Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

We love the creative spirit that thrives in Newark.  We wanted to make sure you knew about the Newark Arts Council’s city-wide 10^th Open Doors Studio Tour, which kicked off yesterday.  This weekend is the best time to explore Newark’s galleries, curated shows and artist studios during this great event.  The Tour culminates on Sunday with a parade leading to an Art Festival at Washington Park.  For more information and a full schedule of events, visit the Newark Arts Council’s page.

And if all the artistic stimulation makes you hungry for something delicious, you’re in luck – because it is also Newark Restaurant Week. Explore the variety of cuisine that Newark has to offer – whether you’re in the mood for Portuguese in the Ironbound, New American in the Downtown Arts District, Rodizio or Sushi – you’ll find great deals at Newark’s best restaurants.

Take advantage of the free shuttles which will be stopping around the city all weekend, and please don’t forget to be green – Newark is highly accessible by public transportation. See NJ Transit’s website for more information.

Over the past two days, more than 150 people participated in the Creative New Jersey conference, discussing how creativity and innovation can help revitalize New Jersey. (See this earlier blog post for background on the conference).

This was no ordinary conference, with the agenda predetermined. Rather, the conference followed an “open space” format, which has minimal structure. As shown in the photos below, participants set the agenda for the two days by suggesting topics for discussion and posting them on large sheets of paper to the “Marketplace” wall, labeled with a time and meeting room where the conversation would take place. Participants then chose from the Marketplace which conversations they wanted to join throughout the two days, remembering that if they weren’t feeling engaged or inspired by the discussion, they could leave at any time and join a different one (the “rule of two feet”).

Discussions covered a huge range of topics, including “How do we create meaningful work for young people?” and “How can we use public space to inspire innovation and revitalize communities?” as well as “Teaching to and measuring for creativity” and “If you have all the political support and money you needed (!) what would be your crazy BIG IDEA to encourage creativity and innovation in NJ?”

Even those are just a small fraction of what took place.

Intrigued? You should be. There was no shortage of ideas, connections made and meaningful conversations.  And thanks to a coordinated effort and effective use of technology, all of these discussions have been captured and shared in real time on the CreativeNJ website. There, you can also find short, interesting interviews of the conference’s participants, as well as information about who was at the conference, and a gallery of photos.

It’s a lot of information and ideas to absorb – whether you were there or not. We urge you to take a look and get inspired, but we also urge you to take your time looking over the website to see what sparks your imagination (you can search by areas of interest), and revisit it occasionally.

Dodge helped sponsor and lead this effort because we care about the future livability of New Jersey – we’re focused on the issues that our home state faces and believe in supporting creativity, which we know takes on many different forms. We continually strive to bring people together in new and unexpected ways: we want to help spark ideas, make connections, and help you discover new resources.

Now that the conference is over, we have some questions for those who participated, but also for those of you who are thinking about the issues that New Jersey faces:

How do we keep the conversation and the momentum going?
What connections with other people and/or resources do you need help making?

Dodge has an arsenal of resources to offer: we make grants, of course, but we also have capacity building workshops to help you strengthen your organization as well as a suite of other financial and legal services that we underwrite. We can help you convene groups of people and make cross-sector connections, and we can offer you the conference space in which to hold meetings too. And as a foundation working solely on issues that impact New Jersey, we can also offer you our staff’s expertise, which we have developed over many years of criss-crossing the state, meeting with stakeholders from all sectors.

If you have ideas, questions, or comments, we want to hear them. Post them in the comments section below and help us keep the conversation rolling.

Images: Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

“When they ask me, as of late they frequently do, how I have for so many years continued an equal interest in medicine and the poem, I reply that they amount for me to nearly the same thing.”

-William Carlos Williams, Doctor and Poet, Rutherford, NJ

In just under two weeks (June 14 and 15), the Creative New Jersey Open Space – a two-day “meeting of the minds” – will take place with 150 registered participants who will discuss and brainstorm ideas for revitalizing New Jersey.

