Finding Creative Inspiration From Nature

"Nature has a large potential for enhancing creativity. The reason seems to be that the feelings, which are enhancing creativity, are the same feelings which are evoked when one is in nature. Nature has the ability to set one in a state of mind which enhances creativity, because nature makes us feel open and unlimited, playful and excited, refocused and invigorated, calm and energized. At the same time nature can be a great source of direct inspiration, which also explains its ability to enhance creativity." - "Nature & Creativity: How and Why Nature Enhances Human Creativity," Master Thesis by Trine Plambach

On September 28, you can take part in a series of experiences designed to develop your personal creativity, taking inspiration from nature, as well as explore how you can connect your creative purpose with other people to cultivate new possibilities for yourself, your community and the earth. Facilitators include Irish poet Anne F. O'Reilly, creativity educator Steve Dahlberg and other collaborators. Find out more and register now for THE NATURE OF CREATIVITY: A ONE-DAY WORKSHOP ON HOW NATURE INSPIRES US TO BE MORE CREATIVE, at the Center for Innovation at South Kent School in Kent, Connecticut. The Center is the school's new farm-based "classroom" that encourages inquiry into the dynamic interplay between human creativity, intuition and sustainability. The day ends with a related event on "THE NATURE OF WINE," a special evening exploring the intersection of creativity, wine and the brain at Hopkins Vineyard.

Experiential Creativity Workshop Series at Arts & Ideas Festival - June in New Haven, Conn.

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas will feature “Unleash Your Creativity,” a series of three, experiential creativity workshops. The Festival runs from June 11 to 25, 2011, in New Haven, Conn. The workshops are June 18, 21 and 25.
The workshops will help participants explore their creativity, learn tools for new ways of thinking, find alternatives, get unstuck, discover others who value creativity, and engage creativity in the workplace. This series links the creativity of others with an in-depth opportunity to (re)discover and engage one’s own creativity and its applications to organizations and society. Full details about each workshop and its facilitators, along with registration information, can be found online (register here) or by email. The three workshops include:

• At Albertus Magnus College: “Embodying Creativity: Engaging Creative Collaboration Through Movement and Play,” 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sat., June 18. This workshop features facilitators from Pilobolus Dance Theatre, InterPlay Connecticut, Clifford Beers Child Guidance Clinic, and the Alexander Technique, as well as Irish poet Anne O’Reilly who will explore how play creates the space for creativity and transformation. No previous dance experience is necessary to participate in this day, but be prepared to move. This workshop is $99 and includes the all-day workshop, lunch and a ticket to Susan Marshall Dance Company’s “Adamantine” at 5 p.m. on June 18. MORE
• At Yale University School of Art: “Creativity in the Workplace: Engaging Creativity, Design and Innovation in Organizations,” 12 to 4 p.m. on Tues., June 21. This workshop features AIGA Connecticut President Rich Hollant, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination Director Steven Dahlberg, and Irish poet Anne O’Reilly. This workshop is $99 and includes the half-day workshop, a reception, Paul Bloom’s “Ideas: How Pleasure Works” lecture at 5:30 p.m., and a ticket to Jack Hitt’s “Making Up the Truth” at 8 p.m. on June 21. MORE
• At Albertus Magnus College: “Composing a Creative Life on Purpose: Engaging Meaning in Life and Work,” 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sat., June 25. This workshop features facilitators who will lead hands-on experiences – in arts therapy, education, creativity, art, spirituality and intuition – that will help participants engage their creativity on purpose and for purpose. This workshop is $99 and includes the all-day workshop, lunch and a ticket to David T. Little’s “Soldier Songs” at 5 p.m. on June 25.  MORE

O’Reilly is a special guest from Dublin, Ireland, whose readings and performances will be uniquely featured in all three workshops. Her participation is supported by Imagine Ireland. O’Reilly is the author of the book, Sacred Play: Soul Journeys in Contemporary Irish Theatre; a book of poetry, Singing from the Belly of the Whale; and a CD of her poems, Breathsong.

Additional facilitators include Renee Jaworski, Pilobolus dancer and associate artistic director; Lisa Laing, Certified InterPlay Leader; L'Ana Burton, director of CDC Creative Dance Continuum and teaching artist for the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism; Rachel Bernsen, Certified Teacher of The Alexander Technique; Carol Pollard, associate director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics; Dorie Shallcross, author of Intuition: An Inner Way of Knowing; Lisa Furman, artist and associate professor, Albertus Magnus College; Evie Lindemann, assistant professor/clinical coordinator master of arts in art therapy program, Albertus Magnus College; and Alice Forrester, executive director, Clifford Beers Child Guidance Clinic.

