Creativity in Play

We'll explore how movement, dance and performance can lead anyone to new insights about listening, decision-making and the creative process with our guest, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, choreographer and artistic director of The Equus Projects. Plus, we'll discover more about The Equus Projects' inter-species performance works with horses – where listening, leadership, negotiation and adaptability play out with very real consequences. MEET JOANNA MENDL SHAW AND THE EQUUS PROJECTS PERFORMERS IN PERSON: JoAnna and four performers will be featured at the Creative Problem Solving Institute 2017 from June 13 to 18, 2017, in Buffalo, New York. They will: Lead a day-long workshop on Strategic Problem Solving: A Kinetic Experience in Physical Listening. Perform The Breaking Ring, followed by a talk back with the audience and improviser/artist Gary Hirsch. Lead a breakout session on Moving to Think through Immersive Play. Faciliate the experiential FOLDING exploration using folding paper to investigate notions of leadership, leading and following, seeing the whole, and your contribution to a creation process

We'll explore where creativity resides in the winemaking process with Hopkins Vineyard winemaker and vineyard manager Jim Baker. Jim will connect the nature of creativity and creativity in nature. Find out how he ended up a winemaker in the first place. And we'll ask if winemaking is the ultimate STEAM (science, technology, education, art and math) activity! MEET JIM BAKER IN PERSON: Jim Baker will join Creativity in Play co-host Steven Dahlberg for a keynote on "The Nature of Wine and Creativity: A Sensory Wine-Tasting Experience" at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's STEAM conference in Ridgefiled, Connecticut, on September 17.

We'll explore how "the world becomes what we teach" and how we can create a just, healthy and humane world with humane educator Zoe Weil. Zoe will share why we need to reimagine education and prepare a generation to be solutionaries -- young people with the knowledge, tools and motivation to create a better future. Zoe is the president of the Institute for Humane Eucation and the author of several books, including the recently released The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries.

We turn the tables on our regular co-host Mary Alice Long to talk about her Archival Memoir Project and her Active Dreaming Workshop. Poet Anne O'Reilly joins us from Ireland as co-host for this episode as we talk with Mary Alice about her personal archival memoir, which includes a written memoir, performances and collection of images inspired by the birth of her surrogate son in 1987. She'll share more about the broader Archival Memoir Project, and how others might connect with it to document and share their own stories and experiences. Plus, we'll find out how our dreams can help us shape and live a more creative, playful and healthy life. MORE RESOURCES FROM THE SHOW: The Archival Memoir Project: A Performance + Invitation to Collect and Share Your Story Creatively - October 28, 2015, Ridgefield, Connecticut - More InfoArchival Memoir Project Workshop: Imagine, Play, Create and Share Your Story - October 31, 2015, Farmington, Connecticut - More InfoActive Dreaming Workshop - November 1, 2015, New Milford, Connecticut - More InfoCreativity in Play interview with guest co-host Anne O'Reilly 

We'll explore what happens when we bring more visual images and visual thinking -- including comics -- into teaching, learning and creativity. Our guest is comics artist and educator Nick Sousanis, who received a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he wrote and drew his dissertation entirely in comic book form. His dissertation has been published as the book, Unflattening. 

We'll explore how to nurture children's creative intelligence, ways to incorporate nature into learning experiences and more with Marghanita Hughes. Marghanita is a nature art teacher, an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, a naturalist, and founder of the “Let’s Go Outside” Revolution. “I grew up in a home where art, nature and books were the stuff of everyday life. My parents, both art teachers, allowed me the freedom to roam wild and my young mind was free to wander, explore and discover in the beautiful country-side of Scotland. That sense of awe and wonder has never left me. It’s what drives me to explore more, not just in art and nature but in life itself. The more I discover and learn the more I wish to share. I believe if we inspire a love for nature in a child, it will lead to a desire to protect it. My overwhelming goal is to nurture the Body, Mind and Spirit in each child in my classes I teach and indirectly through the teachers in my workshops.” -- Marghanita Hughes

We'll talk with poet, essayist and author Sheila Bender about tapping into our creativity to write from personal experience. Sheila is an accomplished author of many books about writing, including Creative Writing Demystified. She teaches university courses and workshops about writing for several organizations and conferences, as well as online courses.

