingerprint Project is one of the cornerstones of my professional fine art career," Garnett says. "I have collected thousands of fingerprints from which I have made hundreds of fine art objects during the past several decades. I have always been interested in a large group Fingerprint Portrait installation, so the project at King Street Intermediate School has been an exciting project for me."

Earlier this month, Garnett led several groups of 60 to 150 students in creating their own inked fingerprints on paper. Next, Colonna will enlarge each student's favorite print into an abstract image, which the students will then transfer onto small pieces of Plexiglas. Garnett will combine these more than 300 pieces into a single installation, which The Aldrich will exhibit in early April as part of its DrawOn! project.

The purpose of DrawOn! is "to bring people together through something as basic as drawing, while at the same time fostering new and imaginative ways to draw." The public is encouraged to participate in DrawOn! events scheduled throughout Connecticut and beyond, from March 27 to April 10, with a culminating family event on April 10. For more information, visit www.aldrichart.org/events.

"I love the collaborative aspect of this project," says Colonna. "Between the kids, the professional artist and the museum. I also love that EVERY student is included. It is a true 'fingerprint' of our school."

This is the second year in a row that Colonna has been invited to exhibit her KSI students' artwork as part of DrawOn! at The Aldrich. Last year, students not only created works on various shapes of cardboard -- thinking beyond the usual rectangle "box" they often draw on -- they also drew on two teachers who wore full-body white Tyvek suits.

"This project has been fun because I never did anything like this in my life," said one KSI student while working with Garnett earlier this month. A student last year said, "I liked DrawOn! the most because it made me think you can make art on anything."

Garnett is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist who has sold more than $1.8 million of artwork. He also writes, illustrates, sings and records. His children's books have recently been published, and an independent film producer put Garnett's first written and recorded song, "Busted Wing," in a film about climate change.

"It is important to have visiting artists like Sandy," says Colonna. "The kids get to see someone who went through school and came out the other end still doing what they feel passionate about -- and making a living at it.

"It is also important for those kids who have tremendous talents in areas that are not always as highly valued in education nor reflected in standard test areas. These students see that their talents are not a waste, that they can use those talents, and that they should not give up or let anyone take those talents away from them."

DrawOn! is a community-based project of The Aldrich, which encourages everyone -- not just artists -- to engage in drawing. On anything. With anything. This practice is not so much about drawing a "perfect piece," or about the final product, but about the creative process itself. It is also about the community building that happens when people draw and create together. It is a fun and playful activity that can help people rediscover their creative talents.

The King Street Intermediate School Fingerprint Project for DrawOn! is also part of an on-going initiative to integrate more creativity into the classroom at KSI. The staff is working with Steven Dahlberg, head of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, to help teachers both teach for more creativity and teach more creatively.

"The Fingerprint Project is great example of how creativity engages both students and staff in meaningful work," says Dahlberg. "Students were invited to create something unique and original and will have the rare opportunity to see their creative expressions displayed publicly in a major art institution. This is inspiring, not only to the students, but to their teachers and parents and the community, as well."

The public can hear more about this project and DrawOn! and meet Garnett, Colonna and Dahlberg at Creativity Networking at The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm in New Milford, Connecticut, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Sunday, March 14. Find out more at http://www.appliedimagination.org/.

Connecting Creative Communities - Register Now for March Summit in Providence

Sign up now for the Connecting Creative Communities coming up in Providence, Rhode Island, March 9-11, 2010. The Summit is hosted by the New England Foundation on the Arts and the City of Providence's Department of Art, Culture + Tourism. I am pleased that the Summit is co-presented by the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and that I am co-chairing a session on "Building Your Capacity: Creative Leadership in the Creative Sector."

-- Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination

CONNECTING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES
Summit participants represent a broad slice of New Englanders, including government officials, arts administrators, artists, business and civic leaders, creative entrepreneurs, funders, researchers, and others.

HIGHLIGHTS
(View the full program schedule)

• Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around
  Join Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline for the City of Providence's second annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities about how bicycling can transform urban experience.


• Beyond Our Borders: Planning, Policy, and Prosperity in New England
  "Shovel-ready" projects made possible by having a creative economic development plans in place.


• Artist-Driven Solutions for Community Change
  Artist-led initiatives stimulating creative responses to complex social and economic issues.


• Facing Facts: Getting Results with Data
  The sometimes surprising political and financial consequences of data collection.


• Building Your Capacity: Creative Leadership in the Creative Sector
  Day-to-day needs, cross-sector relationships, workforce development, regionalism, and the creativity at the heart of it all.
  
