Calling All Creatives: Social Entrepreneurs and Social Innovation

February 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In my last post, I explored the concept of using creativity as an agent of social change and highlighted a program in Cleveland that was doing just that. I also asked readers to share their own examples of creativity and community building.

One reader, Isobel, left a comment praising the organization Ashoka and the partnership between IDEO and the Gates Foundation. I decided to check out her suggestions and was thoroughly impressed.

Ashoka is a leader in the social entrepreneur movement supporting some 2,000 fellows in 60 different countries with projects ranging from sanitation to establishing schools. Ashoka has created a global network of innovation and creativity empowering regular citizens to become change makers.

Similarly, IDEO, not only has an alliance with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support projects on health but with several other well-known global foundations. At IDEO, it is not just about innovation but social innovation as defined by using design-thinking principles to better serve underprivileged areas and communities. Recent examples of projects have included the Human Centered Design Project providing a tool kit for innovation and the universal ear, an affordable hearing aid both created for developing nations.

Finally, have you heard about the Pepsi Refresh Project? I kept seeing and hearing the ads for this new idea generating initiative sponsored by Pepsi, while my mind was still percolating ideas for this post. Anyway, Pepsi is providing various sums of money to those individuals and organizations that come up with ideas that have a positive impact on a community.

Unfortunately the limited number of applications for this grant cycle has been filled, but you can still enter your idea for future funding cycles in the following categories: health, arts & culture, food & shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and educations. I’ve had fun looking through the art submissions. Vote for your favorite ideas or submit your own next month and make a change in your neighborhood!

Filed Under: Calling All Creatives

Creativity is About Perspective

February 1, 2010 by 1 Comment

The other day, while taking off my earrings, I dropped one on the floor. I looked down but couldn’t see it. The tiny earring blended right into the hardwood floor. I decided the only way to actually find it was to change my perspective by getting on the floor to locate it.

Voila! Within seconds of bending down and getting on the floor to look for it, I found the earring. It reminded me that creativity is also all about perspective.

Similar to me not being able to find my earring while staying in the same position, creative ideas aren’t usually found by thinking the same thoughts. Creativity requires us to take a different approach to finding the answers, like I took a different approach to finding my earring. I could have stood there all day looking for it, but if I hadn’t changed my perspective I would have never found it.

  • How can you change your creative perspective?
Filed Under: Creativity, Creativity Techniques, Ideas

Everyday Creative: Let’s Begin

January 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Like most years, I decided to start 2010 by dedicating the year to becoming more creative. Usually, my dedication ends up occurring in not so everyday inspirational spurts. I hope this year will be different. I hope my creativity remains constant and in the forefront of everything I do.

So how am I going to manage to pull off this feat? By learning to be everyday creative by following Eric Maisel’s The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance. Yes, that’s a year’s worth of dedication!

I first encountered creativity coach extraordinaire, Eric Maisel’s work when I signed up for his Intro to Creativity Coaching online course five years ago. At the time, I was working as a museum educator, where I was focusing on everyone else’s creativity but my own. The course not only taught me how to empower other creatives but how to focus on my own creativity.

After I finished the course, I worked for almost a year with a creativity coach, moved to another part of the country, and switched careers. But before I changed careers completely, I had some time to explore my inner creative urges. I signed up for art classes, exhibited my work in shows, launched my blog, taught creativity and art workshops and realized that I was creative.

But like most things, life got in the way. I began to create less frequently, post only weekly to my blog, and abandoned my membership to the National Collage Society. So when I thought about my goals for the year, the first thing I did was dust off the Creativity Book. I decided I wanted to explore being an everyday creative person- something I’ve never really been able to accomplish. Like a lot of creatives, my inspiration erratically ebbs and flows, but what if I focused on it and nurtured it everyday instead of just some of the days?

You are probably wondering why I am starting the program now after the year has already begun. The book is only divided into 11 monthly sections. The 12th section is dedicated to creating a work, whatever you want it to be. My work will be to continue to be an everyday creative, which I realize could change during the course of the year.

Filed Under: Everyday Creative, Inspiration

Introducing Five {5} Creative Questions

January 18, 2010 by 1 Comment

Five {5} Creative Questions is a new feature I am starting this year on the blog. Each month, I plan to highlight a different creator and have them answer the same 5 questions on creativity, their creative process and inspiration. I hope you enjoy!

Our first guest is the talented Dee Wilcox, who you may already know from the fantastic blog, Creative Perch.