We'll talk with Jeff Smithson about bringing play, creativity and clown to learning, work and healing. Plus, find out how the developmental power of play can improve communication and create flourishing communities. Jeff is the founder of Proponent of Play, which creates safe atmospheres for people to develop through mindfulness and movement. He's also worked with kids with chronic and life-threatening illnesses as part of The Big Apple Circus Clown Care program and Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. FROM THE SHOW: Listen to our full interview -- and create and share your own #‎eyesshutselfportrait?, created with your eyes closed! Post to our Creativity in Play page at https://www.facebook.com/CreativityinPlay!

We'll talk with author Fran Sorin about the connections between gardening and creativity, and how gardening can be a creative tool for enhancing joy and well-being. Fran is the author of Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening.

We'll talk with writer Cheryl Merrill about her applied creativity work documenting elephants in Africa, as well as her forthcoming book, Larger than Life, Living in the Shadows of Elephants. Find out what elephants have to teach us about creativity, learning, writing ... and being human. Cheryl writes about her experience with elephants: "Together. Inhabiting the earth. Lives enlarged."

We'll explore what it means to plan, design and implement accessible and inclusive playspaces for children with and without disabilities, as well as how different types of organizations -- from manufacturers and retail stores to parks districts and community groups -- can ensure that all children have the best play opportunities possible. Our guest is nationally recognized play and playspaces expert Mara Kaplan, founder of Let Kids Play! RESOURCES: Accessible Playgrounds Playworld Systems: Playground 101

We'll explore with Krylyn Peters how to overcome fear and use creativity for wellness and good mental health. Plus, we'll find out more about the online "Creativity & Wellness Summit 2014" that Krylyn has curated. Krylyn is a licensed professional counselor (psychotherapist), certified life coach, and singer/songwriter. Find out more about Krylyn and the summit. 

We'll explore with Shelley Sacks how socially engaged artistic processes can help individuals and communities find new ways new ways of engaging with the world to create a more sustainable future. Plus, we'll find out more about two of her key projects -- University of the Trees, and Exchange Values. Shelley will lead a three-day "University of the Trees: U.S. Summer Institute 2014" from August 1 to 3, 2014, at the Jane Goodall Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut, USA. This is the first intensive training on University of the Trees to be held in the U.S., building on similar trainings Shelley has done in England, Germany and South Africa. Space is limited to a small cohort of co-learners. Shelley Sacks works internationally in connective practices and social sculpture, exploring the relationship between imagination and transformation, the individual and community, and rethinking responsibility as an ability-to-respond. She leads a master’s and doctoral program in social sculpture at Oxford Brookes University, where she is Professor of Social Sculpture and Interdisciplinary Arts, and Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit. She is the co-author of the recently released Atlas of the Poetic Continent: Pathways to Ecological Citizenship.  

We'll explore how quality play space design can emerge through collaboration with one's community, as well as the importance of public space for children's health and well-being with award-winning landscape architect Adam White. Plus, we'll find out more about Adam's latest project, Dinton Pasture Nature Play Park in Wokingham, England. Adam is director of Davies White Landscape Architects in London, and co-author of Nature Play: Managing & Maintaining Playful Landscapes.

We'll explore the early learning link between the body and the brain and how to guide this connection in young children. Our guests are Gill Connell and Cheryl McCarthy, authors of the new book, A Moving Child is a Learning Child: How the Body Teaches the Brain to Think. Gill is an expert on child development, learning, movement and play; and the founder of Moving Smart. Cheryl is a former vice president for Hasbro, and creative director of Moving Smart. 

We'll explore with Michael Conforti and Loralee Scott-Conforti how to understand and tap into the creative unconscious, how creativity can be better understood from an interdisciplinary perspective, and the role that archetypes play in creativity. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst and the founder and director of The Assisi Institute, and Loralee Scott-Conforti is the executive director of The Assisi Institute, as well as a producer, writer, lecturer and choreographer. The Assisi Institute is an educational center dedicated to the study and application of Archetypal Pattern Analysis.

