Ken Robinson ... TED Part II

Ken Robinson returned to TED earlier this year and talked about the intersection of talents, passion and education.

[May 2010 - TED] In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish. More

As he did in his first TED talk about creativity and education, he sums up in less than 18 minutes key ideas that seem so obvious, yet are so far from the practices we employ in schools and society. Some of Ken's insights from his 2010 talk:

• There is a crisis of human resources -- we make poor use of our talents.
• Many people simply endure what they do rather than enjoy what they do.
• But some people do what they ARE and engage part of their authentic selves.
• Education dislocates people from their natural talents.
• We have to create the circumstances where talents show themselves. Education should be where this happens, but too often it's not.
• Education REFORM is not enough -- reform is only improving a broken model.
• We need not an evolution in education, but a revolution ... to transform it into something else.
  
• It needs innovation, which is hard because it challenges what we take for granted.
• Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Ken talked about "rising with the occasion" and the idea of "disenthralling ourselves."
• Life is organic ... not linear.
• We are obsessed with getting people to college. College does not begin in kindergarten. Kindergarten begins in kindergarten.
• Problem of conformity in education -- like fast food where everything is standardized.
• Human talent is tremendously diverse.
• Passion -- what excites our spirit and energy -- is important.
• Education doesn't feed a lot of people's spirits.
• Education, which is primarily based on a manufacturing model, should shift to one based on principles from agriculture.
  
• Human flourishing is an organic process. We cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do is create the conditions under which they begin to flourish.
• Customizing and personalizing education is the answer to the future.
  

And he finished with a poem excerpt from W. B. Yeats about how we spread our dreams before others' feet -- like kids do everyday -- and askied us to "tread softly, because you tread on my dreams."

If you care about the future of children and education and society, show Ken's two TED talks (and this one, too!) to your friends and colleagues and family and talk about how you can begin to act to make positive change in the ways we educate and work. Show these clips in a public meeting at your children's school. Show them in your workplace with your colleagues. Show them at the public library. You'll be amazed who cares about these topics, who shows up and what you might accomplish together. Imagine what if ...

REMINDER - Connecticut Imagination Conversation Tonight in Hartford

* Join panelists for a CONNECTICUT IMAGINATION CONVERSATION on Unleashing and Harnessing the Imagination in Learning and Work *
THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION AND THE STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE PRESENT IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS: A PROJECT OF LINCOLN CENTER INSTITUTE
==========================
MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010, 7:00-9:00 P.M.
The Studio @ Billings Forge,
539-563 Broad Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Free and open to the public.
RSVP: <http://www.eventbrite.com/event/665180573>
MORE INFO: conversation@appliedimagination.org or
<http://appliedimagination.org/conversation/>

Imagination Conversations bring together citizens from diverse fields -- including education, business, government, arts and nonprofits -- to explore the importance of imagination in life, work and society. Connecticut has a long tradition of creativity, invention and innovation, but the current economic downturn and increased worldwide competition mean that we cannot take our position for granted. Now more than ever, we must nurture imagination in our schools, create
environments for innovation in workplaces, and build cultures for creativity in our communities. Bring your "imagination story" to the second Connecticut Imagination Conversation on May 24. This conversation is part of a national dialogue -- 50 conversations in 50 states -- sponsored by the Lincoln Center Institute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Join moderators Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and Janice La Motta, Program Coordinator, The Studio @ Billings Forge, plus invited guests and citizens from across Connecticut who care about the role of imagination and creativity in society. Guests include Sue Sturtevant, Executive Director and CEO of the Hill-Stead Museum, and Marie O'Brien, President of the Connecticut Development Authority.

ABOUT THE IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS NATIONALLY:
Imagination, the ability to visualize new possibilities, is a prerequisite for success in the 21st-century global economy. The Imagination Conversations prepare us for the future that requires imagination by:

• Building national awareness of imagination as a vital tool in work and in life.
• Sparking dialogue about imagination across the professional spectrum.
• Leading to the creation of an action plan to make imagination an integral part of American education.

The Imagination Conversations, a project of Lincoln Center Institute and a part of the Lincoln Center 50 Years celebration, run from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2011. Many are hosted by state government, business, and cultural leaders. They feature diverse groups of panelists with distinctive perspectives and draw a wide range of audience members from the public and private sectors. Moderators facilitate the conversations, some of which reach viewers nationwide via live and archived streaming video. This two-year initiative will culminate in America's Imagination Summit, to be held at Lincoln Center in the summer or fall of 2011.

