Maybe creative schools coud lead to creative cities?

I'm currently back in 'work harness' as Acting Tumuaki at Darfield High School, covering sabbatical leave for  awesome Tumuaki Andy England. One of many things that has struck me about the kura (all positive, I hasten to add) is the clear rich arts tradition. I enjoyed their bi-ennial major production last week (Little Shop of Horrors) and as I walk around, the visual arts tradition is equally clear. Some of the work has been made by the members of the community, but equally some has been made by students.

Referring back to some of my thinking previously about creative cities, similarly you can create a 'creative vibe' in a school. In that school environment it is of course much easier - it is smaller, and there is much more direct control of the environment. It does however still take deliberate and intentional acts if it is to happen. In the school context it takes inspirational teachers too, and... it takes inspirational teachers who feel empowered to act, to do, to support, to nuture, and feed, student creativity, and to be creative themselves. It requires courageous leadership that is single minded in its focus. It takes leadership that empowers teachers and learners (you'd hope all teachers are learners, of course) to engage their creativity, to feed it, whether in the art room or the science lab, the social studies room or on the footie field.

And lots of schools like this in and around a city must surely mean that the life of the city itself is impacted. Most schools have lots of art work around, that's not unique. How about we show it off more, how about we talk about it more, how about we showcase it more, how about we celebrate it more? 

There is a problem there though.. wherever we are, wherever we live, wherever we work or play, it is easy to stop noticing these things in our environment. The secret is to open our eyes every day at the wonder that is all around, to see a new every single day those things that we have seen every other day.

We have to lift our view, open our eyes, and sit and stare for a while, we need to dare to daydream, all of us, school students included.

Sounds a little 'Pollyanna'ish' I guess, but it works.

Library entrance foyer

Library mural

A piece of outdoor art

The entrance foyer to the kura

Some outstanding Level 1 (Year 11) art work on display behind the reception desk

Maybe more creative schools in and arounbd a city could indeed lead to more creative cities. It doesn't exactly sound like rocket science, does it. I haven't been here long enough to have too much of an insight into things in this regard, and won't be here long enough - it's only a term. But .. e hika mā.. what a delightful leg in life's journey so far.

Creativity somewhere along the space/time continuum?

I'm not saying memories are always completely accurate, eh. I guess they could more correctly be described as a scattering of crumbs and the readings and interpretations we place on events at the time, and in the space of time that has passed since. However I do have memories of being in school. And amongst those memories (which are often far from positive) is being told on numerous occasions 'Sutton, stop daydreaming and get on with your work'. Did that actually happen? In my head it did, and also in my stock of memories from my professional life is recollection of seeing and hearing teachers say much the same thing to students.

We seem to be taught at an early age that busyness is equated with productivity, and that if we sit idly we are wasting our time. One of the many things I am grateful for from my upbringing is that I had parents who did not peddle that message of busyness. As growing boys we were allowed to sit, to lounge, to daydream.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Thinker,_Auguste_Rodin.jpg

In my professional life I came to increasingly enjoy wandering through the visual arts spaces where I would see students sitting, in silence, staring up to the heavens, the long eyed stare. Yes they were daydreaming. Was that a bad thing? I  don't think so. Even if they were not thinking about the task in front of them, they were engaged with their internal selves, they were listening to their internal dialogue, feeling and being alone. That process needs space and time. In this age of 'always on' in which devices and social media mean that we crave connectedness within the false construct of 'social media friends', it is surely never a bad thing to sit alone, with oursleves, for a while?

So what? Having returned to work full time for a term, I've been reminded of something very fundamental about creativity: if it is to truly prosper, it needs time and space. It's not a 'space time continuum', it's not a trade off, an either/or in which you position yourself somewhere along the line. In my temporary return to this full time work status I find I have far less time to dream and invent, and to write poetry. My output is stalled (those who bother to read it might well claim that this is not a bad thing .. Douglas Adams' description of Vogon poetry might well be apt here). I'm not saying that it has stopped the creative process. But it gets in the way.

If we go with the notion that creativity is an implicit part of being human, I wonder if it is too long a draw of the bow to suggest that solitude, the need for space and time, is part of being human? Does it nurture our humanity in the same way that it nurtures creativity?