Dee is a graphic designer, marketer, and writer. A little bit about Dee… she is 50% right-brained and 50% left-brained. Her interests are rather eclectic, and she believes the combination of these two qualities makes her a better writer. She loves trend-watching and all things design. She believes that public art can raise the spirit of a community and lift the individual spirit, as well. She loves the art and process of creating. Creating is in her blood. Her creative bent is her favorite thing about herself.

1. What does creativity mean to you?
I believe creativity is both an innate ability and a skill that we can develop to bring a creative approach to every aspect of our lives. In other words, creativity allows us to bring new ideas and concepts and approaches into existence that were never there before. It also allows us to tweak current ideas, develop a new perspective, and see things in new ways.

2. What is your creative process, and what tools do you use to stimulate it?
My creative process generally begins with working a problem over in my mind. I become aware of a new challenge, or that something is lacking in a particular area or project. Sometimes I “sit” with the idea for awhile – I think about it in an inactive way. For example, I might keep a particular problem in the back of my mind while I am working in my garden or walking my dog. Other times, I begin the brainstorming process right away, and then let the ideas incubate for a while. Usually either after the brainstorming or incubation process, I find what seems like might be a potential route or approach to tackling the problem or project. From there, it is usually trial and error until I come up with something that seems like a fit. Then, I test it – usually by asking people I trust for feedback. Usually, at that point the process begins again.

The tools I use to stimulate my creative process can vary quite a bit. I rely a lot on the Internet and on relationships. I am constantly reading magazines and blogs, and I use Evernote to clip ideas that inspire me. The Internet is also great for researching topics that I have absolutely no knowledge about. I rely on relationships to give me real world feedback. I also invest in experiences and resources – these often expand my creative horizons in ways I could never achieve on my own.

3. What is your most creative time of day?
I am usually most creative in the morning, before I’ve checked my email. My mind is clear, and the house is quiet. I can think with more clarity, and when I am writing, words seem to flow more easily. Occasionally I’ll have a creative burst in the afternoon or late evening, but I try to plan time in the morning to work on projects that require my best.

4. How do you infuse creativity into your daily life and tasks?
Many times, I have to intentionally make room for creativity, especially when a day’s projects or tasks feel the farthest thing from creative. I make time to read blogs by creative people, and I listen to music that inspires me throughout the day. I have a “go-to” playlist in my iTunes that really helps me get into a creative groove. Another way that I try to keep a creative atmosphere going on even my most un-creative days is by crafting my environment. I have a workspace that is full of things that inspire me, and when that isn’t working for me, I spend the day working in a stimulating environment – a coffeeshop, a bookstore, a museum.

5. What creative tip or resource would you like to share with our readers?
The difference-maker for me is always honoring the fact that we are made creative. We were never intended to shut out our creative selves in pursuit of other, perhaps more “practical” qualities. Making time for creativity refreshes the heart and can in turn influence every other aspect of life. To me, creativity isn’t something that I have time for on the weekends. It has become something I honor and make room for in my life every day.

  • THANKS Dee!
Filed Under: Five {5} Creative Questions, Inspiration

Calling All Creatives: From Vacant Lots to Vineyards

January 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

What is the role of creativity? We all know the function that creativity plays in art and innovation, but what is the purpose of using creativity to build and enhance our communities? I’d like to look at using creativity as an agent of change and encourage you to think more creatively about your community.

I first encountered the idea of creativity for change while an undergraduate studying art history. This is where I first learned about art movements, primarily in the late 20th Century, using creativity for social change. Years later while working in museums in Washington, DC, I encountered another way that the arts affect change through my personal interactions with inner city school children. For them art was a way to escape, but not change their social situation.

Now, I’d like to explore how the ideas behind the art (aka creativity) can generate community. But I am not talking about Richard Florida’s concept of the Creative Class, which while a wonderful theory only takes into account the people that use creativity for their profession. What I’d like to see more of is everyone, not just professional creatives, using their ideas to improve the quality of their cities and neighborhoods.

To begin this quest, I looked no further than my own (figurative) backyard – the city of Cleveland. Late last year, the results of an exciting new program were announced, and it could just be the idea that transforms a depressed Rust Belt city into a sustainability success story. Fast Company even selected Cleveland as one their 13 Most Creative Cities in the World last year based on this program.

The Re-Imagining Cleveland Grant Program gives residents the power to redesign their own city. The program sought out submissions from local residents on how to reuse the plethora of vacant lots in Cleveland. Instead of relying on a development corporation, the program encourages residents to come up with their own sustainable ideas.

And did they ever come up with ideas. Out of 103 proposals 58 proposals were chosen with ideas ranging from a vineyard, market garden and even a garden tended by a group of African refugees struggling to get by on food stamps. The creativity and innovation on the part of the citizens was simply remarkable.