Imagination Conversation to be Held Monday in Hartford; Part of National Initiative

THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION AND THE STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE PRESENT IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS: A PROJECT OF LINCOLN CENTER INSTITUTE
* Join panelists for a CONNECTICUT IMAGINATION CONVERSATION on Unleashing and Harnessing the Imagination in Learning and Work *
==========================
MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010, 7:00-9:00 P.M.
The Studio @ Billings Forge,
539-563 Broad Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Free and open to the public.
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/665180573
MORE INFO: conversation@appliedimagination.org or
http://appliedimagination.org/conversation/
==========================

Imagination Conversations bring together citizens from diverse fields --including education, business, government, arts and nonprofits -- to explore the importance of imagination in life, work and society. Connecticut has a long tradition of creativity, invention and innovation, but the current economic downturn and increased worldwide competition mean that we cannot take our position for granted. Now more than ever, we must nurture imagination in our schools, create
environments for innovation in workplaces, and build cultures for creativity in our communities. Bring your "imagination story" to the second Connecticut Imagination Conversation on May 24. This conversation is part of a national dialogue -- 50 conversations in 50 states -- sponsored by the Lincoln Center Institute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Join moderators Steven Dahlberg, Director, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, and Janice La Motta, Program Coordinator, The Studio @ Billings Forge, plus invited guests and citizens from across Connecticut who care about the role of imagination and creativity in society.

ABOUT THE IMAGINATION CONVERSATIONS NATIONALLY:
Imagination, the ability to visualize new possibilities, is a prerequisite for success in the 21st-century global economy. The Imagination Conversations prepare us for the future that requires imagination by:

• Building national awareness of imagination as a vital tool in work and in life.
• Sparking dialogue about imagination across the professional spectrum.
• Leading to the creation of an action plan to make imagination an integral part of American education.

The Imagination Conversations, a project of Lincoln Center Institute and a part of the Lincoln Center 50 Years celebration, run from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2011. Many are hosted by state government, business, and cultural leaders. They feature diverse groups of panelists with distinctive perspectives and draw a wide range of audience members from the public and private sectors. Moderators facilitate the conversations, some of which reach viewers nationwide via live and archived streaming video. This two-year initiative will culminate in America's Imagination Summit, to be held at Lincoln Center in the summer or fall of 2011.

Applied Imagination: Your Ideas for Stopping and Cleaning Up the BP Gulf Oil Disaster

Creativity and imagination probably allowed BP to install this oil pipe in deep waters in the first place. Now, it requires not only BP -- but anyone, in the spirit of open innovation -- to help solve the problem of the leaking oil pipe in those deep waters. What's YOUR idea? Add it below in the comments ...

[17 May 2010 - Fast Company] BP can use all the help it can get in cleaning up the ever-growing Gulf oil spill--even with minor successes this weekend, the oil giant still lacks an immediate solution to stopping the flow of oil altogether. That's why it makes sense to harness the power of the Internet and collect as many ideas as possible from, well, everyone. The UK Guardian did just that earlier today, with exciting results. Below, a selection of promising ideas from the Guardian's solicitation for help. More

The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity

[18 May 2010 - Fast Company] For CEOs, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business, outweighing even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM. The study is the largest known sample of one-on-one CEO interviews, with over 1,500 corporate heads and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries polled on what drives them in managing their companies in today's world. Steven Tomasco, a manager at IBM Global Business Services, expressed surprise at this key finding, saying that it is "very interesting that coming off the worst economic conditions they'd ever seen, [CEOs] didn't fall back on management discipline, existing best practices, rigor, or operations. In fact, they [did] just the opposite." About 60% of CEOs polled cited creativity as the most important leadership quality, compared with 52% for integrity and 35% for global thinking. Creative leaders are also more prepared to break with the status quo of industry, enterprise and revenue models, and they are 81% more likely to rate innovation as a "crucial capability." More

