Creativity Food and Science - Ferran Adria

He's been called the Salvador Dali of the kitchen and graced the covers of The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine and Time. He was brought in by Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences yet considers himself an artist. Read this case study on his creative process published by the ESADE School of Business:

http://www.elbulli.com/esade/Caso_Ferran_Adria_and_elBulli-ESADE_en.pdf

Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education

http://www.creative.wisconsin.gov/

Rationale Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor, Barbara Lawton, and State Superintendent of Schools, Elizabeth Burmaster, established the Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education to address the essential role arts education and the development of all students' creative capacities plays in the lives of students, in defining their future, the quality of life in Wisconsin communities and our state's economy.

In this 21st century global economy, Wisconsin's competitive edge will be the talent it develops for innovation and entrepreneurship. In a fast-changing world where we are bombarded with more information than can be humanly processed, knowledge represents what can be known and creativity is the capacity to manage the unknown.

In this context, the following equation must drive smart allocation of resources in education: Knowledge + Creativity = Competitive Edge.

Creativity drives innovations in science, business, technology and even service industries; entrepreneurs are problem-solvers, innovators by definition, visionaries when at their best.

Developing the arts and creativity in education programs is both a deliberate workforce development strategy and one that will stimulate innovation/creativity and enable entrepreneurship. The new Wisconsin brand platform developed by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism points to our state's historic identity as fostering a culture of original thinkers across economic sectors. Wisconsin's future prosperity depends on our success in establishing our leadership in innovation and ideas to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education is charged to:
- Examine the quality and amount of arts education and creativity development that students currently receive in public schools pre-K through 12, and gauge the impact of relevant state level policies and local practices on the scope and access statewide to quality arts education opportunities.
- Create and assess an inventory of arts education programs offered both during and after school by the nonprofit arts organizations.
- Develop an inventory of model projects and curriculum developing creative capacities in all disciplines that are already being used in the classroom to disseminate broadly.
- Develop a "GPS" to guide educators, policymakers, parents and communities in developing strong programs through DPI, state policies and collaborative practices to ensure that every Wisconsin child has the opportunity to develop their competitive edge.
-Identify those state and local agencies, organizations and businesses that can collaborate with schools, and will provide community leadership and additional resources to support arts education.

The work of the Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education will encompass, but is not limited to, issues and related policies such as:
- State-supported programs for arts education and creativity.
- The incidence of use of the arts and its impact on learning in other disciplines.
- School/community arts education partnerships.
- Expanding the reach of arts and creativity in education to under-served populations.
- Diversity in arts education programs, including 21st century art forms.
- Impact of state laws and rules on arts education in schools.
- Alignment of arts and creativity education with high school graduation and post-secondary education.
- Alignment of arts and creativity education with workforce and entrepreneurial development, including identified 21st century skills.
- Equity of access and participation within arts and creativity in education programs.
- Teacher education and learning strategies to advance arts and creativity in education.

Idea man feels need to re-invent himself

Bob Isherwood has quit his role as worldwide creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, citing a need to have "more than one life in my lifetime." 

Mr. Isherwood has been at Saatchi since 1986, when he joined the Publicis Groupe agency's Sydney office. He became a creative director in 1988, and has been worldwide creative director and a member of the network's executive board since 1996. His departure from the agency, which is led by Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts, breaks up one of the longest-standing leadership teams in the agency business. Isherwood originally brought Roberts to the agency having worked with him as a client, and their friendship extended beyond business -- Roberts was best man at Isherwood's wedding. 

Alongside Roberts, Isherwood tried to push the idea that Saatchi & Saatchi is an ideas agency, not an ad agency. (In 1992 they removed the word "advertising" from the agency's nameplates around the world.) Isherwood is respected for his ability to find and marshal talent, and he has overseen the creative output through a major expansion in the agency's revenue and thousands of awards victories. 

But people close to Isherwood said that for some time now he has been antsy and niggled by a feeling that he needed to do something new. "For the past 12 years I've been focused on the reinvention of Saatchi & Saatchi," he told Ad Age from his home in Miami. "Now I've reached a point where I feel a need to reinvent myself." 

