Stirring up Live Creativity

During the past few weeks, I've had the honor and challenge and pleasure of stirring up creativity with large groups in a range of settings.  Check it out:

A few minutes before "Who's Got the Biggest Fed Head?"

Last week, I designed and hosted a game show for a 100 Federal Reserve employees, which we called "Who's Got the Biggest Fed Head?" (email me for an audio clip of our theme song!),  testing the knowledge and collaborative abilities of teams in an interactive format.  As I've written previously, most people would be shocked to learn that our too-often maligned Federal Reserve embraces creative thinking and new approaches in service of innovation, learning and improving.  For the game show, I brought a percussionist, and we couldn't help wink at the irony of walking through the crowd of Chicago protesters, beating on their little drums, as we carted in two large congas to play for the actual Fed employees, most of whom, from what I can tell and from what Bernanke himself said recently, sympathize with the protesters.  By the way, that's a $100 bill tie I'm wearing (left).

I just got back from West Virginia, where I facilitated an innovation session for an energy consulting firm (Leonardo Technologies; check out the cool stuff they're working on).  In addition to exploring innovation and creativity through interactive exercises, we also discussed the importance of passion--how to empower employees to pursue their own creative talents and interests--and brainstormed possibilities for new clients and areas to expand their worthwhile work of shifting the energy paradigm in our country.

Stirring it up with kids and parents

I also had a chance to stir it up with younger groups recently, as a speaker for 750 kids at a middle school assembly and as part of the Malaise County Fair project I've been developing with a creative cast this past year. For Malaise, we had our first public performance with families as part of a fall festival here in Chicago, where we tested out new ways for an audience to participate musically and otherwise.  As those of you who know me know, I'm dedicated to helping all of us be creators and not just spectators, and Malaise County Fair continues to experiment with breaking down the wall between performers and audiences in new ways.

Next week, I'll be at it with another innovative program for kids, Poetry Pals, which brings together children of different faiths (in this case, kids from Muslim, Catholic and Jewish schools) to learn from each other and write poetry together.  We're always looking for volunteers to help us with this program, so please email me if you're interested in fostering interfaith relations with us.

Malaise County Fair performs

If June and July were a Single Day...

I woke up early this morning intent on inspiring creativity outside and in, first by facilitating two days of innovation exercises at an educators conference at a farm-camp in mid-state New York, and then by walking dozens of miles through NYC and Philly, climbing the Statue of Liberty* and ringing the Liberty Bell, couple-clutching through Times Square and Washington Square Park, watching kids play baseball in Brooklyn and dance a recital in Upper Dublin, PA, navigating and negotiating my way through Canal St., Port Authority, deer crossings* and crossing the Delaware, mixing it up with family, old friends, rude people with East-coast accents, and my girl.

I got back in Chicago just in time for exploring leadership with new MBA students and seasoned risk managers and then hitting a homer over the left fielder's softball glove before I celebrated at a party featuring the largest pink penis pinata* ever seen. Then we ate and swayed with the rain and heat along with several bands at Chicago street festivals before heading north to Summerfest in Milwaukee, taking a view from the sky* before dancing dangerously on benches to Michael Franti (video below or here) and his frantic love vibe, and then as the heat souffled us we were better off leaving the beach where alewives had flooded the shore and drove back down to the Chicago lakefront for late night swimming and a thousand-person, fire-twirling full moon celebration.



By afternoon I shared the sorrow and joy of a death and a bris, took moped rides to interfaith program meetings, and watched fireworks lighting the sky. I officially finished my own musical script, packed my car with musical instruments and chairs, held auditions* and am now ready for our first Malaise County Fair rehearsal, taking the next step with my most personal creative project, guitar polished and ready to strum into the unknown.

