NEA Chairman Landesman announces Challenge America Fast-Track grants

162 projects will be supported in 46 states plus DC and VI

December 6, 2011

		Contact: Victoria Hutter 202-682-5692 hutterv@arts.gov

Washington, DC -- As National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman has noted, "Art works everywhere," which is why the agency’s Challenge America Fast-Track (CAFT) program supports projects from primarily small and mid-sized arts organizations that extend the reach of the arts to underserved audiences -- those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Chairman Landesman announced today that 162 Challenge America grants totaling $1,620,000 will be awarded to organizations in 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Challenge America Fast-Track grants are all $10,000 and receive expedited application review. Organizations are notified approximately six months after they apply with the possibility to start a project shortly after notification. For smaller organizations that operate on compressed timeframes, having an expedited review (in addition to competing for grant dollars with organizations of similar size) enhances their access to federal funding.

"Taken together, these Challenge America Fast-Track grants provide an extraordinary sampling of the work that arts organizations do to reach underserved communities," said Chairman Landesman. "With these grants, we are helping to ensure that art works for all Americans."

Along with not-for-profit arts organizations, grantees in this announcement include a community housing authority, municipal tourism department, state mining and technology institute, and social service agency -- all using the arts to engage audiences and make their communities more livable. In addition, among the 162 grantees, 47 or about 30 percent are first-time grantees to the NEA, a significant number that demonstrates the program’s important gateway role.

Examples of projects supported in this round of Challenge American Fast-Track are:

Abilene Arts Alliance in Abilene, Texas to support Artfully Abilene, a cultural tourism initiative designed to increase awareness among residents and visitors of the range of cultural activities in the metro area.

The Mimbres Region Arts Council in Silver City, New Mexico to support the Youth Mural Program, pairing young people with professional artists to create murals that express the culture and history of the Grant County region.

Pro Musica of Joplin, Missouri to support a residency by the Cavani String Quartet featuring a public concert and lecture-demonstrations for Joplin public schools students.

Please see the complete listing of projects recommended for Challenge America Fast-Track grant support.

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at www.arts.gov.

 

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As many of us know, the arts in education have been seriously threatened by short-sighted budget cuts. This is not only happening in the United States, but in other countries as well. In a valiant effort to "make up for" some of these educational budget cuts, smaller and larger arts nonprofit organizations are attempting to fill the gap with their own programming, especially to under-served children, audiences and neighborhoods (usually low-income neighborhoods). The National Endowment for the Arts in the U.S. just announced these Challenge America Fast-Track grants for small and medium-size arts organizations that offer essential programs for under-served communities.

We think this is an important step in the right direction, as it fosters creativity, educational innovation, and essential partnerships between community artists of all genres and schools and community programs. But we will also continue to advocate for taking a longer-sighted view and protecting our schools—especially public schools—from further budget cuts in Arts Education.

— Cathryn Hrudicka, Chief Imagination Officer, CEO and Founder, Creative Sage™

 

What are you thankful for in this beautiful world?

Thank you to everyone who makes a difference in big and small ways every day!  This is a perfect time of year to express gratitude and thanks.  Here are 88 Tweetable social good quotes to inspire and share positive ideas.

I am grateful for so many things, including great friends around the world, online and off! ~Amy Neumann aka @CharityIdeas