The “Unleashing Your Creativity” Series is curated by Steven Dahlberg, who heads the Connecticut-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination and teaches “Creativity + Social Change” at the University of Connecticut. The centre is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities.

The series is presented by the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, Albertus Magnus College, the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, and Connecticut Creates, in partnership with International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

The mission of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas is to create an internationally renowned festival in New Haven, Conn., of the highest quality with world-class artists, thinkers and leaders, attracting and engaging a broad and diverse audience celebrating and building community and advancing economic development.

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/

# # #



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]

Imagination Conversation Set for Connecticut, April 19 in Hartford

CONNECTICUT TO EXPLORE CRITICAL ROLE OF IMAGINATION AS KEY TO FLOURISHING SOCIETY ... Connecticut Imagination Conversation is Part of 50-State Effort to Raise Awareness of Imagination: Why It Matters and How to Develop It in Our Lives and in Our Communities.

On April 19, 2010, the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination and the University of Connecticut, in affiliation with Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education (LCI), will hold an Imagination Conversation at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Connecticut Greater Hartford Campus.

The Conversation will bring together leaders from an array of fields -- government, business, science, education, and the arts -- to explore the ways they experience and promote imagination in their work and communities. The goal of the Conversation is to present imagination as a key cognitive capacity, one that leads to creativity and innovation; and to help build awareness of imagination as a key skill in work and in life.

It is LCI's contention, as well as that of numerous scientists, government leaders, and educators, that imagination must be taught to children in our schools and nurtured in our communities. Applying imagination is crucial if Americans are to not only compete in the 21st-century marketplace, but create positive, flourishing communities that continually engage every citizen's creativity, imagination and ideas.

The Imagination Conversation will be in the auditorium of the Library Building at the University of Connecticut Greater Hartford Campus, 1800 Asylum Ave., West Hartford, Conn., 06117. The event begins with networking at 6 p.m. and the Imagination Conversation at 7 p.m. More details, along with parking and registration information, are available at:
http://www.appliedimagination.org

The Imagination Conversation is open to the public and will be recorded for broadcast on WNPR's Where We Live on Friday, April 23, at 9 a.m. WNPR's John Dankosky will moderate the Conversation with guests Steven Dahlberg and Scott Noppe-Brandon. Dahlberg is head of the New Milford, Conn.-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination (ICCI) and teaches "Creativity + Social Change" at the University of Connecticut. Noppe-Brandon is executive director of Lincoln Center Institute and author of "Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of Possibility." Artists John O'Donnell and Ted Efremoff will visually map and document the Conversation while it happens. Students from the "Creativity + Social Change" class, invited participants from diverse sectors across the state, and the general public will also be involved in the Conversation.

This Conversation will focus on the role of imagination in education, creative community and economic development, and creative leadership in organizations. It seeks to build a relevant imagination-fueled agenda for the state to pursue. ICCI will coordinate follow-up action that emerges from this conversation, as well as additional future conversations.

“Creativity and imagination matter in every aspect of society,” says Dahlberg. “Imagination matters for engaging students and teachers in meaningful education. It matters for bringing new ideas into reality to improve the economy. And it matters for helping people express their creative capacities in their work and their communities. We hope to help connect people who want to tap into more of their imagination and apply it for creating positive change across this state.”

Imagination Conversations are expected to take place during the next two years in each of the 50 states. All of the Conversations will be documented and final proposals for nationwide educational reform will be made at a national Imagination Summit in New York in the summer or fall of 2011. At the Summit, Imagination Conversation findings and an action agenda will be presented to public policy makers, educators, legislators and the media in an effort to make cultivation of imagination a key element in our schools.

"Imagination can be described as having the ability to visualize new possibilities and the ability to ask, 'what if ...?'" says Noppe-Brandon. "Developing students' imaginations and teaching them to proceed from imaginative thinking to creative action is vital if they are to meet the challenges of today's world. If the United States is to maintain its position at the vanguard of innovation, it needs a workforce capable of finding fresh solutions to challenges and inventing groundbreaking products and services. LCI understands that imaginative learning in schools will produce such a population."

ICCI is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. It promotes imagination and creativity through public events such as the monthly Creativity Networking series; professional development training for educators and business people; advocacy for creativity topics in local, national and international conferences; dissemination of creativity ideas through writing and commentary in various media; and teaching and guest lecturing at various universities.

