NEWSROOM

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. (May 15, 2012) – Creative Oklahoma announces the one-day Oklahoma Creativity Forum 2012 will be held on Tuesday, November 13 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.

Keynote speakers include internationally recognized creativity and education leader and author, Sir Ken Robinson, and Chairman and CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, Peter Diamandis. “The forum is a rare opportunity to learn from some of the world’s foremost innovative leaders,” said Susan McCalmont, president of Creative Oklahoma. “The Oklahoma Creativity Forum 2012 will bring internationally renowned speakers together with Oklahoma practitioners for a dynamic conversation about how to become a more creative individual and make your school, workplace, or community a thriving environment for ideas and innovation.”

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D. is one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. An estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries have seen the videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks at the prestigious TED Conference. His book, “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything,” is a New York Times best seller and has been translated into twenty-one languages. His latest book is a 10th anniversary edition of his classic work on creativity and innovation, “Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative.” Robinson is also the founding advisor to Creative Oklahoma.

Dr. Peter Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, a non-profit focused on designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.  Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector.  Diamandis is also the New York Times bestselling author of “Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think.”

Registration for the Oklahoma Creativity Forum 2012 will be available soon at stateofcreativity.com.

Creative Oklahoma also announces a Pre-Forum professional development workshop on November 12, 2012 that will be available to a limited number of registrants. The workshop will feature the Creative Oklahoma Experts in Residence, a group of nine Oklahoma academicians and practitioners in creativity and innovation. The workshop consists of four 90-minute in-depth sessions on creativity and innovation principles and how to apply those principles to your organization or business. Registration will be available July 1, 2012.

McCalmont added that Creative Oklahoma has year-round initiatives that encourage innovation in Oklahoma. The State of Creativity Awards program includes: Creative SPARKS!, awarding grants to Oklahoma students and their schools; Great Inspirations, recognizing inspiring past or current innovations by Oklahomans that contribute to the greater good; Oklahoma Innovation Prize, sponsored by SandRidge Energy, is a new award granting cash prizes to high school, college, and post-college youth for new ideas or innovations that address needs in the community, state, nation, or world. The Oklahoma Creativity Ambassador program honors nationally and internationally known Oklahomans for their creative contributions.

Other initiatives include the launch of the Oklahoma Innovation Challenge Index, a cross-sector project to investigate the creative inputs into Oklahoma K-12 education; the Oklahoma Creative Communities project, a creative-problem-solving initiative for Oklahoma rural communities; and the Oklahoma ArtScience Prize, a high-school after-school program using collaborative, aspirational thinking to resolve global issues. Additionally, Creative Oklahoma has been instrumental in changing public perceptions of Oklahoma through the national public television documentary series, ReCreating America, by award-winning producer David Kennard; educational workshops and webinars with renowned creativity experts; creation of the National Creativity Network, a network of 15 creative districts in the US and Canada; and representation as the only North American region in the 14 member international Districts of Creativity Network.

About Creative Oklahoma:
Formed in 2006, Creative Oklahoma is a statewide non-profit organization advancing Oklahoma’s creative economy through creativity and innovation based initiatives in education, commerce and culture. The mission is to transform the state of Oklahoma through projects and collaborative ventures that help develop a more entrepreneurial and vibrant economy and an improved life quality for its citizens. For more information please visit stateofcreativity.com.

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Media Contact:
Meg Jackson at 405.232.5573
meg@stateofcreativity.com

Posted by Shannon Rigsby, ChickashaNow

Dr. Erik Guzik works with local students to demonstrate the creative tools in the Virtual Problem Solving program. Guzik was recently awarded the Great Inspirations award by Creative Oklahoma for his work on VPS and Oklahoma A+ schools.

CHICKASHA — For his work in problem-solving software innovation, Dr. Erik Guzik has earned the Great Inspirations Award at the Oklahoma Creativity Forum Nov. 1.

