How creativity conferences built a global community united by shared values and creative problem-solving principles
The Creative Education Foundation’s Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) is the world’s longest-running creativity conference, in operation for more than 60 years, since its first iteration was held at the University of Buffalo in 1955. CPSI takes inspiration from the Creative Problem-Solving process developed by Alex Osborn and Sidney Parnes in the 1950s, and, though it might have been first, it is far from the only event or organization helping participants practice creativity. There is also CREA in Italy, Mindcamp in Canada, and a bevy of various other creativity conferences, each with its own distinctive approach, but each conference informed by the tenets of creative problem-solving.
A Nomadic Community Takes Shape
As such, a nomadic, borderless village, of sorts, has sprung up around the aforementioned conferences. It is not a village identifiable on any map, but rather one united by a common perspective. It is a group of people – facilitators, educators, academics, scientists, business people, and performing arts professionals – linked together by a shared experience and, more importantly, a shared appreciation for the tools offered by creative problem-solving. Tim Dunne calls it the “Village of Creative Practitioners.”
“There have been so many creativity conferences spawned from CPSI,” says Dunne, a facilitator at KI. Dunne has an undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA in finance from the University of Rochester and is co-author of a 2014 book entitled Never Be Closing: How to Sell Better Without Screwing Your Clients, Your Colleagues, or Yourself.
“They all overlap,” Dunne continues, pointing out that though each conference has its individual style, the underlying themes and values are similar. So, while one conference might offer an event that is more experiential, versus another conference that might be more academic and presentation-focused, the differences are ones of aesthetics more than of content. Likewise, the facilitators, educators, and other creative professionals who frequent the events can sometimes be found as attendees, volunteers, or as passionate believers.
Values That Travel Across Disciplines
Dunne, one such person, who has found himself on both the facilitator and participant side of the fence, is also the treasurer of the Summer Stars Foundation, the organization behind the Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts – and an organization that has been changed by its proximity to the creative community. “There are undercurrents of the same village values – defer judgment, seek the unusual, listen – or culture at Summer Stars as there are at CPSI because it’s performing arts and creative, and because of the people who are on the board and impacting what happens there,” Dunne says. “It’s another example of a meteor that passed close enough to the CPSI family planet that it affected its trajectory.” For Summer Stars, Dunne adds: support the person taking a risk, leave everyone’s dignity intact in any interaction, take a risk, and try something new.
The shared values Dunne mentions, perhaps themselves an outgrowth of the set of creative problem-solving tools embraced by each conference, helps create the shared foundation for the Village of Creative Practitioners. Those sets of tools – or values – translate well to other disciplines. Much as Summer Stars emerged from the CPSI community and carved out a place for itself by adapting the techniques of creative problem-solving to the world of performing arts, Knowinnovation’s origin story can also be traced back to the CPSI community. KI was born out of the need to adapt the tenets of creative problem-solving to interdisciplinary science.
“The thing that stays with me now, having been going for a full generation, is the real ‘village’ component of it,” Dunne says. “If you meet someone who’s connected to the community, you know you’re going to know people in common.”
There exists a cross-generational component to the “Village,” as well. It is a community that values mentorship, and where family members are as likely to attend as coworkers. The village grows, and the younger generation is welcomed into the fold. The experience rewards a full immersion, attention, engagement, and presence in a way that is not always the case in a world where attention is increasingly viewed as a scarce commodity, yet another way that the experience of accessing one’s creative imagination forms intimate and meaningful connections.
The relationships built on the principles of deferred judgment, listening, and presence tend to be lasting ones, even lifelong friendships. No matter how frequently someone moves, they can still keep a home in the Village of Creative Practitioners. “The longevity of the community means we also mourn together,” Dunne says. “Some of my mentors in the village have passed. They are remembered and acknowledged as we build on what we learned from them.”
Building Lasting Connections
As in a real brick-and-mortar village, the members of the Village of Creative Practitioners all have different careers and backgrounds, but they form enduring connections. “It’s a place where people become vulnerable, so ties get built more deeply and more quickly,” Dunne explains. The result is the formation of a highly invested community of diverse individuals.
With patience and careful tending, the village grows.