And what then do we take from the latest prognostications from on high suggesting that the arts and music can take a back seat in our schools? What interpretations are we left with?

It feels a lot like 'what could the common people possibly need creativity for, they don't need to make any sort of connection with their humanity?'. And if going hand in hand with creativity is this notion of curiosity, is this seen as a threat to political control of a population? After all, a curious population is one less likely to bend to political manipulation and control, isn't it?

Maybe I'm too readily buying into some sort of Marxist class war conspiracy. Maybe our politicians are simply uninformed, maybe they are spouting their own political dogma in their political echo chamber. Whatever the reason, our world will be the poorer for it.

Give me the dreamers any day.

Here is a link to a nice collation of some thoughts on 'aloneness and creativity'. 

Creativity needs both time and space if it is to flourish. It doesn't exist along a space/time continuum, as that suggetss it is almsot binary in nature. Rather than an either/or, it is surely an and/and? I'll try to find more time to just sit and daydream.

Fostering curiosity in a city

As the Trustees of Ako Ōtautahi - Learning City Christchurch, in our deliberations, our kōrero, our hui,  the word 'curiosity' keeps coming up. And with jolly good reason. Curiosity is perhaps one of the most primal and powerful survival instincts of our species, and perhaps of all life forms. 

"One way to begin exploring curiosity is to understand ‘information seeking’. This behavior is observable across the entire animal kingdom – from apes and dolphins all the way down to crabs and tiny nematode worms. ‘Information seeking’ means that every animal seeks information about their environment. This is so they know how to navigate it. In fact, it’s why sensory organs exist – to supply the brain with information that helps you understand your environment and make better choices." (Source: https://curiosity.britannica.com/science-of-curiosity)

I spent quite some time down a rabbit hole searching for what has been written about curiosity, it's benefits, and its connections with creativity. GoogleScholar is a wonderful thing, as is the Google search operator 'site:edu'. I have to confess that I didn't even scratch the surface, but in the process of skimming through a lot of material several things became apparent.

Curiosity offers many benefits for learning, and for our lives as human beings.

"A study published in Neuron last fall about the science of curiosity confirmed that when people are curious, they:

• Learn more
• Remember better
• Absorb incidental material (the boring stuff) better than they ordinarily would

An article by Todd Kashdan in Experience Life magazine summarizes other research showing that curiosity is a leading contributor to better health, intelligence, relationships, and happiness. (my emphasis).." (Source: https://blog-youth-development-insight.extension.umn.edu/2015/06/making-curiosity-happen.html) 

That has echoes of the work of Professor Peter O'Connor ('Replanting creativity in post normal times').

Curiosity is also beneficial in supporting, promoting, and developing creativity.

"There is a strong connection between creativity and curiosity. Curiosity is the
foundation for creative people, creative process, and creative environment to foster
innovation. To evaluate how curiosity stimulates creativity, this project explored the
nature of curiosity and the role in creativity. " Source: https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=creativeprojects )

I had taken a lot of this for granted, admittedly not a good way to enter into any inquiry, but it was a belief based on a lot of previous reading and work. The question with which I had begun this search  was this: is it possible to promote or develop a curious and creative city, or is it possible to build a culture of creativity and curiosity in a city?

To cut to the chase, I gathered some interesting material, although it may take some more thinking/processing to come up with strategies that make this all work.

In a 2021 book 'Restorative Cities', Professor Jenny Roe, Director of the Center for Design & Health in the School of Architecture, University of Virginia, writes of the idea of restorative streets in urban design:

"As one example – the design of ‘restorative streets’ that can boost mental health – might include:

• Multiple uses and facilities, a mixture of all kinds of residences, workplaces, shops, cafes and restaurants that bring people out on the street at all times of day;
• Urban greenery and street trees that are so strongly linked with restorative mental health;
• The inclusion of ‘fascinating’ shopfront facades, and other attributes of street design that promote curiosity and wonder (such as public art, green walls, murals);
• Safe ‘bumping’ places where people can mix and mingle on an impromptu basis; dog walking areas, street chess, mini-markets and food stalls, for example.
• Comfortable streets that restrict vehicular access and promote walkability and other modes of active travel including cycling." (Source: https://engagement.virginia.edu/node/5806)

