Creativity in Play

We'll explore how humane education can change the way we think about education, and why developing solutionaries can help us create more good and less harm in our communities. Our guest is Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education. For more about Zoe, watch her TEDx talk on "The World Becomes What You Teach" and read her book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life.

We'll also get a preview from Zoe about the "Educating for a Just, Peaceful & Sustainable Future" Humane Education Conference, coming up in New York City on September 21, the UN International Day of Peace. Keynotes include Zoe, along with Dr. Jane Goodall and Arun Gandhi.

We'll explore what it takes to create innovators, starting in school, with Tony Wagner, the author of Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World. We'll look at why innovation is today’s most essential real-world skill and what young people need from parents, teachers, and employers to become the innovators of America’s future. Plus, what does all of this mean for innovation and creativity in the workplace?

Tony is the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, and has written several books, including  The Global Achievement Gap.

We'll explore why and how humane education is a 21st century skill and philosophy that helps educators and learners create positive choices and solve problems with sustainable, peaceful solutions. Discover how humane education fosters curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, and instills reverence, respect, and responsibility. Our guest is Shawn Sweeney, National Director of Youth Outreach and Engagement at The Jane Goodall Institute, and a graduate of the Institute for Humane Education. We'll also get a preview from Shawn of the "Educating for a Just, Peaceful & Sustainable Future" Humane Education Conference, coming up in New York City on September 21, the UN International Day of Peace. Keynotes include Dr. Jane Goodall, Arun Gandhi and Zoe Weil. Shawn will co-lead a creativity and humane education workshop with "Creativity in Play" co-host Steve Dahlberg.

We'll explore how the mindset that makes improvisation work can also help us unlock more of our creativity in general. Our guest is Randy Dixon, artistic director of Unexpected Productions and the author of  Improvisation, Being Present: Spontaneous Storytelling and the Art of Improvisation. Plus, we'll find out what good stories, play and dreams have to do with all of this.

We'll explore how to do great  work that makes a difference, and what role that plays in organizational innovation, with Michael Bungay Stanier, founder and senior partner of Box of Crayons.

We'll explore how meaningful play and physical activity can help improve the health and well-being of children with Jill Vialet, the CEO and founder of Playworks.

We'll explore the intersection of Active Dreaming and imagination with best-selling author Robert Moss, along with what it means to be "a storyteller who helps people to find and live their bigger and braver stories, and tell those stories really well."

Robert describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He's a former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University and a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Here, Everything is Dreaming: Poems and Stories, Dreaming the Soul Back Home, Conscious Dreaming and The Secret History of Dreaming.

We'll explore the topic of creative collaboration through the lens of performance and dance with anthropologist, writer and professor Anya Royce. As a professor of anthropology at Indiana University, Royce explores the anthropology of dance and performing arts, which brings together her initial experience as a dancer with her scholarly interest in what and how dance and the performing arts mean in a variety of cultures both past and present. We'll also talk about the book she is working on about the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, examining a unique (for professional arts organizations) creative process based on collaborative improvisation where each individual contribution is important, and the assumption that no specific training in dance is necessary.

We'll explore how to understand growing older through creativity and art with painter Alice Matzkin and her sculptor husband Richard Matzkin. They have written an award-winning art/inspiration book, The Art of Aging: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self, and produced a documentary, called Women of Age: Portraits in Wisdom, Beauty and Strength. Learn more about the Matzkins and their work online.

We'll explore the role of arts and creativity in education, along with the Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools model in Connecticut with artist Mark Patnode. Find out more about Mark here.