Creativity linked to mental health

[18 May 2010 - Karolinska Institutet via EurekAlert!] New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia. High creative skills have been shown to be somewhat more common in people who have mental illness in the family. Creativity is also linked to a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Certain psychological traits, such as the ability to make unusual pr bizarre associations are also shared by schizophrenics and healthy, highly creative people. And now the correlation between creativity and mental health has scientific backing. "We have studied the brain and the dopamine D2 receptors, and have shown that the dopamine system of healthy, highly creative people is similar to that found in people with schizophrenia," says associate professor Fredrik Ullén from Karolinska Institutet's Department of Women's and Children's Health. Just which brain mechanisms are responsible for this correlation is still something of a mystery, but Dr Ullén conjectures that the function of systems in the brain that use dopamine is significant; for example, studies have shown that dopamine receptor genes are linked to ability for divergent thought. Dr Ullén's study measured the creativity of healthy individuals using divergent psychological tests, in which the task was to find many different solutions to a problem. "The study shows that highly creative people who did well on the divergent tests had a lower density of D2 receptors in the thalamus than less creative people," says Dr Ullén. "Schizophrenics are also known to have low D2 density in this part of the brain, suggesting a cause of the link between mental illness and creativity." More - Press Release | More - Article

Community as ...

By Steven Dahlberg
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination

In April 2010, I taught two sessions on "Creative Solutions in the Nonprofit Sector" for a semester-long course in Rhode Island College's Nonprofit Studies Certificate Program. We were fortunate to have two guests visit us in the first session -- Ian David Moss, research director for Fractured Atlas and editor of the Createquity blog, and Stephanie Fortunato, special projects manager for the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism. They spoke about creative community, creative class and public policy. For the second session, we met at the great creative community organization, AS200, where the founder and artistic director Umberto Crenca, shared the story of how such an organization came to be and the role it has played in helping transform the culture of creativity in Providence. (He also co-authored an essay, called "Compost and the Arts.")

The students in the course each wrote an essay that started with "Community as ..." and looked at a metaphor for community. How we imagine and frame community matters for how we engage people in community, how we communicate our community work, how we organize, how we manage, and how we do anything related to our involvement with and work in communities. They were invited to think like a seven year old and to try to have original ideas about these various concepts of “community.” They were also asked to think about what, so what, now what … that is:

• WHAT: What does this idea of community include?
• SO WHAT: Why does this idea of community matter?
• NOW WHAT: What implications does this idea of community have? What changes could happen if we adopted this idea of community?

The students' responses to "Community as ..." can be viewed through the "Rhode Island College" tag here. In addition, all of their essays were entered into Wordle to visually show which words and ideas were most prevalent. That image is below and can be clicked on to view a larger version.

Community as People

By Keith Frost
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

In our society of “Save the Bay,” “Save the Whales,”and “Save the Trees,” why is there no outcry for “Save the People”? When I think of community as people, I think of the homeless person who has no one to turn to. I think of the family who just lost their house, Dad lost his job, and they are living in their car.

Community as people includes moms, dads, grandpas, grandmas, brothers, sisters, people of every color, race, ethnicity, size, shape, etc. This idea of community is us. It matters because if there were no people, there would be nothing. Yes, we have plants, animals and other living things, but people are the good and bad of the world. We have the power to do good, but unfortunately we have the power to do bad. People and the idea of "community as people" hold the keys to the future existence of man.

Let’s imagine a world without people. What would it be like? What if there were never people to walk the earth? Why are we here? What is the purpose of our existence? Do we have a purpose? Is that purpose greater than us?

These are just the beginning of "community as people." We have the power to build and destroy, so I believe we need to protect the planet, animals, and all that is living and breathing on it, and that includes people. We as community must rise to help our fellow brothers and sisters in this journey of life.

Community as Home

By Leah McPhail
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

When I think of community, I think of a place you can call home; a place that is safe, friendly, familiar, fun, and clean. I think of a place without any garbage on the ground, because people would not throw it there. I think of going to the store and knowing the people who work there, and saying hello to your neighbors. A place where you are out of milk, you can walk next door and get some from. In the summertime, I think weekly games of “manhunt,” and water gun fights, pool parties and cookouts that everyone is invited to. In the winter time, I think holiday parties with family, friends, and neighbors, snowball fights, and winter sports. I think “tightly-knit” and open and everyone knows everyone.

If all communities were like this, neighborhood pride and togetherness would increase, leading to reductions in crime rates. It would also affect the litter and destruction of property that often occurs in many “communities”. People would care about their neighborhood and their neighbors.