Wherever one turns he can find someone who needs him.  ~Albert Schweitzer
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.  ~David Thomas
The breeze, the trees, the honey bees – All volunteers! ~Juliet Carinreap
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.  ~Edith Wharton
The time is always right to do what’s right. ~Martin Luther King Jr.
I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks. ~Shakespeare
It’s easy to make a buck.  It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.  ~Tom Brokaw
Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.  ~Elizabeth Andrew
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William A. Ward
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.  ~James Allen
Thanks are the highest form of thought; gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  ~G.K. Chesterton
How beautiful a day can be, when kindness touches it! ~George Elliston
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ~Buddha
Appreciation is a wonderful thing.  It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.  ~Voltaire
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.  ~Eric Hoffer
No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. ~Aesop
The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.  ~William James
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.  ~Oscar Wilde
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. ~Martin Luther
Gratitude is the memory of the heart.  ~Jean Baptiste Massieu
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.  ~Anne Frank
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.  ~Mother Teresa
Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness. ~Chinese Proverb
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. ~Dr. Loretta Scott
It matters if you just don’t give up. ~Stephen Hawking
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.  ~Winston Churchill
Things of the spirit differ from things material in that the more you give the more you have.  ~Christopher Morley
Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.  ~William James
You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. ~Nietzsche
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.  ~Edmund Burke
Philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.  ~Henry David Thoreau
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.  ~Kahlil Gibran
The willingness to share does not make one charitable; it makes one free.  ~Robert Brault
You shouldn’t go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands.  You need to be able to throw something back.  ~Maya Angelou
The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion. ~ Richard P. Feynman
Every person feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.  ~James R. Lowell
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little – do what you can.  ~Sydney Smith
If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.  ~Betty Reese
We cannot live only for ourselves.  A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.  ~Herman Melville
Among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. ~ Maya Angelou
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.  ~Seneca
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.  ~James Matthew Barrie
Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and start with the person nearest you. ~ Mother Teresa
If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.  ~Bob Hope
What this world needs is a new kind of army – the army of the kind.  ~Cleveland Amory
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  ~Dalai Lama
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.  ~Rudyard Kipling
There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.  ~Frank Tyger
A kind word is like a Spring day.  ~Russian Proverb
Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.  ~Samuel Johnson
The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.  ~Henry Boye
When I was young, I admired clever people.  Now that I am old, I admire kind people.  ~Abraham Heschel
Let no person pull you low enough to hate him. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
The best portion of a good life – little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.  ~William Wordsworth
You cannot do a kindness too soon.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. ~Dalai Lama
By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.  ~Winston Churchill
Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.  ~Marian Wright Edelman
The power of a touch, smile, kind word, listening ear, smallest act of caring… all have potential to turn a life around.  ~Leo Buscaglia
Peace, like charity, begins at home. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.  ~Washington Irving
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. ~ Albert Einstein
If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. ~ Booker T. Washington
I’m always doing things I can’t do.  That’s how I get to do them. ~ Pablo Picasso
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. ~ St. Francis of Assisi
Peace begins with a smile. ~ Mother Teresa
Don’t raise your voice; increase your argument. ~ Desmond Tutu
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt
It only seems impossible until it’s done. ~ Nelson Mandela
Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.  ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.  ~Alexander Pope
If we cannot be clever, we can always be kind.  ~Alfred Fripp
The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.  ~John E. Southard
To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.  ~Samuel Johnson
I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there. ~Richard Feynman
The more sympathy you give, the less you need.  ~Malcolm S. Forbes
In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.  ~Karl Reiland
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.  ~Benjamin Disraeli
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. ~ Gandhi
Always be a little kinder than necessary.  ~James M. Barrie
Action expresses priorities.  ~ Gandhi
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. ~ Tony Robbins
The highest use of capital is not to make more money but to make money do more for the betterment of life. ~ Henry Ford
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one. ~ Mother TeresaIf you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right. ~ Henry Ford
Be the change you wish to see in the world. ~ Gandhi
Smile at a stranger, and make two people happy. ~Amy Neumann

 

Make it a wonderful day!

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Tags: 88 quotes, giving quotes, inspirational quotes, quotes about helping, social good quotes, volunteering quotes

On Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for all that we have, and think of all the people around the world who have much greater challenges than we do. Please read these quotes, think about them, and retweet them on Twitter. Then, let's go find ways to manifest compassion, creativity, innovation and goodness in our world.

A Warm and Happy Holiday Season from Creative Sage™ / Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates!