Guzik, an associate professor of economics at the University of Science and Arts, is the architect of an innovative program called Virtual Problem Solving (VPS) that seeks to foster creativity in the classroom. The award was given in acknowledgement of Guzik’s role in bringing VPS to Oklahoma classrooms.

The Great Inspirations Award “recognizes and publicizes Oklahomans’ creative endeavors, solutions or activities as both a stimulus and an example for other corporations, organizations, communities or educational institutions,” says the Creative Oklahoma website.

VPS is a web-based technology that allows schools from all over the world to design problem-solving activities that address the specific educational needs of students of any age. It can be accessed by any classroom equipped with basic computer hardware and the capacity to connect to the Internet.

The program is used by 12 Oklahoma A+ teachers and more than 300 students to tackle such issues as global poverty, community development and new business ideas for local economics.

Guzik, who received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, recently traveled to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to deliver a presentation on VPS and the A+ School project.

“The work of our pilot A+ School teachers and students is now reaching an international audience, and we received a number of requests for collaboration with our A+ School partners,” Guzik said.

“Through VPS, our project participants will soon have an opportunity to work with classrooms in South Africa, Russia and China on projects initiated and completed by students themselves. The support of the Kirkpatrick Foundation, Creative Oklahoma and the USAO Foundation has played a major role in securing these types of opportunities for Oklahoma students.”

Guzik said that the program strengthens the ties between K-12 and higher education institutions, an essential key to creating a unified education experience for Oklahoma students.

The Oklahoma Creativity Forum was held on Nov. 1 in Norman. The forum brought attendees from a variety of institutions and business to brainstorm on creativity and learn from one another. USAO was one of the sponsors of the event to showcase the university’s 50-year innovative interdisciplinary, liberal arts mission.

Dr. Dex Marble, vice president of academic affairs at USAO, participated in The Creative Campus, a panel at the forum that explored what Oklahoma’s higher education institutions are doing to produce graduates who innovate in both culture and commerce.

The Oklahoma Creativity Forum is a yearly event hosted by Creative Oklahoma, a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to advancing Oklahoma’s creative economy through creativity and innovation based initiatives in education, commerce and culture.

In 2010, Oklahoma City was the host for the Creativity World Forum that brought more than 2500 attendees from 38 states and 18 countries.

BY DON BETZ, Newsok.com

At a time when imagining the future has never been more challenging nor more essential, Oklahoma is fortunate to have visionary political leadership.

Gov. Mary Fallin envisions, and is actively seeking, a brighter future for all Oklahomans. Central to that future, Fallin believes, is a 67 percent increase in the number of college degrees and certificates earned in Oklahoma in the next 12 years. The governor recognizes that in today’s global competitive knowledge economy, and for the successful future of Oklahoma, earning that degree is critical.

The governor kicked off the state’s efforts at the University of Central Oklahoma by announcing her plan to support the Complete College America initiative. I can think of no better place to join in the spirit of learning, creativity and collaboration, and to invite the partnership of the community in this essential initiative.

The governor also recognizes the need for a more creative, innovative Oklahoma. At the recent Oklahoma Creativity Forum, with the goal of Oklahoma becoming nationally recognized as a center of innovation and a hotbed for entrepreneurial creativity, she announced her support for an “Oklahoma Innovation Index” for our state’s schools. The index would serve as a way to assess opportunities for creativity and innovation in our classrooms.

“To succeed in the 21st century,” Fallin commented, “Oklahoma must be able to compete globally as a creative economy.”

In general, the governor’s plans would strengthen the rigor of high school courses, provide more support to students, revamp remedial education and develop pilot programs with local school systems, emphasize cooperative connections between schools and universities while fostering innovation through creative endeavors that require students to generate new ideas of their own.

Degrees, coupled with a developed sense of creativity and innovation, translate into the promise of higher earnings and spillover benefits to our society and the economy by positioning ourselves to better create, or compete for, corporate investment. And that means jobs — good-paying jobs — and a brighter future for Oklahoma’s citizens.

And through the development of the Oklahoma Innovation Index, our state will be able to take the lead in innovative education, which leads to job growth and greater prosperity.

