Creativity Habit: Courage

Activist Caroline Casey tells the story of her extraordinary life, starting with a revelation (no spoilers). In a talk that challenges perceptions, Casey asks us all to move beyond the limits we may think we have.

http://www.ted.com/talks/caroline_casey_looking_past_limits.html

Invent and innovate - a learning programme for youth

The Invent and Innovate programme combines design thinking and creativity techniques to inspire and enable youth to create products and services to serve social needs in their local communities.
http://www.wix.com/peterhan/invent-and-innovate-program

Analogue artists in a digital age

Dusty vinyl records, vintage film cameras, rickety typewriters and antiquated recording equipment … these are the creative tools being used by some emerging artists. Pure nostalgia? Or a laudable refusal to escape the speed and sanitised perfection of contemporary digital culture?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/apr/24/mavericks-defying-digital-age

Ten reasons to support the arts

http://blog.artsusa.org/2011/04/20/the-top-10-reasons-to-support-the-arts/

The Creative Edge Workshop

Copies of my book are still available at www.publishmeshop.co.nz

Search for creative edge.

And another creativity weekend based on the book [you get a free copy] coming up in New Zealand.

More info wayne@future-edge.co.nz

The Creativity Killer

Traditional meetings are often more about socializing than making decisions. A case from David Sherwin for rethinking how we generate ideas.
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/the-creativity-killer-group-discussions/237531/

Storybook Dads

“Their children really matter to these men and so they were happy to be filmed reading the books to their kids as part of Storybook Dads. They were incredibly proud of what they had done,” says Marg McCullough, Programmes Co-ordinator at Invercargill Prison[New Zealand] http://www.artsaccess.org.nz/index.php/prison-arts-sec/projects/storybook-dads-a-success-in-invercargill and check out the rest of the web site while you are there. It's just great!

Seven ways to generate business ideas

Welcome to World Creativity and Innovation Week, where we encourage and celebrate everyone’s ability to get new ideas, use their imagination and make new decisions to make the world a better place. It’s what successful entrepreneurs do every day. http://www.marsdd.com/2011/04/15/seven-ways-to-generate-business-ideas

Perceptions of creativity and leadership

Every organization wants creative juice, but nobody wants to place creativity at the top. More here: http://www.bradleyderry.com/2011/03/the-perceptions-of-creativity-and-leadership/

Celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Week

Some suggestions from the Austin Chapter of the American Creativity Association. http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/marci-segal/suggestions-to-celebrate-world-creativity-and-innovation-week-april-15-21-americ/193405380681180

Creativity Habit: Play - Creativity as a game

According to Bruce Nussbaum the key to creativity is replacing linear thinking with a more organic framework -- the circle of the playground. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663626/nussbaum-3-reasons-you-should-treat-creativity-like-a-game

Sparking creativity in teams

Senior managers can apply practical insights from neuroscience to make themselves—and their teams—more creative. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategy_in_Practice/Sparking_creativity_in_teams_An_executives_guide_2786

How can you be creative everyday?

A video created by Graduate Students Meagen Bender, Juliana Sanchez and Erica Swiatek of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College, in preparation for World Creativity and Innovation Week! Thats happening this week! http://creativityresearch.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-can-you-be-creative-everyday.html

Make THE Difference

TMB bank have launched a new brand vision "Make THE Difference" by making a film to inspire people to start thinking differently. With a hope that they will start to Make THE Difference to their own world. It doesn't have to be big, but a little can create positive changes. This film is based on a true story. In 1986 a football team that lived on a little island in the south of Thailand called "Koh Panyee". It's a floating village in the middle of the sea that has not an inch of soil. The kids here loved to watch football but had nowhere to play or practice. But they didn't let that stop them. They challenged the norm and have become a great inspiration for new generations on the island. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU&feature=player_embedded#at=189

Kiwi Songcatchers Tour

My friends Mike Harding [we play in the same band - Gumboot Tango] and Chris Priestley are embarking on a New Zealand tour. You can listen to them inteviewed on National Radio. http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/nrmtalk/harding,_mike_and_chris_priestley_-_nz_live

Tim Hurson and Productive Thinking

Think you think as well as you can? Think again. Regardless of your basic equipment you can learn to think better — more productively, more creatively, more effectively. Tim Hurson (@tim_hurson) shows you a proven, repeatable process that will help you have more ideas, better ideas, more of the time. Tim Hurson's Productive Thinking model has helped thousands of people in Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 corporations around the world think more creatively, more innovatively, and more productively. Learn the real secret of the great minds in history — that productive thinking is a skill that can be learned and developed. Check him out on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62PgFb2cXSg

The Unleashed Mind: Why creative people are eccentric

Highly creative people often seem weirder than the rest of us. Now researchers know why. This from Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-unleashed-mind

World Creativity Week at Work

More from Marci Segal, co-founder of World Creativity and Innovation Week. Suggestions for the workplace. http://marcisegal.wordpress.com/world-creativity-and-innovation-week-april-15-21/how-to-celebrate-wciw/wciw-at-work/

8 essential pratices of innovation

Via my creativity colleague Tara Grey Coste. http://innovators-way.com/practices/

Hugh McLeod: Always Inspirational

An interview with Hugh McLeod, founder of gapingvoid.com. Interview by Sonia Simone. http://www.copyblogger.com/hughtrain/ Check out the other links while you are on this site.