We'll explore with Karyn Lu how she is making Turner Broadcasting more playful and creative -- with inspiration from her parents' childhood in China and her own experience as an immigrant. Karyn will share specific play activities implemented at CNN Center and other Turner offices, as well as how she helps her HR colleagues integrate play into the organization's culture. Plus, get tips from what Turner Broadcasting has learned to help you make your organization more creative and playful, and find out how Karyn is applying these ideas to make her city of Atlanta a more playful city, as well! Karyn Lu heads the Insights & Inspiration team at Turner Broadcasting, which is charged with looking to the future and around the globe to identify emerging trends and opportunities, helping to drive innovation across Turner brands. Previously, Karyn was a user experience designer at CNN.com, where she co-founded CNN iReport. Check out Karyn's recent TEDx talk on "Create Play Where You Are."

We'll explore creativity, learning, art, democracy and more with artist and gallery owner Kimberly Camp. As an artist, Kimberly's paintings and dolls have been shown throughout the US in over 100 solo and group exhibitions. As an arts administrator, she held leadership roles at the Smithsonian Institution and the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, as well as headed the Barnes Foundation (where John Dewey served as the first president and director of education). She is the author of the forth-coming book, Defending the Dead: The Totally True Story about the Barnes Foundation Transformation, about her time at the Barnes Foundation and its many recent changes. Kimberly currently runs Galerie Marie in n Collingswood, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. 

We'll explore Lois Holzman's new book, The Overweight Brain: How Our Obsession with Knowing Keeps Us from Getting Smart Enough to Make a Better World, and how she is writing it publicly through social media. Plus, we'll talk about Discover Development NYC, a 3-day exploration of New York’s development community that Lois is leading later this month, and her social therapy work, an approach to human development and learning that she has pioneered with Fred Newman. Lois is the director and co-founder of the East Side Institute, convener of the Performing the World conference, and author of several books, including Performing Psychology: A Postmodern Culture of the Mind and Vygotsky at Work and Play.  

We'll explore the "Playtime in Africa" project and Mmofra Foundation's work in Ghana with Rachel Phillips and Amowi Phillips.

We'll explore the concept of "pop-up play" for children, what it means to be a play worker, the developmental needs of children, and the idea of play in general with Morgan Leichter-Saxby, playwork training developer for Pop-Up Adventrure Play. 

We'll explore how humane education can change the way we think about education, and why developing solutionaries can help us create more good and less harm in our communities. Our guest is Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education. For more about Zoe, watch her TEDx talk on "The World Becomes What You Teach" and read her book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life. We'll also get a preview from Zoe about the "Educating for a Just, Peaceful & Sustainable Future" Humane Education Conference, coming up in New York City on September 21, the UN International Day of Peace. Keynotes include Zoe, along with Dr. Jane Goodall and Arun Gandhi.

We'll explore what it takes to create innovators, starting in school, with Tony Wagner, the author of Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World. We'll look at why innovation is today’s most essential real-world skill and what young people need from parents, teachers, and employers to become the innovators of America’s future. Plus, what does all of this mean for innovation and creativity in the workplace? Tony is the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, and has written several books, including  The Global Achievement Gap.

We'll explore why and how humane education is a 21st century skill and philosophy that helps educators and learners create positive choices and solve problems with sustainable, peaceful solutions. Discover how humane education fosters curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, and instills reverence, respect, and responsibility. Our guest is Shawn Sweeney, National Director of Youth Outreach and Engagement at The Jane Goodall Institute, and a graduate of the Institute for Humane Education. We'll also get a preview from Shawn of the "Educating for a Just, Peaceful & Sustainable Future" Humane Education Conference, coming up in New York City on September 21, the UN International Day of Peace. Keynotes include Dr. Jane Goodall, Arun Gandhi and Zoe Weil. Shawn will co-lead a creativity and humane education workshop with "Creativity in Play" co-host Steve Dahlberg.

We'll explore how the mindset that makes improvisation work can also help us unlock more of our creativity in general. Our guest is Randy Dixon, artistic director of Unexpected Productions and the author of  Improvisation, Being Present: Spontaneous Storytelling and the Art of Improvisation. Plus, we'll find out what good stories, play and dreams have to do with all of this.

We'll explore how to do great  work that makes a difference, and what role that plays in organizational innovation, with Michael Bungay Stanier, founder and senior partner of Box of Crayons.

We'll explore how meaningful play and physical activity can help improve the health and well-being of children with Jill Vialet, the CEO and founder of Playworks.