The path to delivering these promises lies in collaboration, in working together and thinking in new ways, perhaps to a degree yet to be realized, which will link a broad spectrum of partners throughout Oklahoma.

UCO welcomes and wholeheartedly support Fallin’s vision for a brighter future for all Oklahomans through creativity and innovation in education, commerce and culture.

We in higher education recognize that we’re entering a new, uncharted era. We welcome the call for collaboration this challenge represents. Through creativity, collaboration and hard work, we’re ready to serve as a gathering place for advancement and learning in this new era.

We are at a defining moment. We can react to the changes precipitated by others. Or we can be the change that leads to a sustained, prosperous future for our state.

Betz is president of the University of Central Oklahoma.

Kelley Chambers, OKCbiz

In the corporate world, being creative does not mean staring off into space and dreaming up well intentioned, yet far-fetched ways to save the world. Instead, the CEOs of two major corporations defined creativity in the workplace as hard work that is made better and more effective by creative thinking on the job.

By April Wilkerson, The Journal Record - April is a reporter in Oklahoma City. Contact her at 278-2849 / https://twitter.com/JRAprilWilkerson

NORMAN – John Mackey guides his large business with a few simple maxims.

People can’t be creative when they’re afraid.

A business without a sense of purpose isn’t going far.

Innovation is the key to staying in business.

Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, spoke at Tuesday’s Oklahoma Creativity Forum, joining Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon for a conversation about fostering creativity in corporate settings.

“Study after study shows that people will not be creative when they’re afraid,” said Mackey, who leads a workforce of 64,000 at more than 300 grocery stores. “Love and trust and care are essential for people to fully flourish and allow their innovation and creativity to flourish along with them. Yet, far too much in business, love seems weak. Instead, we use military metaphors in business – ‘We’re going to roll over them, crush those guys.’ We have a macho, masculine culture that equates love with weakness. I’ve found the exact opposite – love is incredibly strong.”

Mackey pointed to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch as what not to do in leadership. Every year, Welch allegedly fired the 10 percent of his workforce that scored lowest on performance reviews. Such command-and-control leadership means people play it safe and never venture toward creative thinking, Mackey said.

Mackey – who co-founded “Conscious Capitalism” – said businesses are unfairly stereotyped as operating only to make money. Yet, ask people the purpose of a doctor or architect, and the answer will be healing and designing things.

“Why is it that only business is put into this category of profit seeking being the only reason for their existence?,” he said. “I believe it’s that type of narrow definition of business purpose that is giving businesses a bad reputation. It’s because a business doesn’t put forth its purpose; it doesn’t explain the value it puts into the world.”

Whole Foods’ purpose for the next 20 years is to promote healthy living and work with people to prevent or reverse the factors – like obesity and lack or exercise – that can lead to disease, Mackey said.

McClendon said he believes in fostering an atmosphere of creative thinking – but it has to be combined with hard work.

“One of the reasons I’ve always had a hard time talking about creativity is that in most people’s minds, creativity means a relief from work – sitting back and thinking about big ideas,” McClendon said. “You can be creative, but if you’re not willing to work hard and take care of details, your ideas are dreams or, worse, hallucinations.”

That advice is important in the context of becoming an entrepreneur. McClendon said it’s important for him to be able to tell his employees that he’s done some part of the work that they’re doing.

“I’ve found that the people who make mistakes in starting businesses are not willing to do everything,” he said. “You have to do everything. You have to find something you love, pour yourself into it, then determine you’re going to be better at it than anybody else.”

In today’s hyper-competitive business arena, hard work and creativity are significant to future success, Mackey said.

“The only lasting competitive advantage that any organization’s got at the end of the day is their ability to innovate,” he said. “Especially for a retail company like Whole Foods – we don’t have patents; we can’t prevent our competitors from studying what we’re doing and imitating it. Therefore, we have to stay not just one step ahead but several steps ahead. We have to innovate quicker than they can copy.”