About the Giraffe Heroes Project: History

The nonprofit Giraffe Heroes Project was born in the head and heart of Ann Medlock, a freelance editor, publicist, speech writer and writer living in Manhattan. Ann started the Project in 1984 as an antidote to the mind-numbing violence and trivia that pervaded the media, eroding civic energy and hope. People needed to know about the heroes of our times and all that they were accomplishing as courageous, compassionate citizens. Ann's strategy for the Giraffe Heroes Project was simple—she would find unknown heroes, commend them as Giraffes for sticking their necks out, and get their stories told on radio and television and in print. Giraffe stories would show the public that there was headway being made on the problems of the world, that there were individuals who had solutions—and the courage to move into action. The stories would feed people’s souls, inform their attitudes—and get them moving on public problems that mattered to them.

The idea of telling heroes’ stories to inspire others to action has deep roots. People have been telling the stories of heroes for thousands of years as a way to communicate their culture's values. Ann Medlock invented the Giraffe Heroes Project to do the same thing for our times. She knew that stories go straight to the heart and stay there, bypassing the objections that the mind can throw up to keep out theories, rules and admonitions. Ann also knew that the giraffe metaphor and imagery were great ways to get people’s attention, to engage their interest and, once engaged, to get past both their fears and their anti-message radar.

In those days of getting the Project started, friends and family were asking Ann why she was putting so much into something that could well be a lost cause. Flying off to Paris to write a speech for the Aga Khan hadn’t been a bad way to make a living. Why was she going on and on with this Giraffe thing? She wasn’t sure herself.

She got the answer on a trip west, at a seminar Joseph Campbell was giving at Esalen. Ann had attended Campbell’s classes whenever he taught in New York City: she couldn’t pass up this chance to hear Campbell talk for a full weekend on the story of Parsifal.

Campbell showed Parsifal as a recurring theme in mythology, the story of the Holy Fool. This Fool is always considered a dummy by the smart, hip people who really know the score. In Parsifal’s case, there’s a mysterious blight on the land, nothing will grow and no one knows how to break the spell. Parsifal, the Holy Fool, sets out to find the cause, right the wrong, and save the people. He’s told he can’t do it, that he’s too dumb, too weak, too everything. But he goes ahead anyway, breaking the curse on the land and bringing life back to the people.

The Holy Fool is the most dangerous person on earth, Campbell explained, the most threatening to all hierarchical institutions, because he ignores their power. He has no concern for naysayers. He’s unfazed by risk. He’s not limited by his limitations, not listening to reason, not stoppable, not controllable. He knows what he has to do and he’s doing it, no matter what.

Driving up the California coast after the seminar, Ann had what later seemed to her an obvious revelation—the reason she had been so obsessed with finding Giraffes and telling their stories was that these individuals were our time’s Holy Fools; she had locked into an archetype that had her in thrall, one that was desperately needed in the spiritual blight of the 1980’s. No matter what it took, she would go on.

Back in New York, she had lunch with Campbell and told him what she was doing, what his seminar had made clear to her, how grateful she was that he’d shown her the reason for her obsession. She was amazed to see his eyes well up, and delighted to have his endorsement of her quest.

At its beginnings in 1984, the Giraffe Project had been just Ann, running around New York City interviewing the people whose stories she wanted to tell. The first Giraffes were people like Gene Gitelson, a Vietnam vet who’d left the security of his banking career to help down-and-out vets, and Elsa Hart, a gems expert who’d faced down crooked middlemen to get an Apache tribe in Arizona a fair deal for the gemstones from their mine.

After she recorded an interview, Ann would write a radio public service announcement around it, then convince an actor such as Candice Bergen, John Denver or Sam Waterston, to record it.

She sent these recordings to hundreds of radio stations–who began playing them. Just as Ann had hoped, the stories of Giraffes were so compelling they were soon picked up by print media and television, both local and national. In effect, she was a press agent for America’s heroes.