This idea could also lead to trouble. When neighbors interact, it might lead to drama within the “tightly-knit” circle. A potential issue for concern is gossip. When a community knows its members’ business, it can often be problematic. It can turn people against each other, and cause rifts in the peacefulness. Living down a mistake or a bad choice would be unlikely, or take a very long time. If you remain within the community, secrets are not easily kept; even if you don’t want anyone to know. Conversely, the harmony and friendship may be an even trade for the drawbacks. Knowing that you do not have to lock your car doors, you can leave your windows open at night, and not have to worry about neighborhood violence can be irreplaceable to some.

Another source of disturbance is landscaping…some people don’t like to rake their lawns meticulously, and don’t plant grass seed if their lawn is bare. Others may be offended by the sight of an unkempt lawn or leaves blowing from yard to yard; and the situation could explode into a form of “suburban terrorism” (–former victim of a disgruntled lawn keeper).

I was born and raised in a community similar to the one described above (not exactly so “cookie-cutter”, but close). As a child, that is exactly how it seemed. I have since grown up and lived in a city, and have seen a whole new side to community. Walking down the street, you may not want to say hello the person you are passing, and may even fear them. You would never leave your G.P.S. in your car, let alone leave it unlocked. If your front door is ever not locked, the chance that you get robbed increases dramatically.

Community as Toy Store

Neal Gouck
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

I owe this all to my six year old. We worked through the assignment topic together using “town” instead of community. Once the imagination got warmed up, we agreed that we could live in a toy store. “How cool,” he said, “I could live in a toy store!”

This idea of community includes the concept that we could get access and play with all the things (toys) that we don’t have at home. “I could ride all the things,” says Griffin. Our kids don’t have the assortments of the motorized yard toys like the kid-sized Cadillacs, Hummers, and John Deeres. This might in reality mean that citizens of a town can access and use the community’s resources. For instance it might work like these examples:

• Department of Public works does workshops and licensing training for citizens who can later rent the department’s earthmoving equipment.
• Imagine taking the Park and Recreation Dept’s backhoe home on a Wednesday afternoon.
• Volunteer to be an operator to make a flood swale trench around the new horseshoe pits at the local field.
• Sign out the electric company bucket truck in order to serenade your sweetheart on your first date.

Any idle resource that an agency has could be used for citizens. Can’t find a good idea for a birthday party? Use the school cafeteria and playground or have the librarians arrange a puppet show at the library. These are just some of the ideas that a community which takes on a sense of entitlement towards its resources and assets can create.

My son’s idea of community as a Toy Store matters because the town has all the amenities (toys) that our own homes most times lack. To be able to leverage and control the unattainable assets mentioned in the examples above are the same yearnings that adults have for their own existence (our toy store), but we inefficiently pursue the attainable amenities (think of idle backyard hammocks and trampolines) to be part of our own properties that are better/more efficiently pursued as community property. If the assortments of amenities found common to our homes were made common property much like a library book then we could all borrow to make the best efficiency of idle assets. Transcending the need for ownership could create a toy store like appeal in citizens. My son and most all our children quickly learn the benefits of sharing and borrowing in school, during play dates, and with siblings at home. As adults who live in the toy store community we quickly would learn (or remember from childhood) that by participating and respecting the resources one can quickly access a much greater variety. The community as a toy store concept helps bridge that unattainable demand we have as individuals for access and variety to unlimited toys by shifting our understanding of ownership from permanent towards a temporary shared ownership. Engagement in this community is privileged and predicated by a longstanding and continued commitment to respect and stewardship of the resources.

The implications of seeing your town’s assets as your “new toys” makes one feel entitled and emboldened to engage/participate. The concept that you can play with any toy so long as it is idle (like any child knows: you don’t grab a toy away from someone else who’s using it) makes one more inquisitive in what can I now accomplish since I now have access to resources that I never really had before. How can one use their newfound access to add value personally to their lives, yet while still respecting the asset itself as the community’s property because to do otherwise could jeopardize future participation. The implications of the toy store community would encourage community spending and therefore lead to higher taxes. There would be very little opposition for major purchases on equipment and programs because the idea that the community’s property is accessible to oneself actually gives rise to encouraged overspending. This natural tendency to increase community spending could heighten when popular or hard to schedule resources would necessitate procuring “spares” to shore up citizens’ chances that there would be an idle resources available to them when and if they ever envisioned needing access.