As evening began to roll around, I facilitated an "idea jam"* for a super-smart group of engineers whose buildings can swivel, and this past weekend I swiveled my way out to Ravinia to listen to Five for Fighting under the stars and then took in the ultimate theater-on-steroids show--30 "plays" in 60 minutes by the Neo-Futurists. Now I sit at a cafe, typing this, reminded that there is no better place to spend the summer than Chicago (with a little travel thrown in) and wondering what is in store for the remainder of these simmering months.

Audition Call in Chicago

July 7 addendum: According to this week's Time Magazine, a new poll suggests we are at another "malaise moment," with more Americans pessimistic about our country's decline and their own future. I happen to think we have our best bet of getting out of our malaise the more we engage creatively with our own lives.

So we're taking the next step with Malaise County Fair, an interactive musical that breaks the wall between performer and audience in new ways, and are having auditions next week here in Chicago. Please spread the word to actor-singer-improvisers or other local creative friends who might want to be part of an exciting new project:

CALL FOR AUDITIONS…
— — — — — — — — —
Malaise County Fair
An Interactive Musical Experience
about relationships, choices and getting out of our malaise
— — — — — — — — —
Audition Dates: July 13 and July 16

Overview: Unlike any theater show you have been part of, the Malaise County Fair is a love story, musical and community experience that breaks down the wall between performer and spectator, offering numerous opportunities for audience members to participate. Elements and exercises from Malaise have been successfully featured in teambuilding and innovation sessions by the Kreativity Network (www.kreativity.net) and “Creativity Jams” hosted by founder Adam Shames at Old Town School of Music and elsewhere. Our current goal is to workshop this original musical with a performance team over the next few months, leading to public performance(s) in late September. While the script is already written, roles will be tailored to individual performers, and we embrace a collaborative process to improve the show.

Roles: We’re looking for 4-5 male and female performers of different ages—particularly actor-singer-improvisers who are also comfortable as facilitators helping audience-participants get involved. We love those who play a musical instrument (percussion included) or have a special talent (we can integrate).

Auditions: Come meet us, learn more about Malaise, and be ready to sing, act, improvise and jam from selections of songs and scenes from our script. Bring your standard HS/resume or an appropriately creative substitute. Dates:

>>Wednesday, July 13^th at 7:00pm at Arts at Large Studio, 3318 N. Lake Shore Drive, on the inner drive just north of Belmont; and
>>Saturday, July 16^th at 3:30pm location TBA.

Please RSVP to info@kreativity.net to let us know you’re coming and for further instructions. Phone: 773-388-2880.

Malaise County Fair is created and directed by Adam Shames, accomplished singer-songwriter and founder of the Kreativity Network (www.kreativity.net) who brings experiential learning and leadership programs into organizations. Learn more on the Malaise website or visit/like the Malaise County Fair Page on Facebook.

Summer Creative Plunge

There is a cool rain pounding the streets once again out my window, as Chicagoans like me continue to wonder when summer will fully arrive. But no matter. The days are long, the trees are green, and it's time once again for me to urge you to let your creativity bloom.

With the extra daylight and outdoor opportunities, what might you be able to bring into the world this summer that only can come from you?

Perhaps you need a spark or a support group to take a summer creative plunge? Like-minded creativity rabble-rouser John Dillon--he is also a radio host, author, and Albuquerque-based speaker and singer-songwriter--has put together a free video series to inspire your creativity. Below is the first of his four free videos:

John has several websites and resources for you if you'd like help engaging your creativity. And if you like his mellow and passionate style, I encourage you not only to watch his four free videos (and listen to his "Art of the Song" radio show and get his book, left), but make a commitment for real creative change by taking a leap and signing up for his 7-week Creativity, Passion and Purpose TeleCourse. Watch the 4th video for more information and sign up using this link so he knows I referred you. Deadline to sign up is this Sunday.

Here in Chicago, I continue to develop Malaise County Fair, an audience-interactive musical and show dedicated to helping us all get out of whatever malaise we are in and creating a space to jam together as a community. We welcome more creativity rabble-rousers to join us--please like us on Facebook, and contact me directly if you'd like to be involved as a performer or behind the scenes.