John Graham joined Ann on the quest—but it took him awhile. A US Foreign Service Officer for fifteen years, he’d been in the middle of wars, revolutions and arms sales. A three-year stint working at the US Mission to the UN gave him the chance to focus his skills and energy on ending apartheid and other human rights abuses, and on stopping wars instead of starting them. In September 1980, he decided he could do more for peace by quitting the Foreign Service and training the opponents of government policies—people who wanted America to cut nuclear arms, do more to end apartheid, or combat poverty at home and abroad.

John had met Ann just as she was developing the Giraffe idea. At first, he admits, he thought what she wanted to do was lightweight: he couldn’t see how just telling stories would change anything, especially if the symbol for it all was a giraffe.

Still, as friends, Ann and John understood that her Giraffe Heroes Project and his trainings were aimed at compatible goals by different paths. However, they’d fallen in love, and whatever skepticism John had felt about Ann’s path needed another look. He began to feel the archetypal power of the stories she was telling and to see her genius in using the giraffe metaphor to get them into people’s heads and hearts. He could see that people were listening to Giraffe stories, and that the Giraffe Project was already changing lives. It was anything but lightweight. The two paths merged; Ann’s media work and John’s trainings all came under the Giraffe banner, and the two of them were working on the Project seven days a week.

The Project was telling Giraffe stories, not just on radio, but on television and in magazines and newspapers. It began publishing Giraffe News and Giraffes were being featured in major media such as Time, Parade , USA Weekend, Readers’ Digest, People, The New York Times, Glamour, CBS, PBS, CNN, ABC and the Voice of America. The exposure attracted resources of many kinds to the Giraffes, and their stories inspired others to action, from setting up a soup kitchen in Tucson to saving a wetland on Long Island. Giraffe speeches were inspiring and coaching audiences all over the world on how to stick their necks out for the causes they believed in.

In 1991, the Giraffe Project moved into schools with the first editions of the Giraffe Heroes Program, a character education and service-learning curriculum that teaches courageous compassion and active citizenship to kids in grades K through 12. That same year, Ann Medlock launched her award-winning radio broadcasts on public radio. In 1995, the Project went on line with its web site, one of the first in the nonprofit world. In ’98, Ann created Stan Tall & Bea Tall, cartoon giraffes who tell heroes’ stories to the very young. John wrote It’s Up to Us in 2000, a mentoring book for teens and, in 2005, Stick Your Neck Out, a Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond.

The Giraffe Heroes Project has now honored almost a thousand Giraffes, and reached over a quarter of a million kids in schools all over America and untold more people through Giraffe speeches, books and the website. More than two decades of experience have proved Ann Medlock right; the Giraffe message can and does move people into the kind of courageous and compassionate actions that are the mainstay of a free and healthy society.

For the past few years, I have participated in Blog Action Day, to bring the world's attention to an important global issue by blogging and holding conversations about it on social networks. In 2009, the issue was Climate Change; in 2010, it was Water.

This year, Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, a time that focuses the world’s attention on food, something we all have in common.

There is so much to say about food.

We use food to mark times of celebration and sorrow. Lack of access to food can occur due to causes such as devastating famines, while too much of the wrong food is causing a generation of new health problems.  It can cost the world too much, or be too cheap for farmers to make a living.

The way we companies produce  food and drinks can provide  important jobs for communities or be completely  destructive to habitats and local food producers.  Food can  give us energy to get through the day or contain ingredients that gives us allergic reactions.

Food can cooked by highly skilled chefs with inventive flair, or mass produced and delivered with speed at the side of road. It can be incredibly healthy or complete junk and bad for your health. It can taste delicious or be a locals only delicacy.

Food is important to our culture, identity and daily sustenance, and the team at Blog Action invite you to join us to talk about food.

Some topics suggestions for your Blog Action Day post.

