Stop Making Sense: Building Creative Confidence
Fall 2018
Creativity is not some exotic, optional extra. It’s a strategic issue.
It is impossible to escape the reality that corporations must be innovative to survive.
Cultivate your creativity in an immersive, hands-on weekend workshop offered by two leading cultural institutions: the Art Institute of Chicago and School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The design of the workshop is built upon participation, placing a premium on participants’ willingness to roll up their sleeves, apply their analytical skills to new situations, formulate innovative approaches, and share intellectual capital. Participants will be encouraged to view their collective experience from different industries and professional sectors as the building blocks for new skills and insights as they participate in activities designed to build trust, shift perceptions, and inspire breakthrough ideas.
- Hone observation skills that promote an efficient, discerning, imaginative approach to problem-solving
- Refine communication strategies by practing empathic listening
- Learn curatorial approaches for establishing priorities and building compelling narratives
- Practice constructive criticism in a supportive environment
- Approach critical questions collaboratively, examining multiple strategic perspectives
Who Should Attend: Emerging leaders in private and public sectors seeking to meet like-minded peers and renowned faculty, curators, and educators.
Think creatively. Bend the rules. Stop making sense.
Friday, April 20
Welcome Reception
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Keynote Address
Saturday, April 21 (morning)
Forum on Curatorial Thinking
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Introduction to Group Project
Saturday, April 21 (afternoon)
Studio Exercise
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Introduction to Critique
Saturday, April 21 (evening)
Cocktail Reception, Dinner, Facilitated Networking
Sunday, April 22
Group Project Presentations
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Next Steps
Bring your diverse experience into the museum’s galleries and School’s studios–environments renowned for innovation and experimentation.
You will learn the skills of artists and curators to amplify your creativity within your own work.
Think Like a Curator
Go behind-the-scenes with a curator to learn the ways in which individual creativity and collaborative thinking shape an exhibition. How can complex ideas be communicated in compelling and accessible ways? How are decisions made? What is seen, what is left out? How are the interests of different stakeholders considered and balanced with institutional constraints?
Work Collaboratively
Teams will propose a mini-exhibition from artwork in the museum’s collection. Decide on key works, develop a story line, and design key elements to enhance visitor experience and understanding. Learn from sessions on curatorial selection, spatial awareness, storytelling, and effective communication of ideas in a visual medium. The workshop will culminate with group presentations and critiques.
Embrace Risk
In a multi-stage drawing exercise, participants will draw a still life with no instruction. An experienced teaching artist will then address basic visual literacy concepts (line, shape, form; positive and negative space) before participants revisit the still life focusing on relationships – what they see versus what they think they see. Making adjustments without the use of erasers will encourage participants to view changes as part of the process rather than mistakes, embracing the success in failure.
Engage in Critique
Artists use critique to heighten their ability to listen and see actively, communicate clearly, and provide constructive feedback. Be introduced to critique approaches including description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment or evaluation, then look at drawings in teams, taking turns leading the discussion to gain insight on the value of structuring and managing a critical, yet productive dialogue.
Keynote
George Aye, Co-Founder & Director of Innovation, Greater Good Studio
George co-founded Greater Good Studio with the belief that design can lead to positive behavior change. Previously, he spent seven years at global innovation firm IDEO before being hired as the first human-centered designer at the Chicago Transit Authority. Since founding Greater Good, he has worked across multiple social issues including autism, criminal justice, education, public health and health care. He has facilitated discussions with small executive leadership teams and workshops with 150+ participants to help uncover hidden opportunities for innovation. George is an adjunct full professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Additional contributors to be announced.
Research
Harvard Business Review Digital Archives: You Can Teach Someone to Be More Creative
Catherine Courage: Igniting creativity to transform corporate culture: Catherine Courage at TEDx Kyoto 2012
The New York Times: Off Beat and Into a Museum: Art Helps Police Officers Learn to Look