Let this be the summer you become a musician--let me help you make that happen with my music coaching and you'll be jamming to songs in 6 weeks or less.

Whatever you choose to do, I want to encourage to move from being just a spectator to more of a creator in your life. As John Dillon and I agree, creativity can change lives--and it is just what our society needs right now. It starts with you.

Committing Acts of Innovation: Help Needed...

I keep thinking about my friend George asking me how much I actually "commit acts of innovation"--it's one thing to write about creativity and innovation but quite another to actually do it. In its rawest form, the creative process is simply the opening up—and then closing—of possibilities. We are engaging in it all the time. When you have a decision to make, you open your closet door of ideas, rummage around to see what’s available, and then choose one as you close the door. A more complicated decision or challenge may require much opening and closing of different doors, the pivot between divergent and convergent thinking. To be creative, we have to open wide to a divergent stream of possibility—fully turn on our faucet of ideas—but also know how and when to filter, evaluate and narrow the stream so that we’re left with the best, nourishing drops.

Innovation requires sustained creativity, repeated diverging and converging, leading to a result--a product, an outcome, a more courageous and risky perseverance that makes a positive impact. That's not easy. Right now I'm trying to bring two acts of innovation more fully into the world--a new kind of theatrical show, the Malaise County Fair, and an interfaith program for kids, called Poetry Pals. Perhaps like other acts of innovation, I realize there are two challenging realities for me here: 1. I don't really know how to do it. 2. I need help from others. And I'm trying to bring these two projects to life while at the same time sustaining my consulting business of live learning, leadership and innovation events that provide me with the money I need to live (also a particularly difficult enterprise in this economy).

Both of these projects have the goal of helping us get out of our malaise, the numbness I believe we all feel living in a culture of information overload and political paralysis, where we express ourselves less and isolate ourselves more, where we distrust our neighbors and prefer cynicism to creative possibility and personal participation to change the world. I know for many these attempts are "unrealistic" and have questionable "market value." But I've chosen to take them on. And I need help.

The Malaise County Fair is designed to be a new form of entertainment, one in which the audience participates and stretches their own comfort zone, steps beyond the typical spectator role and acts as part of the story. It's a love story and multi-arts performance that takes place at an unusual fair--where creativity abounds and there is singing and opportunities for the whole community to jam together. You can experience a free introduction to it yourself this Sunday as part of the Gypsy Jam showcase (this Sunday at 3pm at Arts at Large, 3318 N. Lake Shore Drive, just north of Belmont, in Chicago). I'm looking for more creative folks to participate, help shape it and share their talents. Can you help? Can you come to the event to support us, get involved, recommend it to friends who might be itching to be involved in an innovative project?

Poetry Pals brings together kids--and their teachers and community--who usually would not meet. Our main program has been partnering Muslim, Catholic and Jewish school kids to get to know each other and write poetry together. Everyone involved agrees that it's been wonderful and so needed in a too-divisive culture that focuses on extremism and keeps us insulated from others who are different. Click here to read more and see me on a television program sharing what we're up to. But we need help. Are you interested in helping interfaith communication and learning about other cultures? Are you good at facilitating groups of kids and fostering friendship, conversation and a little poetry writing? Do you have access to diverse groups and can help us bring in more schools and partners and money? Do you know others who might? Please contact me for a flyer, help spread the word and come to a meeting.

I know we're all busy and that these may not be the projects that interest you. I would appreciate any way you might be able to help, including donations. I also encourage you to commit your own acts of innovation however you can, starting today.

Express Yourself this Summer

As children, we are creators. We use our hands and our mouths, our hearts and our imaginations, to sing and dance and draw and build and dream. If we go into any first grade classroom and ask, "Who here can sing? Who here can dance?" we'll see most of the little hands shoot up in the air, screaming, "I can! I can! Watch me!"