We'll explore the intersection of Active Dreaming and imagination with best-selling author Robert Moss, along with what it means to be "a storyteller who helps people to find and live their bigger and braver stories, and tell those stories really well." Robert describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He's a former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University and a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Here, Everything is Dreaming: Poems and Stories, Dreaming the Soul Back Home, Conscious Dreaming and The Secret History of Dreaming.

We'll explore the topic of creative collaboration through the lens of performance and dance with anthropologist, writer and professor Anya Royce. As a professor of anthropology at Indiana University, Royce explores the anthropology of dance and performing arts, which brings together her initial experience as a dancer with her scholarly interest in what and how dance and the performing arts mean in a variety of cultures both past and present. We'll also talk about the book she is working on about the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, examining a unique (for professional arts organizations) creative process based on collaborative improvisation where each individual contribution is important, and the assumption that no specific training in dance is necessary. 

We'll explore how to understand growing older through creativity and art with painter Alice Matzkin and her sculptor husband Richard Matzkin. They have written an award-winning art/inspiration book, The Art of Aging: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self, and produced a documentary, called Women of Age: Portraits in Wisdom, Beauty and Strength. Learn more about the Matzkins and their work online.

We'll explore the role of arts and creativity in education, along with the Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools model in Connecticut with artist Mark Patnode. Find out more about Mark here.  

We'll explore the idea of "participlay" -- a body-based, social-spiritual approach to connecting people to each other -- with its creator Elizabeth Yochim. Find out more about Elizabeth's work at Participlay and watch her TEDxUSC presentation.

We'll explore how play is changing the context in the community-building work that Jorge Burciaga and Miguel Cortes are doing in Juarez, Mexico, as well as how play is used as a tool in therapy work at the Fred Newman Social Therapy Center in Juárez.  Jorge Burciaga-Montoya is a founding member of the Fred Newman Social Therapy Center in Juarez, Mexico, teaches in the education department at  the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, and is on the staff of CASA (Centro de Asesoría y Promoción de Juvenil, A.C.), a non-profit with a strong presence in the poor communities of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where he is working with high schools to incorporate social-emotional learning. Miguel Eduardo Cortes-Vázquez is an educatior, therapist and percussionist living in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We works at CASA (Centro de Asesoría y Promoción de Juvenil, A.C.), where he has led efforts to create play centers and promote play, and teaches community education at the University of Juarez.

We'll explore what will be happening at the 'Performing the World' Conference, coming up October 4 to 7 in New York City, with Rutgers professor of education Carrie Lobman -- and several guest presenters, including Hector Aristizabal, Miguel Cortés Vázquez and Alexandra Sutherland. Carrie will also be collaborating with "Creativity in Play" co-hosts Steve Dahlberg and Mary Alice Long for a "Creativity in Play: Performing a Creative World on Purpose" session at the conference.  PTW's theme is "Can Performance Save the World?" and will draw several hundred people from around the world who care about how performance, play and creativity. PTW is described as a "marathon 'performance of conversation' with people from all over the world — scholars and researchers; educators, therapists, social workers, youth workers; doctors and other health workers; theatre, applied theatre and other performance artists; social activists and community organizers; business leaders and philanthropists; film, video and media cre­atives; and others." Find out more here.

We'll explore how to integrate your creativity and purpose -- and make a living -- with artist, therapist, and business strategist Lisa Sonora Beam. Lisa is the author of The Creative Entrepreneur: The DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real. 

We'll explore how the Future Problem Solving program is teaching kids creative thinking skills and preparing them to solve future problems today. Our guest is Cheryl Whitesitt, executive director of the Minnesota Future Problem Solving Program. Find out more about Future Problem Solving, created by E. Paul Torrance, here.   

  We'll explore the role of creativity and innovation in growing businesses and working with clients with "recovering lawyer" Matt Homann. Matt is the author of the award-winning legal blog “the [non]billable hour,” where he shares innovative ways for lawyers and other professionals be better at what they do. 

We'll explore the role of play in helping us express who we are at an authentic level in whatever we do and how to feel truly fulfilled in our careers, and lives as a whole ... with Vince Gowmon, founder of Remembering to Play Events. 

We'll explore the role of the unconscious mind on learning, memory, creativity and learning with neuroscientist Eric Kandel, the author of the new book, The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain. Kandel mixes science, medicine and art to help us better understand the the human mind and behavior. His work -- including the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2000 -- explores how the nerve cells in our brains give rise to perception, memory, emotion, empathy and creativity.