World Creativity and Innovation Week

Marci Segal , co-founder of World Creativity and innovation Week [15-21 April] has these suggestions on how you might celebrate it at home. http://marcisegal.wordpress.com/world-creativity-and-innovation-week-april-15-21/how-to-celebrate-wciw/wciw-at-home/

Art as Therapy

Interested in art as therapy? This BING site has several pages of videos covering art as therapy in a wide range of contexts. http://nz.bing.com/videos/search?publ=8F9BFED1-34A9-458A-9A9B-3E3A976006A9&FORM=MFEVID&crea=STND_MFEVID_FY11H2_BR_CusVid_1x1&q=art+therapy&docid=494358234391&FORM=HUFPST#

Harnessing creativity

If you don’t feel particularly innovative, or your organization seems flat-footed and uncreative, blame it on your teachers over the years. That’s the message from Canadian consultants David Weiss and Claude Legrand, who have been tracking innovation in companies and finding it wanting. More here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/morning-manager/a-road-map-for-harnessing-creativity/article1961915/

Creativity characteristic: Courage

fear.less is a free online magazine that empowers people through unique stories of overcoming fear. From entrepreneurs, business leaders, artists and scientists to survivors of extreme experiences, these stories demonstrate the hidden potential we have to confront our fears and come out victorious. http://fearlessstories.com/

Design thinking out. Creative Intelligence in?

Bruce Nussbaum, one of Design Thinking's biggest advocates, is moving on to something new. At this link he begins defining "Creative Quotient." http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663558/design-thinking-was-a-failed-experiment-so-whats-next

Creative industries more resilient

Creative Economy Report 2010 shows that creative industries offer untapped opportunities for growth http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2011/march/les-industries-en-rapport-avec-la-crativit-et-la-culture-rsistent-mieux--la-crise-conomique.en

New Art Works

I have always loved working with found materials.

These new works carry on this interest. I have caled them Salvage Mirrors

They are presently hanging in Real TArt [Real Taranaki Art] Gallery in my hometown of New Plymouth. The Gallery is a community gallery and you can see more of it here www.realtart.co.nz

The intuitive path to creativity

Check out this blogpost from Marta Davidovich Ockuly http://joyofquotesblog.com/explore_the_intuitive_path_to_creativity/

Curiosity

Mark McGuinness is a Coach for Artists, Creatives and Entrepreneurs. For a free 26-week guide to success as a creative professional, sign up for Mark’s course The Creative Pathfinder. http://lateralaction.com/pathfinder/ Also check out his article on curiosity. http://lateralaction.com/articles/curiosity/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LateralAction+%28Lateral+Action%29

Seven steps to better brainstorming

Most attempts at brainstorming are doomed. To generate better ideas—and boost the odds that your organization will act on them—start by asking better questions. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategy_in_Practice/Seven_steps_to_better_brainstorming_2767

KIng Street Creative

I spent the weekend at King Street Creative at a songwriting workshop. http://www.facebook.com/kingstreetcreative?v=info

King Street Creative is a multi-disciplinary creative space in my home town of New Plymouth [New Zealand] - audio, video, event promotion, workshops and the odd party - founded by Dave Carnahan and Alan Steedman.

Now I don't pretend to be a songwriter but I am fascinated by the creative process and when an invitation came from Missie Moffat - herself and very fine songwriter and performer - it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Over the weekend we explored writing and composing songs, bounced around lyrics and what limits us, looked at song structure, editing and recording - all in the company of a group of talented and passionate people. We were challenged to critique work, exposed to the technical marvels of looping, and participated in wide ranging musical discussion.

Want to write a song - here is one way:

Take a song you like and write a new lyric to it. Now take that lyric and write completely new music to it. Give it a go. You might have a hit on your hands.

Thanks all for a great weekend.

The Six Habits of Social Entrepreneurs

This Slideshare programme comes from Social Creatives http://www.slideshare.net/CharlesGYF/six-habits-of-social-entrepreneurs

How to steal like an artist

Great blog. http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/

Authors reveal secret of their craft

From the Guardian How do you set about writing a novel? What inspires a poem? Pencil or computer? Pain or pleasure? Listen in to interviews with some of our most celebrated writers recorded for the British Library http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/26/authors-secrets-writing

Michael Wolff on Creativity

From David Airey's blog http://www.davidairey.com/michael-wolff-on-creativity/ It’s worth taking 12 and a half minutes to listen to Michael Wolff talking about three muscles he’s developed with age — inquisitiveness, appreciation, and imagination.