By Carol Brown, Arts-In-Education Director, Eastern Suffolk BOCES

It may have been raining outside, but inside the National Building Museum the mood was light-hearted as over fifty museum educators came together for the Museum Education Roundtable’s annual Washington DC forum to focus on creativity.  Three speakers explored both theoretical and practical perspectives on the importance of creativity in museum experiences, drawing upon the most recent issue of the Journal of Museum Education, “Encouraging Creativity.”

Monica Smith, Project Historian at the National Museum of American History, and new editor of the Journal of Museum Education, framed the presentations that followed with a quote from Peter Richards of the Exploratorium: “A facility that fosters creativity…is a place that allows people to discover, develop, and exploit their own natural intelligences.  It’s a place where there are no stupid questions, and it is not a place where there is only one right answer.  It’s a place that values irreverence, the lively, the dynamic, the surprising, the playful.  And it is a place that values, above all, curiosity and the ability to make connections, to make those cognitive leaps.”[i]

Although many museums are devoted to displaying the incredible range of human creativity, it is still all too easy for those of us who work in museums to lose track of our own creativity.  The first speaker, Kristen Daley from the Buffalo Museum of Science gave suggestions for deliberate application of creativity in one’s personal and professional life.  Her ideas were grounded in an overview of the academic study of creativity, beginning with J. P. Guilford, who first challenged his fellow psychologists to develop ways to teach creativity and defined the notion that creativity extends well beyond the domain of intelligence.  Repeated throughout the discussion was the notion that we are all born with creative potential, but often society, through its educational philosophy, squelches this aptitude.  Daley cited Carl Rogers’ observation that “even if buried under psychological defenses, every individual has the capacity to be creative, if only waiting for the proper condition for its expression.” 

In emphasizing that creativity is not limited to a select talented few, Daley referred to Abraham Maslow’s distinction between “special talent” creativity and “self-actualized” creativity.  While the ability to compose symphonies or invent new technologies (special talent creativity) may be limited to certain individuals, we all have the potential to achieve self-actualized creativity in everything that we do.  The blocks and barriers to this kind of creativity, according to Daley, often stem from a self-analysis, in which one judges oneself too critically.  This internal criticism is often motivated by social norms and the fear of appearing foolish.  Daley’s talk concluded with talking points designed to cultivate a creative personality.

Next on the agenda, Wendy Blackwell, Education Director at the National Children’s Museum described the creative environment in which her staff works, which allows them lots of opportunities for fun.  Working in this environment encourages resilient creativity and re-energizes her staff to elicit “aha” moments.  Blackwell helped the participants understand the nature of a creative workplace environment through a simulation.  Working in small groups, the audience spent 10 minutes designing and assembling a kinesthetic sculpture as a prototype for an exhibit using simple items that Blackwell prepared for each group.  While some worked on this part of the assignment, the rest of the group played the role of funders and board members, commenting on their stakes and goals for the exhibit.  The activity culminated in each group sharing its sculpture and articulating the interactions between its members.  Blackwell expressed that, after viewing the evolution of the design of the National Children’s Museum, she retains her dedication to keeping the process new, fresh, joyous – which allows her to maintain a creative culture within her facility.

Joy was also a key theme in the presentation of Brenda Cowan and Eric O’Toole of the Exhibit A Design Group from Brooklyn, NY.  Cowan and O’Toole spoke about the role of joy in the creative process, quoting selectively from Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  According to Cowan and O’Toole, joy is what enables creativity to occur.  The pair listed joy preventers, then countered them with the joy enablers: emotional management, trust and effort. Through evocative visuals and humorous parables, they shared the constructive, collaborative nature of creativity.  O’Toole concluded with the thought that joy comes from working with diverse people, and attempting to understand and misunderstand one another, while Cowan shared Csikszenmihalyi’s comment that the “message we can learn from creative people is how to find purpose and enjoyment in the chaos of existence.”

Armed with both theoretical and practical perspectives from the panelists’ presentations, the audience divided into small groups, facilitated by MER Board members and panelists, to ponder the questions: 

1. We are all creative as kids -– so what happens to our creativity as adults?
2. How does society hinder or promote creativity?

Participants shared examples, stories, and tips about the importance of joy to the creative process, as well as factors that inhibit creativity, how to create cooperatively in teams, and how to communicate one’s ideas to others.  After this animated discussion, Julie L. Johnson, Program Director at the National Science Foundation, facilitated the session wrap up.  Some of the ideas that were shared included how to transform one’s workplace into a positive and creative environment:

1. Create a welcoming environment by writing an open door policy, sharing staff’s points-of-view, and showing common courtesies
2. Make time/take time for reflection
3. Plan for play, often a productive strategy for work
4. Look for creative ideas by offering varied experiences for staff both on-site and off
5. Transform mistakes into opportunities

Many of the above ideas may seem simple, yet making them into meaningful experiences which support individual or group professional growth requires careful thought.  From this workshop we learned that in order to accomplish these goals we must be bold. Be intentional. Embody the interrogative.  And most of all, we need to have fun.