Adopting the Toy Store Community would mean a tremendous increase in out of home experiences and engagement. Ideas of borrowing versus ownership would be relegated to a higher community values of respectful behavior, patience, planning, and coordinating because those competencies would improve one’s chances of maintaining access to what would otherwise be the unattainable variety (toy store) that we all so seek to live among.

Community as Compost

By Dana Stark
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

Take the apple peel and core from the afternoon snack, the skins from the evening’s mashed potatoes, the rind from the season’s last watermelon, day old coffee grounds from the pot, celery ends from the tuna salad, hay clippings from the hen house (moist and pungent with droppings), broken egg shells from Sunday brunch, greasy gristle from Saturday’s barbeque steak, moist maple leaves raked up from the front yard; take all of these cast off remnants that are seemingly random and dissimilar things and place them in a corner of the back yard next to the garage; tend to this pile of seemingly random and dissimilar things by periodic turning and folding; add more seemingly random and dissimilar things, and wait…an amazing thing happens: one day, that pile of seemingly random and dissimilar things becomes a dark mound of fertile dirt; a complex, yet singular, mound of dirt - a sum of all its parts, teeming with life and ready to be used to plant summer tomatoes, peas and squash; to fertilize the giant pumpkins to be grown for the contest at the fair; to be the snack bar for the foraging chickens rustling out the earthworms, and so on.

Composting, while a natural occurrence is the intentional and managed decomposition of seemingly random and dissimilar organic matter whose by-product is fertile compost (soil) for gardens and landscaping. Community as compost represents this concept of intentional management of an amalgam of individuals which, functioning together as a whole reveals something superior and, in some cases unrecognizable, to the originating components.

To elaborate on the suggestion that community, like compost, is the sum of all parts, where individual components transcend themselves to become part of a greater whole (good), is to imagine that these components are not limited to tangible things (like people and places) but also represent the intangible: ideas, dreams, beliefs, cultures, intentions and resources. This vision of community reflects an unlimited potential to grow, to evolve and to transform into something greater than its individual sources. The end product is organic and fertile and poised to enhance the experience of the whole as well as all of its parts.

Witnessing the natural yet purposeful transformation of garbage into fertilizer fosters the notion of the interconnectivity of all things; the continuous natural cycle of life (rebirth) and how diverse forces tended with careful consideration can influence outcomes and move mountains. Community, as a whole, is made better for the individuals that make it up and the more diverse the source (ethnic, culture, belief system, nationality, education level, economic class), the richer and more productive should be the end result. Just as compost requires intentional management, so does community. Without the effort to gather scraps and assist the decomposition process, the ingredients of the compost pile would be no more than so much smelly garbage, headed to the land fill.

The implication of community as compost is the notion that some natural processes need assistance from watchful caretakers to achieve transformative possibilities. The process begins with intention, is guided by social structures and is managed by community leaders. The concept is that the myriad of contributing factors within a community will coalesce and develop in new and ingenious ways, over time. The success of this transformation is directly attributed to thoughtful oversight and careful nurturing combined with a judicious infusion of additional resources. The result of this process is the bedrock of fertility, creativity and growth from which a community can draw to enhance its own physical and mental well being.

So, get started, here is just one idea: begin a community garden in your neighborhood with tasks and work hours divided among families, groups and/or streets. Poll the residents to find out wish lists of vegetables and fruits, promising a multi-cultural selection. Circulate a donation can to assist in purchasing supplies and seeds. Pick a spot for a compost pile and have weekly drop off days for neighbors to discard organic scraps. Divide the harvest amongst the caretakers and plan distribution of excess to local food pantries. Offer preparation tips and recipes, for the common place as well as the more exotic vegetables and fruits. Involve the local school by offering field trip destinations and winter seed gestation projects. Hold an annual community garden cookout to celebrate the harvest and showcase various dishes made with the community grown produce. Share your success with other neighborhoods and adjoining communities. Revel in how, together as a community, you can accomplish so much more than alone, as individuals.