Roberts said he'd known it was coming. "This has been brewing for a year," he said. "Bob's a restless creative guy. We've been privileged to have him for the best part of 20 years. Over the last two months he took some time off to think about it, and we supported and understood that decision. But he has lots of juice left, he's not just going to wonder into the darkness, and he felt he needed to explore that. He's the only one I've ever worked with, and while I'm really excited for him, I'm devastated too." 

Mr. Isherwood, who numbers the creation of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase and the Award for World Changing Ideas among his achievements, said he does not know exactly what the next chapter will be. "I have an idea for something for President-elect Obama, plus there are lots of opportunities I can see on the client side of our business where creativity can play a key role, particularly in this current economic climate," he said. 

He added that he felt he had to make the break from Saatchi before pursuing a new role, noting that people didn't tend to think of him for other opportunities given his longtime association with the agency. "Now I'm putting a sign on my door, 'Open for business.'" 

Roberts said he wouldn't replace Isherwood right away. "For me this is personal," he said. "When you've had a relationship like this one, you don't want to jump into something new on the rebound. I'm going to let a little time pass, see in the new year, and then focus on what we should do next." 

You can read more about Isherwood's ideas and achievements at his website.

From: Creativity, Nov. 10, 2008

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, fulfillment and flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Positive psychologist

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has contributed pioneering work to our understanding of happiness, creativity, human fulfillment and the notion of "flow" -- a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play and work.

This TED Talk focuses on Creativity, fulfillment, and flow.

Why you should listen to him:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. A leading researcher in positive psychology, he has devoted his life to studying what makes people truly happy: "When we are involved in [creativity], we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life." He is the architect of the notion of "flow" -- the creative moment when a person is completely involved in an activity for its own sake.

Csikszentmihalyi teaches psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, focusing on human strengths such as optimism, motivation and responsibility. He's the director the the Quality of Life Research Center there. He has written numerous books and papers about the search for joy and fulfillment.

"A man obsessed by happiness."

Richard Flaste, New York Times

Spore's User Generated Universe

This "Creativity" article explores how Electronic Arts' new game "Spore" puts creativity in the hands of gamers.

"Spore is essentially a series of editors, the first of which, Creature Creator, was released in June on the Spore website. With these editors, gamers can create organisms and direct their evolution from single cell to full-on creatures. But that's just the beginning. Once a species has been born, players can help them evolve from primitive beginnings, all the way to space explorers. If someone wants to dominate the universe, he can build a space armada and blow up planets. But peaceful exploration is also possible. Gamers can also just spend all of their time making creatures, which are then uploaded into the Spore universe. Players can use their creations, or ready-made designs that ship with the game, or browse the myriad community-created entities in an online database, Sporepedia."

To read the entire article which includes an interview with Spore's creator, Will Wright, who also developed the popular Sims, go to Creativity Online by clicking below:

http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=131036

2008 MacArthur "Genius Award" Fellows

Read and meet the 25 researchers, artists and doctors honored for exceptional creativity with 

MacArthur Genius" Award for 2008. 

Chimamanda Adichie is one of this year's winners.

Fiction Writer exploring the circumstances that lead to ethnic conflict in richly imagined novels and stories inspired by events in her native Nigeria.

To read about all of the award winners, go to:

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.4536877/

To meet the winners through video, go to:

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.4513915/apps/nl/newsletter3.asp

Creativity is the US edge and it comes from a burning desire to be engaged

"...we have to find our niche, what are our niches, what our students can do, and the US has traditionally been excelling in creativity that means if you look at today's economy, the information age, a lot of our new technology were actually, in fact invented in the US, and we have more patents than any other countries so far, and that comes from a level of creativity, which many other countries, even like countries we admire in terms of the test score, Singapore, Japan, Korea and China, they all want creativity. They are actually reforming their schools in an opposite direction. They want to relax; they want more flexibility for students, for schools and they want to expand the definition of success to include the ability in other areas as music, as arts...

Creativity comes from really a strong interest, a burning desire to be engaged in something and through those engagements you will learn, you will find out...

So, I am hoping that the fact of the local control of scoring the tradition in the US gives more diversity in how we treat different talents, how we value different talents in different communities."

Interview with Dr. Yong Zhao, Michigan State University
University Distinguished Professor of the College of Education
Director of the Center of Technology and Teaching
Director of the US-China for Research on Educational Excellence
Executive Director of the Confucius Institute