We'll explore the intersection of creativity, play and nature with Erin Kenny, director of the Cedarsong Nature School. Find out how the school's mission to provide opportunities for direct experience with nature helps increase awareness of and connection to the natural world in order to foster compassion and empathy for the earth and all of its inhabitants.

We'll explore how to open up the collaborative innovation process in organizations to discover new insights, engage new audiences and find new products. Our guest is David Yaun, vice president of marketing and communications for global industries at IBM. David is part of the closing keynote on "Innovation in the 21st Century" at the Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation Conference in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on April 28. 

We'll explore how to bring "artistry" into one's life and work -- discovering the edge of what we know. Find out why surprise, uncertainty, ambiguity, intensity and change are all disruptive forces that we typically avoid or fear -- yet why they are the essential origin of both creativity and great performance. Plus, we'll talk about what "integrative thinking" is and why it matters for being more creative. Join us with Hilary Austen, author of Artistry Unleashed and adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto. Find more about Hilary here. Hilary is part of the closing keynote on "Innovation in the 21st Century" at the Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation Conference in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on April 28, and will be leading a workshop there, as well.

We'll explore ways to educate children and liberate adults so that creativity flows again. Play is for all ages, as is exploration and improvisation. Discover the power, potential and possibility of play for children and adults with leading play expert Joan Almon. Joan co-authored the report "Crisis in theKindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School," is  founding director of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood, and former co-chair of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America. Joan is leading a workshop on "The Power of Play" at the Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation Conference in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on April 28.

Against the backdrop of the Bellevue Arts Museum's "Making Mends" exhibition, we'll explore the therapeutic benefit of art and the sense of hope and perseverance that artists find as they come to terms with traumatic experiences through the act of creation. Our guest is the "Making Mends" curator, Nora Atkinson.

We'll explore the workings of creativity -- from how to bring more of it into organizations to who is creative to how the brain works with creativity. Our guest is Jonah Lehrer, author of the new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, as well as How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. He is also contributing editor at Wired, a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Find more at http://www.jonahlehrer.com/.

We'll explore the intersection of play, creativity and art through the "Push Play" exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum near Seattle, Washington, and the work of curator and artist Linda Ganstrom.The exhibition is shaped through Linda's belief that play is at the core of all forms of creativity and that art is work with a playful attitude. The exhibition looks at the subject matter of contemporary play through the medium of ceramics art.

  We'll explore the power, potential and importance of play to generate and restore health and sanity to our world. Our guest, Gwen Gordon, brings stories from her play work with Muppets for Sesame Street, Apple research at MIT Media Lab, Xeroz PARC, San Quentin Prison, and elsewhere.

Berenice "Bee" Bleedorn would have turned 100 on December 22. She died earlier this year, bringing to a close her nearly 50-year career in creativity and education. Today, we'll celebrate not only her life, but why her work matters today and in the future. We'll be joined by one of her daughters, former students and international colleagues to explore the impact of her life and work in promoting creativity across education, business, global issues, sustainability, arts, politics and more.

We'll explore the importance of play for children and adults in learning, healing, working and community-building with Angelique Felix. We'll find out about how the Angelique uses the Reggio Emilia approach in play session to create many possibilities for children to express the way they really are. Learn more about Angelique at www.angeliquefelix.com.

We'll explore what creativity looks like in the personal and performing life of concert pianist Haley Simons. And how that creative life inspired her latest project of developing Creative Alberta -- a Canadian province-wide nonprofit organization that encourages and supports creativity in the multiple arenas of culture, commerce and education.

We'll explore with artist, educator and activist Lily Yeh her work with Barefoot Artists, Inc., to bring the transformative power of art to impoverished communities around the globe through participatory, multifaceted projects that foster community empowerment, improve the physical environment, promote economic development and preserve indigenous art and culture. We'll talk about her new book, Awakening Creativity, about  her work with the Dandelion School for children of migrant workers in Beijing, where she engages students in artmaking to transform a rundown factory into a vibrant school and community center. Find out more about Lily's projects at www.barefootartists.org. Lily is part of the opening keynote on "Disruptive Creativity: How Bright Ideas Can Change Everything" at the Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation Conference in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on April 27.