Some background on the event:

For more than two centuries, innovation and creativity from New Jerseyans have transformed the world through their invaluable and unique contributions. From the inventions of tetracycline (Pfizer Corporation, 1923) and the drive-in theatre (Richard Hollingshead, 1933) to the light bulb (Thomas Edison, 1876), condensed soup (Campbell Soup, 1894), the vast body of work of Albert Einstein and the Center for Advanced Studies and the transformative innovations of Bell Labs, our State has historically been at the forefront of innovation. Leading pharmaceutical and health care products companies as well as those who focus on manufacturing, industry, research and technology have called New Jersey home for many years. The creative products and services that have been developed by these giants have helped solve problems, provided new opportunities, made life more efficient and enjoyable, and have changed the world. It is clear that these companies and individuals have contributed to the State’s economy and have inspired hundreds of new and emerging businesses.

Today, our state faces enormous challenges in multiple fronts:

• The current stakes are high – New Jersey faces enormous economic, social, cultural, educational and environmental challenges.

• In 1999 New Jersey was 4th in the nation in patents. Now we are 9th while places like Washington State, Massachusetts, Michigan and Illinois have leaped ahead of us. This represents a decline of 32% in patents.

• In 1990, New Jersey accounted for 20% of the jobs in the pharmaceutical industry. Today this number is now 12%.

• A decade ago we were recognized as the center for the nation’s telecommunications industry. No more.

• From 2000 to 2009 we rank 47th in net migration (46th in the latest year-over-year period) only ahead of New York, Michigan, California and Illinois.

• We rank 45th in debt per resident.

• We are recognized as one of the worst states for businesses and entrepreneurs.

• We lead the nation in college student migration.

In order to bolster the State’s economic situation, there must be a renewed movement to support a climate that fosters creativity, innovation and sustainability in our diverse society. Action and perseverance to forward this agenda are needed to stimulate our economy quickly with an eye to workforce development and sustainable growth.

The 2-day Creative New Jersey Open Space will explore the intersections of our collective work and what we can do together that we can not do alone. The hope is to develop new collaborations and partnerships with local, state and private entities within New Jersey that share the same goals:

• Empower all New Jerseyans to develop their capacities for creativity, innovation and sustainability.

• Support the growth of an entrepreneurial economy that will stimulate new careers, companies and industries.

• Create and sustain world-class cultural and educational opportunities.

• Promote new opportunities for creativity, innovation and sustainability at all levels – in education, in government, in the work place and in the daily lives of all New Jerseyans.

Fortunately there are some outstanding state models that New Jersey can build upon to achieve these ambitious goals, such as Choose New Jersey, Innovation New Jersey, Sustainable Jersey, and ArtsPlan New Jersey.

The convening will provide stakeholders with an understanding of the urgent need for this initiative, demonstrate the potential of a more creative economy, and launch the conversation on how to move this new collective vision for a more creative and sustainable New Jersey forward.

Although registration for this event has reached its maximum attendance, you can follow it online at the Creative NJ website and see the program schedule here. And if you’re on Twitter, follow both @CreativeNJ and the #CreativeNJ hashtag to see all of the tweets on June 14 and 15.

If you are interested in receiving summary documents from the convening and/or notification of future Creative New Jersey events please join the mailing list.

Also, stay tuned for a wrap up of this event on our blog.

Introduction by Wendy Liscow, Program Officer

In both my professional and personal lives, I am surrounded by creative people every day, and I know that creativity is what will differentiate individuals, corporations, educators and even countries in the future. It is key to generating new ideas and to solving problems—old and new. We need more creative thinkers and people whose disciplines are creatively-based to inspire us and teach us all.

Today’s guest blog post is by Rose Gonnella , who is a professor at the Robert Busch School of Design at Kean University and one of the masterminds behind an annual Creativity convening that inspires students and practitioners to discover pathways to new ideas and spark their creative engines.

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April 7 – 9, 2011 / KEAN UNIVERSITY

Intersections: design, entertainment, technology, commerce, culture

The eighth Thinking Creatively conference is three days of events, presentations, interaction, workshops, networking, and experiences. Listen, learn, exchange ideas, get creatively nourished, be inspired!