• My favorite food
• The famine in East Africa
• To be organic or not to be, that is the question.
• Hunger and poverty.
• Best and worst food memory
• Slow Food, Fast Food: What does it actually mean
• Malnutrition
• Conflict over Food: Will new wars be about arable land?
• Is your hamburger hurting the environment?
  It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.
• Vegan, Vegetarian, Omnivore, Carnivore – Which one are you and why?
• Trading in the future of food. What is the impact of food speculation?
• Will we be able to feed 9 billion people in 2050?
• How does Fair Trade food help farmers and communities get out of poverty?
•  Freeganism  – eating the things others throw away.
• The scandal of food waste.
• What is the best way to farm food?
• Growing your own – the joys and heartache of growing what you eat?
• Too much or too little taking food to extremes.
• Strangest thing you have ever eaten.
• What food means to your culture.

Use the hashtage #BAD11 and follow @BlogActionDay on Twitter.

Come "like" Blog Action Day on Facebook to show your support.

Register your blog(s) for Blog Action Day at the web site. Then, all you need to do is write a blog post relevant to the topic of food, to be published on or by October 16, 2011, and share your post on social networks!

You're invited to join our 1st annual Playing For Change Day on September 17, 2011 — a global day of action where musicians will perform on stages, cafés, city squares, and street corners worldwide to raise money to support music in the lives of young people.

You can create an event on that day — OR you can find our about PFC Day events in your community — by signing up at PlayingForChangeDay.org. Whether you're performing yourself, or heading out to see another artist perform, everyone's participation is needed to make September 17th a day to remember.

This year's event carries the theme Power To The People, drawing its inspiration from John Lennon's activism, thanks to the gracious support of Theatre Within and Yoko Ono, who believe in our mission and recognize it as one manifestation of John's vision for the role of music in creating a better world.

Proceeds raised will go to support the work of the Playing For Change Foundation and Theatre Within to help build music schools, strengthen music and arts education, support teachers and performances, purchase instruments, and connect young people to promote cross cultural learning and conflict resolution.

You understand the power of music and the ways it can change the human heart and the human experience. Will you bring your passion and presence to a global day of music? Please visit PlayingForChangeDay.org to learn more and to participate.

Imagine...if we all join together and play music as one world...

via youtube.com

Please support our colleagues at Deep Listening Institute to make music accessible to children with special needs (and all people) by voting for their excellent project at Pepsi Refresh!

About My (Deep Listening Institute's) Idea:

* Specifically, my idea will help people of all abilities, including ones with disabilities, become music makers

* I believe my idea is unique and innovative because there is not a program that is affordable and can be used by ALL.

* One thing that might surprise people about my idea is that people who are considered 'dependent' can be independent music makers.

Please watch the video clip, and then go to the linked page at Pepsi Refresh to vote for this project between now and August 20, 2011. You can also read my previous post about the Adaptive Musical Instruments project. Thank you!

Sarah Cahill Radio and Interviews Then and Now on KALW San Francisco, 91.7 FM, Sundays from 8-10 pm (streaming audio at KALW.org) Sarah Cahill is a pianist and music critic whose radio program was named "One of the Hundred Best Things in the Bay Area" by Citysearch online magazine.  Sarah's popular KALW program, called "Then & Now," focuses on the relationships between classical music and new music, encompassing interviews with musicians and composers, historical performances, and exciting recordings outside the mainstream. For playlists, please contact Sarah at scahill@aol.com Visit Then and Now on Facebook. RSVP to the Cardew Choir event on Facebook. Come visit The Cardew Choir Facebook page.

 

 

In celebration of its tenth birthday, the vocal ensemble I often perform with, The Cardew Choir, will perform live on the radio on Sunday night, May 1, 2011, in San Francisco and online!

We will also participate in a phone interview with composer Pauline Oliveros beginning at 9 pm PT. The entire program runs from 8:00-10:00 p.m. PT.