 In a paper submitted in 2006 for her Masters Degree ('Curious About Curiosity?'  Buffalo State College) Sharon Walsh  suggested the following personal steps that in her opinion would develop curiosity:

• Be observant
• Have a sense of wonderment and awe (sounds a little like Art Costa's 'Habits of mind')
• Be more curious, ask questions
• Judge your judgement
• Make the familiar strange, and the strange familiar
• Be surprised, and surprise others

She concludes:

"There are many techniques to help encourage curiosity. It is helpful to consider

engaging curiosity from the perspective of people, process and environment. An

important component to encouraging curiosity is opening oneself to the creative process

through being more curious, judging judgment and (sic) playing with concepts and

ideas. Taking a childlike sense of awe and wonder about the world and being more 

observant is an avenue to igniting one's curiosity. Another technique for encouraging

curiosity is to surprise yourself and others.. "

In a blog post titled 'Making curiosity happen' written in 2016, Jessica Pierson Russo of the University of Minnesota, suggested that the following three things promote the development of curiosity:

• Build knowledge
• Thrive on uncertainty
• Play
• See the extraordinary in the ordinary

She also wrote:

"I can think of other strategies that may be useful in strengthening curiosity as a skill—for instance, nurturing failure as a welcome part of the creative process. Failure should be taught as a good thing (rather than something to be avoided at all costs) in relation to learning and building curiosity. But the main strategy that I would advocate for in building curiosity is teaching it intentionally as a necessary life skill that we can develop. Each of us tends to exercise these strategies, at least unconsciously, at one point or another. But when we use them intentionally, we begin to create valuable habits that ultimately result in stronger minds and better learning experiences" (Source: https://blog-youth-development-insight.extension.umn.edu/2015/06/making-curiosity-happen.html)

This notion of nurturing failure, of celebrating the need for risk taking in the creative process, I have found to be recognised across many sources.

I came across a number of other papers that said quite similar things. If we are to assume that these are correct, then the question is 'are these strategies scaleable across a city?' 

One conclusion I have come to yet again is that cities that have a 'creative vibe'  are more likely to be cities that foster curiosity and therefore creativity.  I have written about this several times before.

Just today I read of a new 'green space' popping up in the central Christchurch CBD, and have seen yet more street art appearing (or maybe it's just that I am 'seeing' it for the first time). There are plenty of other Ōtautahi Christchurch examples in previous posts.

And Christchurch is forward in developing those alternative spaces where creativity can be nurtured, where it can thrive. There is the SALT district:

"SALT is the gritty, Southern ALTernative to the glossier city core. Laced with laneways and centred around St Asaph, Lichfield & Tuam streets, it’s a character destination where cool people with big ideas make amazing things happen."

 A part of this development is the 'Boxed Quarter':

"BOXed Quarter is a melting pot of art, music and hospitality located directly opposite Ara Institute and deep within the rapidly emerging SALT District. "

One of many questions I have in my head is 'how does this impact the lives of whānau who live in poverty, who battle addictions, abuse, and privations generally'? That is, how does this impact the lives of our most vulnerable? You could easily respond that it can't, it won't, that this is not the right tool for the job. It's just that if a part of our vison for a learning city is a drive for equity, I can't help thinking that those whnau ought to be a part of this. After all, surely every one of those human beings has creative potential that could benefit us all? Every one of those human beings deserves to live their best life?

I am of the opinion that developers and city planners in Ōtautahi are doing their bit. They are doing what they can to give us an environment that is conducive to growing curiosity and creativity. What next?

 

Every movement starts with one person

Every movement starts with one person. You've most probably seen this video before, but it's worth rewatching as it is a lovely reminder of how our humanity can work, about how one person can create change.

In the case of Āko Ōtautahi - Learning City Christchurch that one person was futurist Dr Cheryl Doig (that is not to suggest she looks or dances anything like our hero on the video - sorry Cheryl if this gives that impression), and the movement is the one promoting the development of Ōtautahi Christchurch as a learning city.