Organized by: Kean University: Robert Busch School of Design  (Interactive Advertising and Branding, Graphic and Interactive Design, Industrial Design, and Interior Design), College of Visual and Performing Arts / Department of Theatre, the Department of Computer Science, the College of Business / Marketing and Management, and with the Art Directors Club of New Jersey, and the American Society of Interior Designers

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By Rose Gonnella

Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Creativity is an interaction happening through connections and at a myriad of intersections—of ideas, people, events, and experiences.

James Burke has made a lifetime of research exploring how connections led to creativity.

We know connections work to enrich creativity.

At the Robert Busch School of Design at Kean University, we work hard to make connections and intersections possible for our students (and ourselves). Connections and intersections that jolt creativity by bringing separate ideas and people together. One large and critically important connection we made for our students – and for anyone or any student who wants to be involved – is the Thinking Creatively Conference.

Dr. Dawood Farahi, president of Kean University fully supports the pursuit of enriching, and expanding the students’ experiences, study, learning, and excitement through offering not only the best situation in the classroom but to also provide extraordinary opportunities beyond it. The president is himself an idea maven and a connector so from its inception, Dr. Farahi was totally behind the creativity conference as a means to bring an eclectic group of masterfully creative thinkers to the campus (and open the opportunity to all) – to hear and learn, connect and reflect, and to leave thinking creatively more than when one arrived.

To help with outreach and publicity from across the state and metro area, the Art Directors Club of New Jersey (ADCNJ) also joined the mix – knowing that connections and direct experience talking with and listening to giant creatives could potentially jolt its professional membership.

Another great connection.

And what exactly can one expect by Thinking Creatively?

To be specific, Kean University’s Thinking Creatively Conference, slated for April 7–9 in 2011, will be an eclectic three-day event bringing together all sorts of experimental, innovative thinkers, designers, passionate inventors, business leaders, psychologists, writers, architects, performers, technology gurus, corporate communicators, blithe-spirits, photographers, illustrators, typographers, social networking mavens, artists, and those who don’t like to be labeled, to create that small but exceptional opportunity for intellectual nourishment, inspiration, connecting, and intersecting.

Need a specific example of the creative giants who present?

When Bob Isherwood, then Global Creative Director at Saatchi and Saatchi, presented at Thinking Creatively in 2003, he brought with him a crew and a performance to dramatize a call to the advertising and design community to use their creative thinking to promote world peace and bring attention to human rights issues and the betterment of the human life in general.

Seymour Chwast, whose wit and visual journalism had the audience in riot of laughter throughout his presentation; Drew Neisser, President and CEO of Renegade presented his philosophy, “Marketing as Service”; and Nick Law, EVP, Chief Creative Officer, North America of R/GA, explained the art of transmedia branding. Elvish autographs were signed by Daniel Reeve, artist and calligrapher for the films: Lord of the Rings and King Kong; the introspective Benita Raphan, filmmaker, presented three short documentaries on creativity; Deborah Adler had the audience in tears as she gave the first public presentation on her now famous humanitarian redesign of Target’s prescription bottle. Steven Brower, then Creative Director of Print Magazine, spoke on the creative life—thoughts of which are reflected in his recent books on the visual art of Woody Guthrie and Louis Armstrong.

During the 7th Thinking Creatively 2010 – Jon Kamen president of @radical media and James Spindler, Creative Director of @radical, generously shared aspects of their work that dive deeply into the core of the intersections among art, design, commerce, and culture. Also in during the lucky seventh year, the Gruskin Group sponsored and led the first Thinking Creatively Open Charrette composed of one hundred students from NJ and beyond. This event is a “thinking creatively” competition and is included so that the students have an opportunity to interact across university boundaries. Students and the professional mentors found the Charrette intensely enriching and inspiring.

With intersections as the theme for the Thinking Creatively 8, the challenge is to create as many cross-roads of creativity as possible: in design, art, entertainment, performance, science, technology, commerce, and new media. The 8th conference kicks off with Ben Chang – hybrid computer scientist, designer, and artist working in virtual three-dimensions. Trish Witkowski of the Fold Factory and others (top secret) will share the drama of folding paper and folding parachutes or whatever else they can think of. With seven million hits on YouTube, Global Media Star, Alan Robbins is set for an entertaining workshop and to share his “secrets.” Oh, there is much more to come!

Thinking Creatively Eight. Intersect. Be inspired. Get your creative jolt.

