Promoting Creativity
Ohio Educators and Teaching Artists Convene in Columbus
Keynote speaker Burns Hargis and OAC board member Susan Saxbe
Teams from Ohio schools and OAC artists in residence met at the 2007 Promoting Creativity Conference to explore the significance and potential of their shared interest in creating powerful arts experiences for students.
Providing a national perspective was keynote speaker Burns Hargis, founder of the Oklahoma Creativity Project. Hargis talked with humor and conviction about the decision to "brand" Oklahoma as the "state of creativity" and then live up to the title by creating an environment that will "unleash the creative capacity of all citizens."
"We're asking every school, business and institution to do a creativity project that will make their field better," he said. "We have designated 2008 the year of creativity."
The state plans events to celebrate its creative people and achievements. Among those achievements are the Oklahoma A+ Schools, which are raising student achievement through daily instruction in the arts and arts integration. An interactive Web site also is helping people from different fields to connect and share ideas.
Active, creative learning experiences made the conference a memorable two days.
The energy and creativity that teaching artists can bring to schools—and to professional development—was evident as teams of teachers, school leaders and artists shared ideas and explored potential partnerships. School teams discussed some of the practical and logistical aspects of residencies but also had time to talk with artists and see documentation and samples of their work.
Artists Kate Gorman and Patty Mitchell shared student work from a quilting project at St. Mary Central Catholic High School in Sandusky.
This article was published in October 2007, Volume 4, No 1.