Community as People

By Kait Clavette
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

When I think about the concept of “people”, the broad, general group we all belong to, I think diversity. I think about all the colors in a box of crayons. You can divide each crayon into a basic color group, like reds and blues and greens, but each crayon is still very different than the others in their group. Like there is red, but there is brick red, burgundy red, magenta, and the same for every other group. A community is much like a box of crayons; it’s a container of people. We could break down a community ethnically, economically, by their customs or colors, but in the end each and every person is a distinct entity in and of themselves. People are apt to over-generalize. This over-assimilation bias is an evolutionary tool that has boosted our species to this point in our development, and also a tool in our destruction. When problem solving, it is important to remember that every situation is unique. When thinking of creating change or improving a community, it is vital to keep this in mind. By observing the opportunity in the community, or as my church would say, our “time, talent, and treasures”, and focusing on the individual's unique contributions, I think change is possible. This provides people with the opportunities to come out of the wood works, and provide, for example, funding for a project. If they lack financial backing, their time physically helping in any way big or small, or using their talents to collaborate on a project is made equivalent. When people come together, small acts are magnified; many hands do make light work.

This idea of community matters because it aims to the motivation behind change. If the people perceive their needs as great enough to want change, they will be motivated to help that change occur in any way they can. I don’t think money alone can buy lasting change, however building a fellowship between neighbors will. The days of bringing a fruit cake to the new neighbors is over. People fear change, fear strangers. Rather than face the unknown, we lock our doors, peek out our windows, and keep our kids on leashes and off the streets. I believe if the people can bond together over a common cause like the improvement of the place they live, they will begin to see it’s an important and achievable thing. We assume the worst, and make it manifest in reality. If the people are at the root of the community, then they drive the direction of their change. If it is the people who are going to benefit from whatever change, thenthey need to determine what that change will be.

This idea of community includes a myriad of social gatherings, brainstorming and reporting of observations. This idea is rooted in collaboration of people, the people of the community getting to know the many different people who surround them, knowing the weaknesses of the community and the strengths, the many talents and passions, of the people in it. This idea could cause visible change in the physical condition of the community, the activities of the community, but most importantly in the overall change in quality of life. We are all individual people on a journey through life, and not one individual has all the answers to life’s puzzles. In order to fix the problems within a community, you need to connect the tools you have at your disposal for fixing it – the people who live there. By connecting the people who live in a community, you attack the problem at the source, providing an opportunity for neighbors to help each other and in return help themselves. By combining their efforts, each individual small act can be magnified into large change – whether that change is a new chess club, knitting group, or weekend jam session or physical project is irreverent. Behind any of the community change success stories is not the desire to make something nicer, buy something newer… all those who get involved leave with so much more that they can’t wrap their hands around physically – they find fellowship. It takes a village to raise a child, and we are all children till we die – constantly learning and making mistakes and making ourselves better. Children bond together, but as we grow confident, we forget how to reach out in times of need. Thinking of a community as its people is thinking about the parts that make up the community, and the quality of how those parts interact, the potential they have for interaction. Community is not just an address, it is a face, it is knowing your neighbors and knowing we will survive together. The more we connect, the more opportunity we perceive to interact with others, get social satisfaction and social change, making each individual stronger in turns makes a stronger community.

Community as Playground

By Sharon Ellery
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

My community as playground would be a happy and fun-filled place. My community would include lots of free bicycles with stands outside every house so that whenever you wanted to ride down the street you could. The streets would be painted in bright, vivid blues, and pinks and purples with a little bit of silver. There would be bicycle paths with flowers and grass to run and play in. All children would be safe to play in their backyards and sandlots would be left so that the children could make up their own baseball games with no adults to run it. There would be trees to climb and swamps to build wooden bridges to a make believe world where the frogs come out and play with the children. The schools would be filled with musical instruments and musicians. The musicians would assemble each day at the door to the school and lead the school with a tune composed by the students as they danced down the hallways. There would be gigantic drawing boards with large markers where you could draw, or write when you get tired of bicycle riding. There would be cushions and chairs to sit around and read books in comfort. Every day teachers would read stories to the children.

In fair weather every Saturday there would be bicycle races and the winner would get a box of cookies to share with his or her friends. On Halloween Night no cars would be allowed on the streets and everyone would walk around the town as they went trick or treating. In the winter there would be sled and ice skating races for everyone. All boys would live on one side of town and the girls would live on the other since seven year olds don’t like boys if they are girls or girls if they are boys.