Tune in or log on, and join us!

 

World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – 21 (WCIW)

• WCIW is  about spreading the word and the energy, to bring creativity out of the closet and use it for innovation to create the future

• It’s a week in time for everyone all over the world to celebrate and build capacity to be open to new ideas, use imagination and make new decisions to make the world a better place and to make their place in the world better too, without causing harm

• Throughout WCIW people unleash the power of their creative imagination, which fuels innovation through various means, such as
  • leading, hosting, attending and participating in events, conversations, and activities that stimulate, wake up, and/or bring to the surface the innate creativity in every person present and/or participating

WCIW Events, Conversations and Activities are:

• Meaningful to the people engaged
• Conducted responsibly
• Supported by theory from creativity and/or innovation studies
• A little out of the ordinary, different from the day-to-day

• WCIW@home ideas
• WCIW@work ideas
• WCIW@school ideas

Use this list to help set your goals and objectives for your WCIW events, conversations and/or activities. You can…

Provide practical applications so people can become accustomed to using creative thinking and feel comfortable using it to overcome obstacles, respond to a challenge moving innovation forward or think-up new inventions.  Practical applications give people confidence in exercising their creativity. For example, you can teach people how to brainstorm for new ideas on something that’s important to them.

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              • WCIW@home ideas
              • WCIW@work ideas
              • WCIW@school ideas
              • Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/worldcreativity
              • Join our Facebook group: World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – 21
            Clarify frameworks for people to understand how the innovation process can work. Many people appreciate outlines, structures and definitions for creative and innovation processes so they can plan and track their progress. For example, you can provide a simple step-by-step outline of an innovation process to let people know about the different stages and what to expect in each.

            More examples

            Post your WCIW Event/Activity/Conversation here

            Share this post!

            Familiarize people to new thoughts and perceptions of themselves and others using low-risk activities. It’s helpful to safely expose people to how it feels to use their creative abilities so they can be more comfortable with the ups and downs of the process of giving life to a new idea throughout the innovation process. For example, you can provide simple art tools to people and have them draw a picture of creativity for which one will get a prize, and notice what they feel as they do it. 

    Energize people’s positive visions of the future as fuel for innovation. Sudden changes shake and shape people’s perceptions and reactions. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had a positive outlook and plan for creating a bright future? For example, you can play Louis Armstrong’s It’s a Wonderful World and have people suggest what the most important thing is to remember if a sudden change should occur that changes their lives. 

Bring people closer together around the shared need and value for creativity and innovation. Strengthen your community build with a common goal to be open to and use new ideas for making new decisions that cause no harm.  For example, you can get your book club, or community group together to discuss how to inject more creativity into what you do as a group to inspire innovation. Unleash the power of people’s creative imagination to uncover/discover opportunities, emerging trends and patterns for new inventions and actions. For example, you can ask people to imagine the best possible invention that could exist that would make their lives easier.  Then, what invention would make your family’s, company’s and customer’s lives easier?  Then, select one to investigate as a potential innovation.  Inspire the deliberate use of creativity everyday in business, education, and community decision-making. Integrating creativity as part of the everyday skill-set means that people are open to new ideas and to making new decisions naturally, and not just when called upon to do so. For example, you can start using a 5 minute  idea break in meetings from this week forward. 
  Improve people’s abilities to control creativity so it can fuel innovation. Different methods, tools, processes and structures can be used to enhance people’s confidence to come up with interesting and achievable ideas. With that confidence comes the freedom and meaning for people know they have the ability to contribute to something larger than themselves. For example, you can show people how to use a mind-map to capture ideas.

Join us in our annual, global celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Week, from April 15-21, 2011. Blog about it, share, post and tweet with the hashtag #wciw — and tell everyone how you plan to celebrate WCIW wherever you are!

What will you learn about creativity and innovation, or do this week to support your own creativity and innovation, in your life, your workplace or school?