Catalyst Ranch’s
Creative Juice Blog
Here’s a quick energizer game that you can play at your next day-long meeting that helps get the blood flowing again. It’s especially good mid-afternoon, when the after-lunch drowsiness is setting in. The whole point of energizers is to get people moving and laughing, clear the brain a bit. There’s no need to tie it into [...]
A group of Columbia University students have a good time reinventing the playground as a place to harness all that youthful energy. By: Marc Kristal Illustrated by: Mike Perry, Jim Stoten Location: New York, New York Published in: Dec/Jan 10 Dwell Magazine For something that’s meant to celebrate the pleasures of childhood, the playground sure has [...]
Sometimes the best ideas can be found in children’s books. For example, you can find a great icebreaker by reading “Captain Underpants And the Perilous Plot Professor Poopypants,” by Dave Pilkey. One part of the story pertains to the evil Professor who forces everyone to assume new names. Now, who couldn’t use a new identity some [...]
Name: Pamela Meyer Title of Book: From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing Through Dynamic Engagement What are some of the main themes of your book? The main theme of the book is reflected in its title; From Workplace to Playspace is about a shift in mindset. The book focuses on the everyday space we [...]
Stop Playing with Legos and Put them to Work in the Kitchen The next time you run out of ideas of what to build with your Legos and have a few extra hours to kill, why don’t you just turn them into a kitchen island and be the envy of all your friends and neighbors? Not [...]
Our friend Lisa Canning of Entrepreneur the Arts was interviewed recently in Crain’s Enterprise City Blog. Lisa has taken a different perspective on applied creativity by starting the Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship. The “starving artist” stereotype thrives even during economic boom times, so it makes sense that the recession would make times even tougher on artists. [...]
Name: Rick Gurolnick Company: Neotoy Area of Expertise: Design, Invention, New Product Concepts and Markets, Kid Marketing What sparks your creativity? Seeing a great example of Art or Design. For example, look at this great photography of an off road race in South America, incredible photos: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/dakar_rally_2010.html Thinking of a lightly trod niche of new opportunity [...]
Gabriel Orozco, one of Mexico’s most famous contemporary artists, is a man after my own heart. He brings recycling to a new level of artistry, taking mundane objects and playing with how you now see them. Might be a good trick to apply to your daily tasks. Maybe do things in a different order or combination. [...]
If you’re looking for inspiration this weekend (or any weekend for that matter) and feel too intimated to walk into a gallery all on your lonesome, here’s a great opportunity to feel like an insider. The Chicago Art Dealers’ Association (http://chicagoartdealers.org) has a great weekend program of Saturday guided tours that has been running successfully for [...]
Here’s a great opportunity to learn something about Innovation & Creativity from the great instructors at the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) and in that very cool environment. Their spring offering of Adult Education Classes includes two that are focused specifically on Innovation & Creativity with a business application: The Art of Innovation and Creativity [...]