This idea of community matters because I believe that it would create a more creative and more generous community. Since this community invites children to explore their imaginations, in this community creative talents would be encouraged. Many creative careers would be established and built upon in this community. Because of this new way of looking at the world, this would allow this community to fearlessly explore new horizons that would develop an economic base that continually invites more creative people to live in my community. My idea would foster neighborhood vitality, building stronger and healthier neighborhoods for peaceful living. Greater participation in cultural events would draw more people who live in my community because of the cultural life build around the creative people. This idea would lead to a more inclusive community that would care and nurture the next generation building individual strengths and talents for the greater good of the community. Greater appreciation and understanding of the different cultural and diverse groups in the community would promote harmony and peaceful relations for community residents and visitors.

The implications of these ideas would be that creativity produces more creativity and brings about more stable growth and economic development. The implications would allow more creative people to join this expanding economic engine instead of running from stagnation. If we adopted this idea of community, people would not fear change and would embrace it with excitement and energy. We could leave the linear thinking behind. Democracy would flourish and government would be able to perform better and more efficiently.

Community as Place

By Ryan Leveillee
Nonprofit Studies Program, Rhode Island College
Providence, Rhode Island

Community is very much connected to the place it is, and what the place includes. For example, a neighborhood or town might have distinct landmarks, streets, schools, or natural surroundings. The community of West Warwick is characterized by the mills. The community of Exeter includes a farm like, rural historically with a suburban feel today community. Every town and neighborhood has its own distinct features that identify that place and make it distinct in the community.

Some features of places that are communities are known only by local people and practically unknown by people not from that community. For example, anyone in the Tiogue Community in Coventry knows what Gelina’s (an ice cream place) is. It is a distinct landmark. Those outside Coventry might never have heard of it, and those outside the state certainly never would even know this ice cream place is significant to people in that area of Coventry. Sometimes places in community are well known by those even in other countries. The Statue of Liberty is known internationally as a feature of community in New York City. Sometimes features are known at various state or regional levels, but not much outside there. People in Southern New England usually know the significance of the Newport Mansions in Newport. Those outside this area would only find out about it when coming to Rhode Island, or searching for tourist destinations.

One of the reasons I like place as a metaphor for community, is that “place” can have many meanings having to do with space. Place can refer to a specific inch, with other inches away being other places on a floor. Place can also refer to a town, a state, a country, or even a galaxy if one wanted. For example, “In the place called the Milky Way, there are many stars.” Place can be broad or specific, local or international.

Community also is this same way. Community usually defines a local place, an environment where people are physically close to each other. We are in fact in multiple communities at the same time. I am in the community of “the area near Coventry High School,” but also of the town of Coventry. I live in the community of Kent County, and also in the community of Rhode Island. The way I speak, and live, is determined by a lot at the town and state levels. I also live in the New England community known for it beautiful seasons, temperate climate, and forest landscape. My accent and vocabulary at any time can be determined by my own town (there are subtle but existent differences in speech from town to town), my state (a distinct accent), my region, and my country.

My community is also the United States. The Unites States is a community. It is a very large community and I have yet to see most of it. At any given moment, just as much as I am influenced by my town’s environment, my state’s customs, and my regions identifications, I am influenced by the country I live it (quite heavily, I am sure).

Many have spoken of a world community. The world as a community is true, as we all depend on each other internationally at some level for our survival. I have yet to see most of the world, but I am definitely influenced by the world around me. I cannot escape from the influences of the features of the international community.

Community is not always a place, but a less specific kind of grouping. Community is also a time, a cohort. I am part of a community of college students worldwide, of 20 somethings, and of young adults. My place in community at all levels (local to international) is influenced very much by time. Language also is part of my community not specific to place. I am part of a community of English language speakers worldwide, and of a dialect community regionally.

If there happens to be life of our own intelligence or greater on other planets, there would certainly be community in the place these planets are in, even the universe. Community is all about how we live in society, and this exists from all levels from the room I sit in (the next room over is a different community), to the town I live in (the room next to me is in this community, but the next town is not), and the state I live in (the next town is a part, but the next state is not). Nonetheless, we are certainly part of what could be called a place, or existence, as community that includes all living things of the past, present, and future that exist anywhere in the universe. Since place as a metaphor for community can refer to any size of a geographic area, from a room to a universe, it connects all unique levels. One is always, at any given time, in many places, and therefore many communities. I am at the same time a Rhode Islander, New Englander, and on up to intelligent life form in the universe. In the times to come, community will expand as a place, as it does as people grow both in a lifetime and in the species’ lifetime, and will include more and more a universal characteristic. Community as place defines so many things simultaneously. These things together (town, state, country, world) plus the individual, plus unique DNA and experiences, bring a great thing. Community as a place, with the many meanings of “place” bring about the many different kinds of people, each one part of a community, and yet each one an individual.

