A Creative Community Building Week

[18 January 2009 - Creative Community Building Program, University of Connecticut] This week brings special attention to creative communitybuilding in the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday and the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. The many festivities going on locally and nationally are reminders of the importance of service, social justice, hope, transformation and creativity. Indeed, MLK once reminded us that "almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better" and every person "must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." Let these few days be reminders to us to become creative people of hope, people of service, people of justice and people of peace.

Let us know how you are doing and being such a person by sharing your comments below.

Ken Robinson Encourages Creativity, Passion and Talents

[15 January 2009 - Applied Imagination - By Steven Dahlberg, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination] Creativity writer and consultant Ken Robinson launched his new book, "The Element," last night at the Ridgefield Play House in Connecticut at an event sponsored by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

Robinson began by reminding the audience of the power of the imagination. "All cities owe their existence to imagination," he said. "It's this power of imagination will take us into the future -- or not. And it's this kind of imagination that's most at risk. I think we squander it. Not only squander it -- but suppress it ruthlessly."

Robinson went on to talk about his concept of "the element," which includes:

1. Discovering what one's talents are. Doing something for which one has a natural aptitude. Doing something with which one resonates. "Many people have never discovered their real, natural talents."
2. Doing something one loves to do. "People achieve their best when they do what they love."
   

"Aptitude has to meet passion," he said. "And you'll never 'work' again."

He said finding one's element(s) is not only essential to finding personal fulfillment, purpose and meaning, but it's essential to the balance of our communities. Plus, he said it has a bottom-line economic implication. "We are living in times of absolute revolution," he told the audience of more than 500 people. "Revolution demands that we think differently."

He urged people to pay attention to what assumptions they make and what they take for granted. "Things we take for granted turn out not to be true," he said.

Robinson suggested this country has a "crisis of human resources" in which people area unaware of what they are good at, what talents they have, and how to do what they love to do. "Human resources are often buried deep," he said. "You have to go looking for them."

Photo taken in the Ashford Mill and Jubilee Pass area by Ranger Alan Vanvalkenburg

He said the conditions need to be right for these resources to reveal themselves -- and then one has to be ready to do something with them when they appear. He used the example of the flowering of the normally barren Death Valley in 2005 as an example how deeply buried seeds can lay dormant for scores of years waiting for the conditions to be right to sprout and flower. "Death Valley is dormant, not dead," he said.

As always, Robinson critiqued education's overemphasis on particular kinds of thinking and learning (a la his TED presentation on "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" which has been viewed online by a couple of million people).

"Education was devised to develop a particular type of talents," he said, adding that people think they are not smart because of the hierarchy of what kind of thinking is taught and shown importance.

Robinson shared what the three founders of The Blue Man Group are doing to address the lack of creativity in education. They have founded The Blue School. This will be something to watch -- if not participate in.

His final message came from the tag line of his book:
"Finding your passion changes everything."

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I was honored to also participate in a pre-lecture Roundtable on "Innovation in Our Schools" with colleagues from education, arts, business and government. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum hosted the Roundtable as a means of bringing together creativity advocates from different fields to move forward creativity and education topics. The question the Aldrich organizers asked was:

"What does it look like, feel like and sound like when all of the partners in a student's learning community (i.e. peers, teachers, administrators, parents, coaches, community organizations, businesses, etc.) model creativity and innovation in a way that serves the student?"

A brief summary of responses included suggestions to focus on:

• What "success" looks like and how it is defined -- and to include such components as passion, talents and creativity, as described above by Ken Robinson.
• Mentoring.
• The power of process.
• Communicating creative and critical thinking processes.
• The "making" of things.
  

Mead on Diverse Unity

[12 January 2009 - Higher Awareness] "If we are to achieve a rich culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place." -- Margaret Mead

Urban Education Commentary

[8 January 2009 - Annenberg Institute for School Reform] Annenberg Institute Executive Director Warren Simmons speaks out to president-elect Barack Obama, on ways to improve urban education. ... In this inaugural "speak out" message, Simmons suggests three areas the new administration can address:

• Building "smart education systems.”
• Changing the nature of teaching as a profession.
• Redefining the role of parents and communities in education.

These three proposals are far from the only areas of federal policy that affect education in urban communities. Our work, though, shows that they are high-leverage ideas that, if enacted, could substantially improve outcomes among urban youths. The Annenberg Institute stands ready to provide you and your staff any additional information you might need about these or any other ideas, and we will do whatever we can to help put these ideas into practice, if you so choose. More

National Scholarship Announcements - On Community Building

[8 January 2009 - The Office of National Scholarships] Scholarships for Human Rights Students & Social Justice Advocates:

The Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship is "a unique leadership development opportunity for motivated individuals seeking to make a difference in the struggle to eliminate hunger and poverty." The program is open to recent graduate and involves leadership training and field work at rural, urban and national agencies. DEADLINE is January 22, 2009.Students may visit http://www.hungercenter.org/national/applicationinfo.htm for an application and more information.

The Davis-Putter Scholarship is intended for students (undergraduates and graduates) who are "active in movements for social and economic justice" and demonstrate financial need. Maximum award is $8,000 open to any discipline. Students do not need to be U.S. citizens (but must be living & going to school in the U.S.). The 2009 application will be available in January with a DEADLINE of APRIL 1, 2009. Students may visit http://www.davisputter.org/index.html for an application (when it becomes available) and more information.

Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowships are six-nine month positions with non-profit advocacy groups in Washington D.C. Fellows receive a stipend of $2,200 per month and health insurance, plus travel expenses. Students must complete their undergraduate degrees before the fellowship period – graduate students are also encouraged to apply. The DEADLINE for a Fall 2009 Fellowship is February 2, 2009; the DEADLINE for a Spring 2010 Fellowship is October 15, 2009. Students may visit http://www.scoville.org/apply.html#iif07 for an application and more information.

Rotary World Peace Fellowship are competitive fellowships leading to a master's degree or professional development certificate at one of seven Rotary Center in partnership with eight universities: Chulalongkorn University (Bankok, Thailand); Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan); University del Salvador (Buenos Aires, Argentina); University of Bradford (West Yorkshire, England); University of California, Berkeley; University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). DEADLINE: 2010 Applications must be sponsored by a local Rotary club and endorsed by July 1, 2009, so students need to contact a local Rotary club ASAP to obtain district deadlines. Full guidelines, selection and eligibility criteria and the application are available at:
http://www.rotary.org/en/StudentsAndYouth/EducationalPrograms/RotaryCentersForInternationalStudies/Pages/HowToApply.aspx

The Samuel Huntington Public Service Award provides a $10,000 stipend to a graduating college senior to pursue public service anywhere in the world. DEADLINE is February 13, 2009
Students may visit http://www.nationalgridus.com/commitment/d4-1_award.asp for an
application and more information.

Also, applications for the William E. Simon Fellowship for Noble Purpose are due in mid-January of each year. (This year's application is due January 16, 2009 for any last minute candidates.) This award, designed to encourage students to devote their lives to benefitting their fellow men and women, is a $40,000 unrestricted cash grant for a "noble purpose". See http://www.isi.org/programs/fellowships/simon.html for more information.

WindhamARTS Hosts Creativity Networking With New York Composer/Violinist Roumain

[6 January 2008 - International Centre for Creativity and Imagination - By Steven Dahlberg] New York-based composer, performer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain will be featured at the WindhamARTS Collaborative’s Creativity Networking event, which will explore “Threads of Creativity in Art and Science.” It will be held Wednesday, January 7, 2009, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Annex at WindhamARTS, 866 Main Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226. The event is $5 and open to all; RSVP to 860-450-1287.

Roumain will be joined by artist Imna Arroyo, scientists Hedley Freake and Christian Brueckner, creativity educator Steven Dahlberg, and the public to explore the intersection of creativity, art and science. This event is in collaboration with the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts and the University of Connecticut's "Year of Science 2009” project.

The monthly Creativity Networking Series is sponsored by the WindhamARTS Collaborative and the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. It provides a regular forum for people to explore the many facets of creativity and to discover other people interested in creativity. Additional support comes from the Willimantic Brewing Company.

Roumain will return to Connecticut for a bicentennial celebration and performance of his composition, "Darwin's Meditation for The People of Lincoln," on February 12, 2009, celebrating that auspicious day of February 12, 1809, when Darwin and Lincoln were born within hours of one another. This performance launches the University of Connecticut’s "Year of Science 2009." More information about the performance is available here. Ticket information is available online.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:
Known for fusing his classical music roots with a myriad of soundscapes, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) has carved a reputation for himself as a passionately innovative composer, performer, violinist and band leader. His exploration of musical rhythms and classically-driven sounds is peppered by his own cultural references and vibrant musical imagination. As a composer, his dramatic soul-inspiring pieces range from orchestral scores and energetic chamber works to rock songs and electronica. According to the New York Times, his "eclecticism was wide-ranging as ever" in One Loss Plus, DBR's evening-length, multimedia work for electric/acoustic violin, prepared/amplified piano, electronics, and video which debuted at BAM's 2007 Next Wave Festival. The second commission, which premiered at BAM's 2008 Next Wave Festival is "Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln," a musical setting of a new pocket play by Daniel Beaty exploring an imagined conversation between Darwin and Lincoln featuring the chamber orchestra SymphoNYC, and internationally renowned Haitian recording artist Emeline Michel.

Artist Imna Arroyo was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Her work is in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, Yale Art Gallery and Schomberg Center for Research and Black Culture. She is a professor of art at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she has chaired the Visual Arts Department.
www.imnaarroyo.com

Hedley Freake is a professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, with a joint appointment in molecular and cell biology. He holds a Ph.D. in physiology from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. His research has been funded by National Institutes of Health and United States Department of Agriculture. His laboratory uses molecular approaches to address questions of nutritional significance.
www.canr.uconn.edu/nutsci/nutsci/hpg/freake.html

Christian Brueckner is a professor of bioinorganic and inorganic chemistry at the University of Connecticut, where he runs a lab that specializes in the synthesis of molecules with designed properties -- or, creating molecules.
bruckner.chem.uconn.edu/

Steven Dahlberg heads the Willimantic, Connecticut-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He is a faculty member and associate director of the Creative Community Building Program at the University of Connecticut. Dahlberg authored the foreword to the book, "Education is Everybody’s Business: A Wake-Up Call to Advocates of Educational Change."
www.appliedimagination.org

ABOUT WINDHAMARTS:
The WindhamARTS Collaborative is comprised of member arts organizations and individuals who came together in 2001 to foster and promote the arts and cultural life of the Windham region. Its goal is to maintain a multicultural, multidisciplinary, and multifaceted arts center where artists and artisans can interact with the public by sharing their creative endeavors.
www.windhamarts.org