Maine participates in a national conversation about the role of imagination in the workplace
Executive director, Maine Center for Creativity, South Portland
In May 2010, IBM released the results of its fourth biennial Global CEO Study, which interviewed over 1,500 CEOs, general managers and public-sector leaders. The findings: These executives believe competing in today’s complex economy requires creativity more than any other single quality. This means, as the study indicates, one must be ready to overturn the status quo, come up with original approaches and make experimentation a habit.
On June 2, the Maine Center for Creativity and the University of Southern Maine collaborated with an unusual cross-section of people to represent Maine in a national conversation spearheaded by the Lincoln Center Institute. Lincoln Center’s idea was to have all 50 states organize “imagination conversations” to discuss the role of imagination in a variety of fields of work.
The Lincoln Center Institute defines imagination as the capacity to conceive of what is not, to perceive new possibilities. Creativity involves translating what has been imagined into action — introducing something original into the world. Then, when such a creative act pushes past boundaries to truly new territory, innovation occurs.
As the executive director of Maine Center for Creativity, I reached out to the mainstream press, some of whom were skeptical about this idea that a community could have a conversation about the role of imagination. Others wondered why we and other volunteer collaborators, such as the Maine Humanities Council, Creative Portland Corp., the Maine Department of Education, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, the Farnsworth Art Museum, Wright Express and the Maine Alliance for Arts Education took the time and energy to organize it.
More than 100 people participated, first to hear from keynote speaker and artist Eric Hopkins; mime/dancer Karen Montanaro; University of Maine scientist Dr. Habib Dagher; and Andy Graham, president of Portland Color. Then they discussed these three questions: How does imagination function in your field? How do you cultivate and sustain imagination in your work? What will it take for us to foster these practices in Maine?
More than 45 states have held these conversations and asked these same questions. State representatives will meet at a national Imagination Summit in New York City on July 21 and 22. Themes from these conversations are being compiled (check our website, www.mainecenterforcreativity.org, for updates and findings). One such thread, borne out in various fields, is the notion that challenges stimulate imagination. Whether it is the artist’s challenge of making a 3-dimensional view translate clearly onto a piece of flat canvas or a business’s goal to respond to an unmet need in a market, real world problems engage our imagination. Maine participants reached a consensus that in order for imagination to flourish, environments had to feel “safe” when unusual and unique solutions were suggested. So if you want to cultivate and sustain imagination at work, in the studio or in school, stay open to fresh and surprising connections between things. And respect the people who see these connections and express them.
The practice of mixing disparate elements to produce something new operates in many diverse realms. Whether one writes fiction or software code, imagination, creativity and innovation are integral to the process. Collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds who see things from unique perspectives is a first step for many successful artists and businesses in Maine. The participants in Maine’s first conversation about the importance of imagination expressed great enthusiasm for bringing this conversation to all the chambers of commerce and art organizations in Maine. Perhaps, mixing these disparate elements could be the start of building value in Maine’s community, both economically and culturally.
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