Commentary: On Creativity and Food

By Michelle DAiuto
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

[CLIP]

Occasionally, I would show up at school and eat lunch with my child. What did I find? Pizza, chicken nuggets, fruit in a cup, and his favorite, French toast sticks and sausages.

Was there cooking in my local elementary school? No, they just reheat what was being sent from a central warehouse.

I remember as a young girl going to the cafeteria and watching the big machines mix the food. It wasn’t exactly homemade but better than today’s fare.

Food feeds the body. The body holds the mind. How can we as parents send our children out to eat things that are both toxic to the mind and body?

As we left the public school system and entered the private sector, we noticed a difference in the food being served. Foods were freshly prepared and a salad bar was offered. Even if our school system couldn’t afford great cuts of meat for everyone, fruits and salads should have been standard fare.

Only now do I realized what a disservice I was doing to my child, as well as my community. With the hurried life of Americans, we must stop and observe what our children are putting in their mouth. The school my son eventually went to for sixth grade had mid-morning snacks of apples and milk and a 15-minute break to burn off excess energy and that was the norm up to ninth grade. Sometimes kids get hungry and restless. When this happens, how are you to engage a child.?

Some parents might not believe it, but your child’s education does depend on the food that we feed them, whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner. We, as parents, need to speak up and affect change because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Commentary: On Creative Economies

By Michael Vinci
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

Creative Economy Association of the North Shore
We are Massachusetts' think tank for greater creative and economic success. CEANS supports the growth of the creative economy in the North of Boston Shore Region, and the individuals who work within creative fields.

This video is a surprisingly miniature version of the Connecting Creative Communities Conference. There were people who wanted to promote creativity in their area. This video briefly profiles the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore (CEANS) of Massachusetts. They really just want their neighborhoods to make money (which is great!). People can find ways to draw people into their communities using creativity and that is good for everyone. Unfortunately, some people may think that their communities are not creative. Take for example:

• Waterbury, Connecticut, which is home of the Timex watch company. If the people there had not been creative then we would not have the styles of watches we now consider to be classic and timeless (no pun intended).
• New Britain, Connecticut, was and still is to some degree the home of Stanley Works. If not for the creativity of the people who worked in the factories we would not have many of the machining techniques we now have today.
• In Hartford, Connecticut, the insurance capital of the world, many principles and guidelines for writing policies were no doubt developed.

The bottom line is that there is something everywhere that makes any specific community unique. People had cows and used their milk for many, many years, but until the creative Louis Pasteur thought about how he could make that milk safer and last longer the world did not have the technique of pasteurization.

People everywhere are creative in their own ways and it is always showing. We just need to see it!

On Imagination

"Your imagination is your preview to life's coming attractions." -- Albert Einstein

Support Connecticut 'Creative Economy' Bill - Contact Your Connecticut State Senator NOW

[3 May 2010 - Northwest Connecticut Arts Council - Advocacy] CONTACT YOUR CONNECTICUT STATE SENATOR TODAY to support Creative Economy House Bill 5028. Important Legislation which was introduced by Connecticut State Rep. Roberta Willis, D-64 to foster and enhance the impact of a creative economy in Connecticut was unanimously approved in the state House last week.

House Bill 5028, "An Act Concerning Developing The Creative Economy" calls for a task force that would analyze the impact of a creative economy in Connecticut to boost arts and culture that adds to the state’s economy, tourism and job growth.

Last week this bill passed the House of Representatives and is awaiting action in the state senate. Contact your State Senators and urge them to support the bill TODAY. The session ends May 5th---so action is needed NOW.

• FIND YOUR SENATOR'S CONTACT INFO AT - click HERE.
• Please also URGE YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES to do the same today and contact their senator.
• If you have questions about the bill, please contact Representative Roberta Willis and her staff: 1-800-842-8267 or 860-240-8585 or Roberta.Willis@cga.ct.gov or go to Representative Willis' website - CLICK HERE.