But as we enter the high school years, even young people with great voices and agile bodies no longer feel comfortable saying they're a singer or a dancer--not without years of training and unwavering public approval. As we become adults in this culture, the playful arts of our childhood often become even more distant strangers. Stroking the keys of a piano or holding charcoal between our fingertips is given up in favor of the more pressing demands of career, money and relationships. We forget how much the act of creating is a birthright to being human.

But it doesn't have to be this way. We are never too old to remember, reclaim and re-engage our unique voice and self-expression.

It's our special challenge as adults to express who we've now become and to reconnect with that creative spirit that we have hidden in some deep but retrievable place inside us. As Albert Camus wrote, "A man's work is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened."

It's also our challenge to help each other take the kinds of risks necessary to bring out all our voices, whether creaky, sore or smooth.

If you're in Chicago, I invite you to create with me this summer. Here are a few ways:

1. Our next Creativity Jam is scheduled for Sunday late afternoon, July 25th. Email me for more information or to RSVP and come join us.

2. I'm bringing people together--of all artistic inclinations--to develop The Malaise County Fair, an audience-participation show like no other you've seen before. Want to participate?

3. Let me help you learn to jam with others and play your own songs, whether with guitar, keyboards or other instruments. Read more here and check out the details on my website on my music coaching lessons.

It's time for me to take a little break from this blog to work on my own creative pursuits and to get a little freedom from the computer oppression we all are dealing with these days. Click on one of the themes, below right, or search using the window top left, for previous blog entries to help inspire you to be a force for creativity and innovation in your own life. Here's to letting it out this summer.

Putting on a Show in the 21st Century

I really like the two theater trends I've noticed in the past decade or two--going to a show often offers an experience that feels much more like the circus or a rock concert.

Take a look at the final scene (right and video here) of Lookingglass Theater's production of Hephaestus here in Chicago (now extended for two more weeks to June 20), playing in our esteemed Goodman Theatre. The story of Hephaestus, the Greek god who could forge anything out of metal, is played out in an amazing array of physical and circus performances, swinging from the rafters, flipping from ribbons and navigating the trapeze. Yes, those are seven high wire performers, including veteran members of the Wallenda Family, Ringling Bros. and Cirque du Soleil, way up above the audience (click the pic to see video of it live). I believe the future here is in the merging of narrative and acrobatic acts of wonder, as seen in Hephaestus, illustrating how innovation comes through hybrids--the combining elements in ways not quite seen before.

Now I am someone who sometimes finds myself disengaged during theater, so I welcome these physical feats as a way to draw me in. The popular physical acts of our time--Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, Stomp and others--are also tremendously creative, surprising us with new ways to entertain and astound. Here in Chicago I've been dazzled by the circus-like spectacles of Redmoon Theatre (the pic I took below is a Redmoon spaceman above the crowd at the recent Columbia College Manifest) and the acrobatic wonders of the smaller Ameba Dance ensemble. I find, though, that the narrative element that I need to be fully drawn in is not always there.

The other theater trend--the full-band, rock out shows perhaps first popularized by"Rent"--also works in engaging me and has thankfully updated the musical for a post-Beatles world. I'd like to hear what your favorites have been.

But I'd still like to see theater innovate further by engaging the audience even more, experimenting with removing the fourth wall from the performance. I always ask myself, how can a show enable the audience to participate even more, perhaps even shape the content of the evening? Certainly we see occasional attempts toward audience participation in improv shows, who-done-it capers (where the audience decides on the villain or outcome), Tony 'n Tina's Wedding and the like. But generally the roles are minimal and we are still seated spectators, not exhilarated participators. For years I've been working on my own version of the audience-participation show, The Malaise County Fair, which would allow audience members, if they choose, to play a role in the performance (contact me if you'd like to get involved).

What would you like to see more of as a ticket-buyer? What trends have you noticed? Do you have any other ideas for more audience participation or innovation in shows?