The University of Connecticut's Bachelor of General Studies Program encourages imagination, collaboration and democratic participation through its Public and Community Engagement-themed courses in Storrs and Hartford and online.

Having recognized the global importance of imagination early on, LCI has established itself as a leader in the implementation of a method by which imagination is introduced into classrooms and used across the curriculum. Through the hands-on study of works of art, students develop their capacities to think imaginatively and critically, which serve them in all subject areas. With its programs reaching an estimated 390,000 students per year through its partnerships with schools across the U.S. and abroad, LCI is making an impact on the direction of education not just in New York but all over the world.

ABOUT THE HOSTING ORGANIZATIONS:
About Steven Dahlberg and the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination:
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" in the Public and Community Engagement theme at the University of Connecticut. He has nearly 20 years of experience in this field, and has worked with Yale University, Guggenheim Museum, Yahoo!, Americans for the Arts, Danbury Public Schools, UNESCO, Louisiana's Office of the Lt. Governor, New Economics Foundation, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, World Knowledge Forum, City of Providence, 3M, Aldrich Museum, State of Connecticut, and Rhode Island College, among other organizations. He has helped toy inventors launch a creativity consulting business, directed an international creativity conference, and taught an undergraduate creativity course for incarcerated men. Dahlberg edits the Applied Imagination blog, authored the foreword to the book, Education is Everybody's Business. He is particularly interested in creative community building, creative education, local food and sustainable agriculture, and creative aging.

About Lincoln Center Institute (LCI):
LCI is the educational cornerstone of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., and is the model for arts education programs across the U.S. and abroad. Founded in 1975, the Institute is known for its inventive repertory, and brings music, dance, theater, visual arts, and architecture into classrooms in the New York City area, across the nation, and around the world. In more than three decades of outreach, LCI's approach has reached more than 20 million students, teachers, administrators, parents, community members and professors of education worldwide. The number is projected to increase in the next few years, thanks to LCI's highly successful professional development programs and Internet presence.

"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.

Creativity, Education and the Brain

[22 September 2008 - By Steven Dahlberg - Reporting from the Global Creative Leadership Summit] In his introduction to the panel on "Education, Creativity and the Mind," neuroscientist and moderator Antonio Damasio raised several questions about the intersection of these three topics:

• How might education promote cultural understanding? Not just skills and knowledge; but becoming citizens who understand the working of societies, or respect the well-being of the other.
• How might culture be used to promote the well-being of others?
• How might the arts and humanities fields be used in schools to promote cultural understanding?
  

Damasio is a professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute. He said classrooms and textbooks are no longer the necessary basis for what's going on in learning and education. When they are used, they need to be put to the right service to be effective.

He said one way that neuroscience can be used in support of education is to better understand how neurobiology illuminates the social process -- what brains are doing when they are engaged in social interaction..

Highlights and comments from the rest of this session:

• "Play is a child's work," said Hasbro Chairman Alan Hassenfeld. He is also working to set up one global human rights standard for toy safety.
• Seattle-based artist Susan Robb said she frequently asks students WHO they want to be rather than WHAT they want to be. She also suggested used Visual Thinking Strategies as a tool for helping young people understand art.
• Architect Richard Meier said that new thinking and new ways of rebuilding our cities -- such as post-Katrina New Orleans -- are being ignored.
• Australian neuroscientist Richard Silberstein said there's been an explosive pathologizing of ADHD with three- to nine-percent of the population supposedly afflicted by it. This caused him to wonder if some people being medicated for a pathological condition labeled "ADHD" might actually have something else going on. That is, might there be a spectrum of thinking styles, which ranges from more convergent and orderly thinking (the kind often found in classrooms) to more divergent and dynamic thinking. In a study that is just beginning to produce some results, he is finding connections between ADHD, high IQ and high levels of creativity. Using the Torrance Tests for Creative Thinking and neuroscience measurements, he is looking at connections between creative thinking and the way that regions of the brain communicate with each other. He said that the brain states required for focused work are not the same as those necessary for high creativity. Finally, he talked about the connection between motivation and hope and the importance of a neurobiology of hope. He said hopelessness lowers the neurotransmitters that make learning possible.
• Allan Goodman, president and CEO of Institute of International Education, said brains need safety. He talked about the issues of mobility and safety for scholars, especially in countries with high levels of threats and violence.
• Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Majid Fotuhi said that "learning requires a healthy brain." He pointed out the connection between obesity and dementia, and said that childhood obesity is affecting the brains of children both now and in the long term. Brains of overweight children do not get enough oxygen, which in turn affects the overall health and functioning of the brain.
• Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales talked about the importance of informal learning communities and how technology and informal processes can enhance and encourage creative exploration and the playing with ideas.
• Oxford neuroscientist Colin Blakemore raised the interplay between common sense, education, science and the brain. For instance, he asked why many schools have not changed their language-teaching curriculums to teach languages to children younger than 10, rather than in middle and high school were many students still begin learning languages. Brain research shows the brain's great capacity to learn languages in the first 10 years of its development, yet schools often teach language after the brain as foreclosed on its peak language-learning capacity. He advocated for a new biologically based science of education, which better integrates neurosciences insights about learning into how society does education. Finally, he talked about the importance of learning in real situations versus structured, metaphorical ways; and the importance of teachers conveying their own passion and enthusiasm. "Great teachers convey the great enthusiasm that drives them."
• MIT neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher asked: How can education enhance our capacity to express empathetic understanding? How might we use the Web to create cheaper versions of cultural and educational exchanges for young people, given the great impact of such face-to-face exchanges?
• Oxford physiologist John Stein emphasized again the importance of active learning as a much better way for teaching children. He said many communities and schools have an obsession with safety that has outweighed the opportunities for play and for being in nature. Talking about visually dyslexic people, he said many of them are incredibly creative, though they have problems reading. He's interested in the ways and the why that dyslexics are creative. He also shared his research about the impact of poor nutrition on learning and the brain. He has found impaired brain cells in dyslexics and his research has shown positive improvements in some people when they increase their intake of vitamins, minerals and Omega-3 fatty acids. He said a deficiency in nutrition can lead to an inability to pick up social cues. In one of his prison studies, he found that by addressing nutrition deficiencies in prisoners, there was a one-third reduction in further offending.
• The Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende summarized what he heard from these contributors: the importance of informal learning and its relationship to the formal classroom; responsible citizenship is core to a good society; the role of culture and art and whether one's country or community has a stimulating climate of culture; and the importance of education for positive social interaction.
• Gerard Mortier, director general of the Paris National Opera, said art is not an appendage of society, but at its center.
• Finally, Teachers Without Borders founder Fred Mednick asked how might we scale goodness?

ABOUT THE SUMMIT AND SPONSOR: The Global Creative Leadership Summit, sponsored by the Louise Blouin Foundation, is a three-day forum that brings together great international minds -- including heads of state, CEOs, Nobel Prize-winners and acclaimed artists -- to address pressing global issues, including geo-economics, foreign policy, education, health, poverty and climate change. The Summit also has a goal to work with developed and developing nations alike in order to best address global issues. The Louise Blouin Foundation is an international nonprofit organization that seeks to provide a globalization platform to address challenges in such diverse areas as international trade, foreign policy, education and the environment through the lens of culture and neuroscience.

Jane Goodall Seeks Creative, Engaged Kids Who Want to Make a Difference

[22 September 2008 - By Steven Dahlberg - Reporting from the Global Creative Leadership Summit] Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace, made a gentle-yet-impassioned plea for society to support and encourage children's natural creaivity.

Drawing from her decades of work studying chimpanzees, she described how chimpanzee childhood is marked by sheer joy and the freedom to explore. She said that by exploring the social and physical world around them, chimpanzees learn not only their own strengths and weaknesses, but those of others around them, too. Chimps are curious, inventive and adaptive. They are able to pass on learning to others around them.

This natural creativity in early childhood is not unlike that of human childhood.

Yet, "we are depriving children of their childhood," Dr. Goodall said, because of the over-structuring of their lives and free time.

Dr. Goodall described the Roots & Shoots program that she founded to emphasize experiential learning with a focus on the outdoors and nature -- with its goal of "no child left inside." She said Roots & Shoots helps children develop their own passion, empowers them to come up with their own ideas, and provides opportunities for hands-on action in their communities.

Roots & Shoots participants choose projects that will positively impact people, animals and the environment. Through these hands-on experiences, Dr. Goodall hopes young people gain a better understanding of what it means to "live in harmony."

"Every single one of us makes a difference," she said, adding that she frequently speaks with young people whom have never been told this. "We all have a choice what kind of impact we'll make."

Louisiana Gets Creative Economies

[25 March 2008 - From New York - Applied Imagination - By Steven Dahlberg] Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu came to New York this week to share Louisiana's efforts to put culture and creativity at the heart of economic and community development. He was joined at Jazz at Lincoln Center by his colleagues from the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development and the Cultural Economy Foundation, along with New Orleans native and Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Clarkson and New Orleans native and pianist Jonathan Batiste.