This week we are celebrating and participating the 2024 'Learning n Days', an opportunity to showcase learning opportunities and this year, perhaps more importantly, to kick off a more wide spread dialogue on what a learning city is, what it looks, sounds, feels, like and what we might to do make it a reality.

This afternoon between 50 and 60 people from across the city came together to participate in this hui, this kōrero.

Josh and Alice lead the kōrero

Some of the participants engaged in some serious deep thinking

One of the questions evolved from a guided visualisation of what Ōtautahi might be like in 2050 if it were a learning city. This is the summary of the conversation from one of the groups.

Every movement will make little steps and big steps. Sometimes the progress will seem small, sometimes the progress will feel much much bigger. However what matters is that we are moving forward each day. You see, this is not some sort of summative event, but one of those steps, and today felt like one of those larger ones. The data gathered will be distilled out by the AO-LCC team, and presented back to the participants. Perhaps the most fascinating first impression 'take away' for me was the similarity in vision from across the room, from across this diverse range of people and interests. So many of us hope for, so many of us want, similar things for our lives, our whānau, and for the world.

The summary sheet above had much in common with the sheets created by the other eight groups in the room. We want learning to be ubiquitous and relevant,  and we want it to satisfy our curiosity. We want equity, we want kindness, we want hope, we want to preserve our humanity.

There will be much to come from this hui, but every movement starts somewhere. It started some years ago with Cheryl Doig, and it progresses with those of us in. the room, who joined Cheryl in her dance today.

Karpool (karaoke) interview: my thoughts on creativity

Anyone who followed any part of my professional journey over the 7 years I was Tumuaki leading Te Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka Hornby High School (2016-2023) will know that the most essential component of the change I tried to engineer was to embed creativity into the kura, to make creativity the essential ethos of all that we did. 

Was I successful? It's not for me to judge, but for others... the akonga, the kaiako, the whānau .. but I tried. On the back of that, I was recently invited to be a part of a carpool interview with Steve Zonneville, who along with along with Dave Armstrong has pioneered the 'Forty Hour Principal' project.

Apologies in advance for the quality, I had to compress the video significantly to get it onto the blog. The video speaks for itself.

My answers (I hope) capture a lot of what I believe about creativity and education, and creativity and life. Here is the post in which I talked about creativity as an act of rebellion.

It's time we rebelled, it's time we nurtured and celebrated what makes us human. I reckon!!!

Go where the people are

 If you like that genre of humour that we call 'Dad' jokes, you might have heard this one:

"Isn't it amazing how they manage to build hospitals where all the sick people are"

... or ...

"Isn't amazing how they build the roads where all the cars go"

You get the idea, so I won't labour the idea or prolong the pain. My point is, if you want to sustain creativity, and learning (beyond formal schooling, that is) I think you need in part to go where the people are. There will always be those who will make the effort, go out of their way, to take advantage of opportunities, to participate in creative or learning events or opportunities. But I'm not convinced that is the majority. Generalising our behaviour as a species, I reckon we tend to look for the easy way out, the easiest path, and if we think something's not easy, we are typically less likely to participate. Just depends on the motivation, our individual answers to that question 'what's in it for me'.

Then there is the issue of genuine ability to connect, to participate. I recall in the 90's when I chaired the kidsFest Trust in Ōtautahi, we took pains to try and get events out into the areas where we knew incomes were more limited. We also negotiated free bus services to try to enable children especially to travel to events. I have worked with many whānau and young people who cannot afford a bus ticket or have never ridden a bus and don't know how. It's easy to apply pākeha middle class values and expectations to these problems, missing the point that we are not all the same. We assume such things at our peril when we think we have a cunning plan that might address inequity of opportunity.

I have seen some interesting solutions to this problem.

As part of its 150th Anniversary celebration the University of Canterbury ran an event called  'Raising the bar'. They took 'talks' by members of their staff out into local bars around the city. I attended one at my favourite local brew pub. It was unfortunate that one of the speakers chose to humble himself before the architect of Ruthenasia, making the content farcical at times. However we can't all see things the same way, can we. My only question is whether or not they took any of these events to any of the local bars in the poorer parts of town. I would love to know ..