• What's next? Drafting a Regional Agenda
  Key themes and actionable items for a New England-wide regional agenda for the creative sector.

REGISTER NOW!

Connecting Creative Communities is co-presented by:
City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, David N. Cicilline, Mayor and the New England Foundation for the Arts in partnership with: Americans for the Arts Animating Democracy, Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, COOL/Cultural Affairs & Special Events, City of Lowell, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, The MacDowell Colony, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Massachusetts Office of Business Development, Worcester Cultural Coalition.
Co-sponsored by:
Brown University's John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage and the Providence Phoenix.

EVENT INFO:

• CCC summit flier


• Registration Fee: $60


• Registration Deadline: March 5


• REGISTER NOW!
  

CONTACT INFO:
Adrienne Petrillo
Program Manager, Presenting & Touring
apetrillo@nefa.org
617.951.0010 x527

"Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around" is Focus of Pell Lecture in Providence

[24 February 2010 - The City of Providence] Mayor David N. Cicilline will host the second annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities on Tuesday, March 9 at 7pm at Trinity Repertory Company. Mayor Cicilline established the annual symposium in honor of the late Senator for his extraordinary work championing education, the arts and humanities.

>> MAYOR CICILLINE ANNOUNCES 2ND ANNUAL SENATOR CLAIBORNE PELL LECTURE: Lecture honoring the late Senator to focus on "Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around" <<

The symposium, Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around, will explore how bicycling can transform the urban experience by raising the following questions for discussion: How do creative thinkers strengthen civic life? How can a city foster a more bicycle-friendly environment? How might Providence change if more people made a bicycle their primary mode of transportation? Pell Lecture 2010 Panel:

• David Byrne has been writing and performing music and directing video and film for more than 30 years. He was lead singer and guitar player for the innovative rock band Talking Heads, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. What might not be as well known is Byrne’s longtime passion for biking and advocacy for bicycles in cities. Byrne has traveled New York City’s streets on a bike since the early 1980s, and often brings a folding bike on tour. His latest book explores this topic; Bicycle Diaries is an account of his urban bicycle odyssey through the streets of Istanbul, Buenos Aires, London, Berlin, Paris, Belgrade, Sydney, Manila, New York and San Francisco. Bicycle Diaries features beautiful photography, personal anecdotes from Byrne's wide travels and a strong argument for the way a bicycle can change our view of the world and the city in which we live.
• Samuel Zipp is an urban historian who studies the cultural and intellectual history of 20th century cities. He teaches American Studies and Urban Studies at Brown University. He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University. His book, Manhattan Projects: The Rise and Fall of Urban Renewal in Cold War New York, will be published by Oxford University Press this spring. Zipp’s interest in cities really took hold through a job as a bike messenger. He says traveling along the San Francisco streets by bike gave him a real appreciation for urban geography and the need to learn a city's social, political, and economic structure from the inside out. Zipp’s presentation will explore the place of bicycles in the history of city development and urban renewal.
• Thomas Deller is a civic leader with first-hand experience creating infrastructure needed for bicycles in Providence. During his tenure as Director of Planning and Development for the City of Providence Deller has overseen the implementation of the Providence Bicycle Network and Providence Tomorrow, the city’s comprehensive plan, which contains many progressive policies regarding biking. As part of changes related to the I-195 highway move, Deller is working with local, state and federal partners to make way for bicycles in the Jewelry District. Deller’s experience in Planning and Urban Development dates back to 1979, when he began his career as a Planner in the East Providence Planning Department. He holds a Masters Degree in Community Planning and a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Studies from the University of Rhode Island.
  

The Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities is a free but ticketed event. Tickets will be available beginning Thursday, February 25th at the Trinity Repertory Company box office, 201 Washington Street, and must be picked up in person (no phone reservations). Four ticket limit per person. Due to limited availability we suggest advance pick-up. For box office hours and directions, call 401-351-4242. For more information on the lecture, contact (401) 421-2489 x456 or visit www.creativeprov.org.

About the Pell Lecture
Initiated by Mayor Cicilline in 2009, the annual lecture honors the late Claiborne Pell (1918-2009), who represented Rhode Island in the United States Senate from 1961-1997. Senator Pell is best remembered for being a champion of education, the arts and the humanities. He was the main sponsor of the Pell Grant, a financial aid program for U.S. college students, and he played a major role in the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Creating Positive Community

Check out the Playing for Change Web site, CD and DVD of musicians collaborating around the world to promote positive change and peace.