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Thinking Creatively Conference graphic designed by Steven Brower

By Wendy Liscow, Program Officer

Last week, Steven Slater became the new poster boy for every stressed, overwhelmed, and harried person in America when he activated the literal and metaphorical emergency slide to escape his job as a JetBlue steward.  Every news outlet covered the story, some appealing to our common frustrations with airlines and others focusing on worker liberation from an unhappy or stressful job situation. All identified with the feeling of living on the edge of collapse.

A recent article in the New York Times suggests that there could be other alternatives to taking Slater’s dramatic career-ending route and even increase the happiness quotient in our lives.  In fact, the stark realities of the economic downturn have yielded some unexpected positives in American’s lives as they have had to save more, spend less and simplify their lives.  There is a raft of research suggesting that accumulating more money and more “stuff” does not yield more happiness, and people are now shifting priorities and investing in experiences that have a greater happiness return.

At Dodge, we have the honor to support many nonprofits who spend every day working to help people access these experiences.  Last week I visited one of these  self-renewing opportunities in action.  Every summer for the past 35 years, Arts Horizons hosts two Artist/Teacher Institutes (aTi), one held at Rutgers Camden Campus  and the other at William Paterson University.  I had the pleasure of experiencing the fruits of 40 teachers, artists and administrators’ two weeks of labor in intensive workshops focusing on book arts, installation art, Latin dance, poetry, memoir writing and glass painting.

WiredPRNews.com interviewed Jenifer Simon, Arts Horizons’ Director of New Jersey Programs, Partnerships and aTi, about how the summer opportunities allowed participants to explore their creativity and gain new perspective on their artistic or teaching practice.  “For teachers, aTi is an opportunity to become ‘the student,’ while connecting with a community of peers…aTi helps teachers find their inner artist, and then helps them bring this creativity into the classroom. Many teachers comment that aTi gives them a new lease on life for teaching.”   You can get a 30 second taste of the program by watching this terrific coverage of the Camden experience on NY1

It is inspiring to see a group of people pay money and dedicate two weeks of their summer to doing something that deliberately takes them outside of their comfort zone.  Yet, at the end of the intense immersion in art making, they were ecstatic with the results.

Dr. Donald Ford is a practicing veterinarian, a professor, and a dapper dresser who was able to take his passion for protecting endangered species and create two installation pieces that explored the relationship between the demand for endangered animal products and importation of these products and the people who peddle them.

Dapper Dr. Ford (left) and his chair (right)

Sarah Kaplan is an elementary school teacher and she discovered how to make an explosion page book to help her to teach about the color wheel.  The color wheel moved in unimaginable ways taking all sorts of shapes.  I was enthralled by it; imagine what a six year old would think!  What I loved most was when the other teachers gathered around Sarah to discuss all the opportunities the new design opened up to them, building ideas upon ideas.  It was creativity in motion.

Sarah Kaplan and her color wheel

The entire glass painting class learned about this ancient craft and paid homage to the history of the great glass artists by creating a window of saints, but replaced the faces of the saints with images of their present classmates to whom they had grown to respect  and love.  It is stunning.

Perhaps your internal voice is resisting saying something like, “That’s fine and dandy if you have two weeks to spare and the money to take advantage of this kind of opportunity.”  Well, Christine E. Salvatore, an AP English teacher in Egg Harbor Township school district and a second year aTi graduate, suggests an antidote to this pushback through the poem she wrote in her poetry workshop.  Please enjoy it and I, for one, am going to make it a practice until I can schedule the flamenco class at Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre and Bikram Hot Yoga I have been wanting to take for two years.

Praise for the Ordinary

Do not blame your mundane life
on piles of laundry, unmade beds,
and the never ending heaps of mail.
You can, without fail, find pleasure
in the ordinary, contrary to what
you’ve always been told.
We build our lives task by task,
so do not ask where all the time
has gone.  We should learn
to praise each day.  Tonight
instead of our quiet waltz
of dirty dishes and leftovers,
I’ll suggest a jitterbug.
Wine glasses raised, and barefoot,
We’ll dance on the living room rug.

- Christine E. Salvatore

Let us know what your prescription for stress is and how you increase your happiness factor.