Then there is the fabulous  'Arts on Tour', something which I think has been defunded by the Arts Council, sadly. We were pretty regular patrons of the local events.

I recall one concert called 'The Four Chiefs', one of whom was Wayne Mason of 'The Fourmulya' fame with 'Nature'.

I'd never have thought I'd be sitting 3 metres from one of Aotearoa's iconic musical legends listening to him perform. 

Libraries are a great example of taking creativity and learning into their local communities. They have become much more than book repositories (they are still that however), they have become learning and creative hubs for their local populations. They organise and/or host a range of events, sometimes delivered by their own staff, sometimes delivered by external providers.

Organisations like 'Ako Ōtautahi-Learning City Christchurch', with their Learning Days festival, attempt to bring together a range of such providers under one banner ('Learning Days'), their events taken to places where people congregate like shopping malls, libraries, and streets. 

The thing is, we need more. These functions are not things that typically 'make money'. They are typical 'merit' goods, so they are under provided by producers, and we under consume them in the context of what gives the greatest benefit to society, if their provision is left to the market.

UC needs to run a 'Raising the bar' event every year. ArtsOnTour needs to have its funding fully reinstated. These things spark people's curiosity, and that's what leads to real learning.

If we want a 'learning city', a city that is creative and thriving, one of the things we have to do better at taking these opportunities out to people, we have to be where the people are, whether it's in cafes, libraries, bars, shopping malls, or bus exchanges, we just have to go where the people are, to make it easier for them to access these opportunities. 

'Like, that helps create the vibe .. maaaan'

'Like, it's the creative vibe, man' (5)

I've thought a little about what deliberate and intentional actions we can take if we are to generate a more creative city, a city in which learning is just how we are. It's a complex beast, one in which I am not at all qualified to make grand assertions. But I've been thinking about it. I've asked myself this question: what are the possible levers that we can use to get there?

Maybe these things can (in the language of economics) be classified as macro and micro 'levers'. 

The macro levers are those that operate at an institutional and system wide level. In Aotearoa New Zealand perhaps the best example is the impact on education of Tovey and Beeby, and their work with creatives in schools in the 1950s and 60's (one of the best examples of which must be Ralph Hotere, but there were a number of others). This was action that impacted directly on children and young people, action that (so the literature suggests) resulted in an epoch of creativity in our schools. Did it? Not sure, but it seems to be a reasonable assertion. This was also the time of Elwyn Richardson and his ground breaking work in leading learning through the lens of creativity.

Thinking about this macro level in education poses questions around our national curriculum, and the importance that it places (or doesn't place) on creativity. This then (presumably) impacts on  the mahi within individual kura. My experience was that regardless of whatever curriculum documents say, it is possible to foster an ethos of creativity in an individual kura, as long as there is leadership from the top.

Within the civic or public space we can question the commitment of civic leaders (both elected representatives and salaried professionals) to the creativity, to the efficacy of creativity, in generating economic activity, innovation, and wellbeing, amongst their citizenry. How easily swayed are they to the benefits of such a focus, especially in these cash constrained times when they are being told that the choice between roads and drains, or libraries, pools, and creative public services, is an 'either/or' rather than an 'and'.

That said, they are still able to consider how they fund libraries in particular, and also museums and galleries, and other public spaces and activities, to support creative thinking and endeavour amongst their citizenry. In Ōtautahi Christchurch the public library spaces at Tūranga, and the redevelopment of the network of suburban library spaces, gives us hope. I note that the soon to open Hornby library (the Matatiki Hornby Centre) will be an absolute delight in terms of the facilities that it offers to the locals that might foster and support creativity and innovation with its dedicated 'Creative Activities Room'. Included will be opportunities ranging from 3D printing to sound recording.

These are examples of those macro level levers which generally are out of the reach for most of us.

I wonder also about the degree to which we can pull the levers of civic and architectural design across civic and private projects? When I look at some of the building and space design that we have seen in Ōtautahi through the earthquake rebuild, we see some of the worst and best of building design in particular, from awful tilt slab monstrosities to the creation of quirky innovative spaces that are new, but have the feel of ancient spaces. These are part of that 'vibe' I am talking about.

