Creative Aging

Earlier this year, I posted about creative aging with Do the Arts Have an Age Limit? Now, the Metlife Foundation Creative Aging Program is offering funding, in the form of seed grants to encourage healthy aging.

This pilot program will provide in-depth technical assistance and seed grants of $7,500 to eight National Guild members to enable them to design, implement and evaluate sustainable creative aging programs (participatory, skill-based arts education programs for adults age 60 and above) using best practices detailed in the Guild's latest publication, Creativity Matters: The Arts and Aging Toolkit. Technical assistance will focus on capacity-building with particular attention to outcome-based evaluation measuring changes in the health of participants.

• So do the arts have an age limit?

Find Your Color

Did you know that each of us has a personal color? It's based on the day we were born and can give us insights into our personality and inspire us. Mine is pistachio green.

Pantone, the color experts, have worked with Michele Bernhardt to develop this system.

• Find your color at Colorstrology.

Create a Visioning Collage to Inspire You

Materials:
Large piece of sturdy white paper / poster board
Magazines to cut up
Scissors
Glue
Colored Markers
Pens
Paints
A Creative Dream

Begin by going through the magazines and randomly cutting out images and words that appeal to you. Once you have about 10-15 images start imagining your dream and how what you've chosen represents this. You may want to choose an image or word that represents the essence of the dream and place this in the center of your paper gluing it securely in place.

Next, working with the other images, begin gluing them down in whatever way makes sense to you and your dream. You can also add color with markers, pens or paints.

After the collage is complete it should represent your achieved dream. Place the collage in a place where you will see it every day and spend some time each day visualizing yourself in your dream collage achieving your goals.

• Check out this flickr group for inspiration.

Living the Creative Life

I just finished reading Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists by Rice Freeman-Zachery, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to get a peek inside the mind of today's working artists.

The book features 15 artists and tries to answer the question, "what is creativity?" by covering useful topics like keeping a journal or sketchbook; work spaces and work habits; and the all important, living the artful life.

Comprised of responses by a diverse group of artists, I was pleasantly surprised to see mixed media artists:

1. Linda Woods
2. Claudine Hellmuth

And local Cleveland artists featured:

1. Rebekah Hodous
2. Scott Radke

Finally, try this exercise, I've adapted from the book.

• Make a list of the 10 most creative people you are inspired by and then write down some of their creations to get a better idea of what inspires you. For example, is it people who make grand works or those who integrate creativity into their daily lives?

2008 R&D Awards

R&D Magazine recently released their list of the top 100 innovations for the year.

Did you know that Ohio ranked second, behind California for the most inventions? Of the 10 organizations that were selected from the state, 3 of them are from Northeast Ohio.

• See the entire list here.

Creative Lessons From Innovation Experts

I know I've been posting lots of links to magazine articles, but recently there have been so many good ones to pass along.

Here's the latest. In the June issue of Inc. magazine, innovation experts were asked how organizations can foster the creative spirit in their employees. The results were interesting and included a couple of unique ideas.

Write it Down
"Frog Design, a San Francisco-based consulting firm, publishes Frog Design Mind, a print and online magazine that serves as a quarterly compendium of staff articles on subjects that excite employees.

Bring in Outsiders
Many top innovation firms tap the perspectives of outside experts -- be they physicists, poets, actors, archaeologists, theologians, or astronauts."

• Read Innovation: How the Creative Stay Creative.

Time to Play

When was the last time you played? If you can't remember, then it's probably been too long. August is the perfect month to let your inner creative out to get some exercise.

Did you know?

Giving children the time, space, and tools to play can aid them in developing important coping and problem-solving skills in stressful situations, according to CWRU psychologists who are following children in a study on play and creativity in children. Results from the second of three longitudinal studies shows that creative children in the first and second grades continue to use their imaginations and emotions in their play in the fifth and sixth grades.

"Good early play skills predicted the ability to be creative and generate alternative solutions to everyday problems and a higher quality of solutions," says Sandra Russ, professor and chair of CWRU's Department of Psychology.

If play is that beneficial for children, imagine how it could enhance the adult brain.

• Have some interactive fun by exploring Invention of Play.