Landrieu described the Louisiana Cultural Economy Initiative and announced one of its key components -- the World Cultural Economic Forum (WCEF) to be held in New Orleans from October 29 to 31, 2008. This event will bring together policy-makers, artists, practitioners, cultural workers, educators, economic development leaders, business people and others from around the world. The International Centre for Creativity and Imagination is pleased to be assisting the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development with this event.

One of the challenges of linking culture and economy, Landrieu said, is how people can do what they love and make a living at it -- in the community in which they live. That is, how do you keep the creative talent in your community -- and the economic impact they produce -- rather than exporting it to other communities.

Landrieu raised some important questions that Louisiana is exploring on an on-going basis and that will be explored at the WCEF:

• How do we grow culture from the ground up to capture the inherent authenticity and richness of a community?
• How do we engage the creative endeavors of both the 'front-of-house" artists and the "back-of-house" staff?
• How do we add value to intellectual capital?
• How do we capture the creative things that are native to a community and share them with the world?
• What is the relationship between poverty and culture?
• How can culture re-create neighborhoods and make them safe? ("This is the ultimate goal of sharing New Orleans' and Louisiana's cultural economic success," he said.)
• Is democracy more important than culture? Can you have both? Is the best way to spread democracy by spreading culture?

Landrieu is asking pretty big and important questions. Let's hope these questions rise to a national discussion in the coming election cycle.

It's important to teach creativity and arts if you are going to grow a community's economy through culture, Landrieu said. This is one reason that Louisiana has mandated arts education for all students from kindergarten through 12th grade. "Art and culture have a residual effect on all," he said.

Louisiana wants to be the focal point for a global discussion about culture, which is why New Orleans is hosting the WCEF. The intersecting issues of culture, race and poverty are not unique to New Orleans, but issues facing communities all over the world. The WCEF seeks to provide a space where people can talk and design and then go back to their own communities and tap into the authenticity and richness of culture there.

In introducing actress Patricia Clarkson, Landrieu commented on the network of his Louisiana creative peers -- which include Clarkson, Wynton Marsalis (artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center) and Harry Connick, Jr. -- "when you work with creative people who believe that anything is possible, you find out that it is."

"We are the products of Louisiana," Clarkson responded. "My state made me the actress I am today -- what I was surrounded by. Sometimes I return home to get a charge, a jolt."

Watch for more information about the World Cultural Economic Forum coming soon.

[Pictured above are musician Jonathan Batiste, actress Patricia Clarkson and Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu]

Art with heart ... Community banner project to brighten downtown Rock Hill

From my creative community work during the last week-and-a-half in Rock Hill, South Carolina ...

[7 February 2008 - The Herald - Rock Hill, South Carolina] A splash of color will liven up the winter blahs in downtown Rock Hill, part of a community arts program sponsored by the Arts Council of York County and the Rock Hill school district. ... The public arts project was brought to Rock Hill by the school district and arts center as a way to get children and community members involved in public art, said Kristin Sessions, resource development coordinator for the center. ... The community art project, titled Creativity: The Heart of the Community, is led by artists in residence Steven Dahlberg and JoAnn Moran, both from Connecticut. The project is a way for people to express themselves and participate in creating their own community through art, Dahlberg said. "It is a way to engage people in creating their community and bring people together that wouldn't normally work together, like youth and adults." Dahlberg said. ... Dahlberg said the project is collaborative, so everyone can add something. More

Seen and Heard: Reclaiming the public realm with children and young people

[14 November 2007 - DEMOS - UK] Until now, action to improve the lives of children and young people has tended to focus on the institutional spheres of home and school. Yet quality of life also depends on the access to and quality of shared resources such as streets, parks, town centres and playgrounds. And here, in the everyday spaces of our towns and cities, we increasingly exclude and marginalise the young. In the pursuit of sustainable communities and urban renaissance, children and young people are too often left out of the script. Children and young people have limited independence – both financially and spatially –and depend on shared spaces more than others. With trends in Britain pointing towards less outdoor play, increased parental anxiety and less tolerance for children and young people, the impact of an unwelcoming public realm on their health and well-being is becoming increasingly clear. Seen and Heard: Reclaiming the public realm with children and young people draws on six case studies to explore the everyday experiences of children in public. It argues that we need a paradigm shift in the way we think about the built environment- one which addresses the deepening segregation between generations. The needs of the young are not opposed to those of other users of public spaces, but closely aligned. With a range of recommendations designed to empower frontline professionals and young people, this pamphlet offers practical steps to create communities that are welcoming for all. More Watch Short Video