A signal of the development of Gloucestor Street, and the 'arts precinct' that will include the new Court Theatre, plenty of hospitality, backstopped with Te Pae, a wonderful new convention and function centre at it's west end - more 'very cool vibe'

The old 'New Regent Street', strengthened and repurposed with less traditional retail, and more hospitality, business.. a delightful 'feel' on a sunny day

More relevant and accessible to us as individuals are those micro level actions that we can take. Organisations like Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch are very proactive in showing some of the possibilities. What happens when you 'join the dots', when you connect people and ideas? What happens when you find guerrilla bureaucrats, awesome people within organisations who are able to activate smaller parts of those organisations, and resources, to support the vision of a more creative city, a city that values and activates learning not only within the formal sector but across the informal sector of learning?

Are we joining enough of the dots? Are we telling the stories loudly enough? Often enough?

AO-LCC is one of several organisations that are working to leverage change. Others include the Greater Christchurch Schools Network, Risingholme providing Adult Community Education, and that group of smaller providers such as Egg Academy, and Creative Trust, the Christchurch Young Writers' School, and Christchurch Rock 'n' Roll Club, and .....  all those smaller rebels that I have mentioned previously,  all alongside an amazing public library network. Ōtautahi is not in any way different from or superior to any other city. It is simply the city I know.

At our individual level, perhaps the best thing we can do is to actively broker conversations with many and diverse groups, as many conversations as we can, about creativity, about learning. We need voices that will echo loud and clear over the top of those who would have us submit to endless machine-like lives. We need to amplify the messages. We need to be persistent and relentless in the messaging, in fostering the conversations.

We need more than words. Individual acts of creation matter, whatever they are, in what ever form or medium we choose.

As Osho said, “Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.”

Going back to my original contention, if we accept that creativity and learning go hand in hand, if we accept that learning can be generated more effectively formally and informally through a creative lens, if we accept that creativity and innovation enhance our lives and our communities as measured with both economic and wellbeing metrics, is there such a thing as a creative vibe in a city, does it enhance creativity and innovation generally in a community, and does it enhance learning in a city? Is it another piece of the puzzle of how we go about building a 'learning city? Could it, would it, help to create a 'learning vibe' in a city? And what would a 'learning vibe' look like, feel like, sound like, in a city?

Perhaps my biggest contention is that whatever we do, we need to be far more deliberate and intentional in doing it.

What is at stake? I couldn't put it any better than O'Connor and his associates:

Like Freire, McLaren (2000) offers critical pedagogy as an antidote to education

systems that “replicates social inequity and creates an unthinking consumer class” (p. 123).
A truly democratic society requires people who are fully conscious, or fully awake in the
world, and Maxine Greene argues it is arts-making which brings the individual into awaken-ness (Greene, 1997). Perhaps it is why some might call art or photography ‘a woke subject.’Martha Nussbaum (2010) argues the moral imperatives sitting beneath a democratic society are based on the creation of empathetic citizens. She argues that empathetic imagination has been systematically ignored, and severely repressed, by neo-liberal models of education. (Page 15)

And with reference to our formal schooling system:

We argue how the true measure of public education is not in individual achievement, but in
the success of participatory democracy. What we risk with the current schooling is creating
classes of people disconnected from a sense that they are able to be active participants in
their own lives. We believe the dangers of such an approach during post-normal times is
obvious as new nationalisms and dehumanising ideologies find fertile ground in collapsing
economies. (Page 16)

These words tell me that we face uncertain and worrying times. Let me finish with some words from the Ōtautahi Climate Action Campus:

"Climate Action Campus, Ōtautahi - Shifting young people’s sense of climate anxiety to climate hope. One of the biggest mitigators against climate anxiety is to take action." 

Source: https://www.growwaitaha.co.nz/our-stories/climate-action-campus-otautahi-shifting-young-people-s-sense-of-climate-anxiety-to-climate-hope

 ... which I'd like to adapt like this:

Could we be a "Creative Action Campus, Ōtautahi - Shifting people’s sense of anxiety to hope. One of the biggest mitigators against anxiety is to take action."

References

'Replanting creativity during post-normal times', O'Connor, Anderson, Freebody and Ginns, October 2020