Later in the year, I plan to report about the successful implementation of these ideas. But in the meantime, do you know of everyday citizens who are transforming their communities through creativity or using creative thinking to solve problems like they did in Cleveland? I’d like to feature them in a later post.

Please leave me a comment and let know who they are.

Filed Under: Calling All Creatives, Creativity, Inspiration

Creative Intentions for the New Year

December 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

As this year winds down, I’ve started thinking about my intentions for the New Year. Like most years, my intentions in 2010 center around bringing more creativity into my life. But like a lot of ideas, intentions don’t mean much unless you have a plan to back them up.

That’s why I’ve signed up for the Creative Every Day Challenge. This challenge allows you to do as much or as little as you like, expressing your own personal creativity. The fun part is that each month has a theme to inspire you, plus there are ways to connect (via Twitter, Flickr, Blogs) with others also completing the challenge, so you feel supported.

In addition to the challenge, I’ll also be writing my new columns for Creative Perch – another way to keep me motivated to pursue my intentions! I’ll be following The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance and encourage you to join me.

  • What are your creative intentions for the new year?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Benefits of Being Everyday Creative

December 14, 2009 by 3 Comments

One of my everyday creative habits involves checking out the magazine rack at my local library. Quite frequently, you will find me there picking up magazines that catch my eye, especially magazines I would not normally read.

This weekend, intrigued by the cover story Everyday Creative, I stumbled upon the latest issue of Psychology Today. The article begins by debunking, probably, the number one myth of creativity and that is that if you are not a creative genius then you are simply not creative and have no hope of ever being creative.

Instead, the article focuses on the fact that too many people fall for that myth and don’t even see all the creative potential and successes in their own life.

Another myth, debunked in the article, is that creativity is intrinsically linked to the arts. Not so, say these authors, who concede that true creativity begins with problem-solving skills and that we can all learn and master these in our everyday lives, whether that means coming up with a new recipe or simply another way to get the kids to go to bed!

So how do you begin being everyday creative? Well, first you have to believe that you are creative, then you have to discover your problem-solving style and use it to innovate in your own daily life. Before you know it, you’ll see some of the benefits:

  • Increased observation skills
  • A more collaborative spirit
  • Better coping skills.

For more on being everyday creative, check out my new column starting in January on Creative Perch. I’ll be following Eric Maisel’s Creativity Book to enhance my own creativity and encourage you to join me.

  • How are you everyday creative?
Filed Under: Creativity, Inspiration

Creative Giveaway

November 30, 2009 by 1 Comment

In the spirit of holiday giving, I have created a collage scrap pack for one lucky winner. The scrap pack has over 30 pieces of paper, ribbon and stickers: everything you need to get your creative holiday groove on during this enchanting season.

You can enter to win over at my arty blog. The contest is over.

  • GOOD LUCK!
Filed Under: Collage, Contests

Creative Building Reuse

November 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday, Parade magazine published an article on a creative building transformation that has taken place outside St. Louis, where a struggling enclosed shopping mall has been turned into a thriving arts center. If you haven’t read it yet, check out Can Art Save a Mall?

It’s a good example of how an existing building, and once popular destination, can be reinvented instead of torn down. One of my other favorite creative building reuses is the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. Once an actual torpedo factory during the early part of last century, the building now houses three floors of working artist studios, galleries, an art school, and a museum.

As the economy struggles and more buildings become and remain vacant, I wonder what other creative building reuses will emerge.

Image Parade.com

Filed Under: Architecture, Artists, Creative Economy

Switching to a New Medium

November 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Through this blog, I have encouraged you to explore all the facets of creativity and the various forms that it takes, whether it is the visual arts, music, fashion, theater or writing. Plus, I’ve even tried out a few for myself.

But what I found the most challenging and rewarding was switching to a new medium, within an already established artistic domain. For me, the switch was moving from collage and paper arts to beach glass and jewelry.

I’ve learned there are actually quite a few similarities to both. First, each requires a certain amount of collecting and organizing. This is a natural passion of mine, which I tend to attribute to the time I spent working in museums. Then there is the creative aspect of putting together disparate parts to develop something new, whether it is a collage or a pendant.

Finally, there is the growth aspect, not just as an artist but as a creator. If we are constantly creating in the same medium, we may not see the areas where we need to grow and develop. I believe by simply switching to a new medium, you become more aware of your growth and maybe you’ll discover and develop a passion you never knew you excelled at!

  • Try creating in a new medium.
Filed Under: Collage, Creativity, Inspiration
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