Creativity Australia

2010-11-03T10:49:00.002+11:00

Creativity is the Most Crucial Factor for Future Success

According to the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study, which surveyed 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, CEOs believe that, “more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision — successfully navigating an increasing complex world will require creativity.”

Creativity is the most important leadership quality, according to CEOs.

Standouts practice and encourage experimentation and innovation throughout their organizations. Creative leaders expect to make deeper business model changes to realize their strategies. To succeed, they take more calculated risks, find new ideas, and keep innovating in how they lead and communicate

CEOs said they are operating in a world that is substantially more volatile, uncertain and complex. Many shared the view that incremental changes are no longer sufficient in a world that is operating in fundamentally different ways.

So how do organisations and leaders go about nurturing this vital leadership attribute and fostering a culture of creativity and innovation?

Learning how to develop a culture of innovation and successfully implementing strategies and processes will lead to growth and sustainability in an increasingly complex global environment.

We are all creative

We need to get out of the mindset that only some people are creative. We are all creative. Leaders need to develop that skill as they do all other leadership skills; and then start to unlock it in their teams.

As Edward de Bono said: “Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people, adding strength to their natural abilities, which...improves teamwork, productivity and, where appropriate, profits.”

We share a clear strategy for innovation

Adopt a clear vision and core values that encourage the pursuit of organisational objectives, including creativity and innovation. Work with all stakeholders to determine how you will go about unlocking new initiatives.

Creative and innovation leadership is required throughout the organisation. Too often companies believe that innovation comes from the bottom up. Identifying creative catalysts within the organisation at all levels can make a huge difference to delivering outcomes, but at the end of the day it is the CEO and executive team (and even the Board) who must be proactive and lead the change to an innovative culture.

Our culture encourages people to be creative

This means that the people in your organisation can communicate openly, challenge the status quo, trust others with their ideas and teamwork is highly valued. A key factor is reducing siloes and building an environment of sharing, participation, learning and fun across the organisation. Professional development of employees to help unlock their creative potential and build their creative skillset is essential to harness your true competitive advantage and give everyone a “voice”.

Failure is OK

If you want to develop a culture of innovation then it is essential to tolerate some calculated risks. It is often only through the learning from failure that we find true success.

New ideas + new opportunities = sustainability and growth

Creativity is a key driver of innovation by providing new ideas and new ways to solve problems within any organisational structure. Through managing the ideas and “incubating” and developing the best of them there is endless potential to develop new products and services, improvements and new processes that contribute to the organisation’s survival and growth.

THE BRAIN AND MUSIC

2010-10-12T12:38:00.000+11:00

Our brains are constantly adapting to information from the world around us. However, some activities make a bigger impression than others. In recent years, researchers have been probing how outside influences, from music to meditation, might change and enhance our brains.

One of the most promising is music - and not via the famous but controversial "Mozart effect", whereby merely listening to classical music is supposed to improve brain performance. Learning to play an instrument brings about dramatic brain changes that not only improve musical skills but can also spill over into other cognitive abilities, including speech, language, memory, attention, IQ and even empathy. Should I dust off my trumpet and get practising?

Musical training, especially at a young age, seems to significantly alter the structure of your brain. For instance, after 15 months of piano lessons young children had more highly developed auditory and motor areas than their untrained peers. These brain areas are very active when you play an instrument (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 29, p 3019).

Professional musicians have an increased volume of grey matter, which routes information around the brain, in areas that deal with motor control, audition and visuo-spatial processing (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 23, p 9240). Musicians who started training before the age of 7 also have a thicker corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibres that shunts information between the two halves of the brain (Neuropsychologia, vol 33, p 1047).

These structural changes have been shown to tally with the development of musical ability. But can music reach outside of its own domain and improve other aspects of cognition?

The tentative answer is yes. Musically trained people perform better on tests of auditory memory - the ability to remember lists of spoken words, for example - and auditory attention. Children with a musical training have larger vocabularies and higher reading ability than those who do not (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol 11, p 599). There is even some evidence that early musical training increases IQ (Psychological Science, vol 15, p 511).

Better learning

Patrick Ragert at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany and colleagues have an idea why this should be so. They found that professional pianists were much better than non-musicians at a standard test of spatial acuity - the ability to discriminate two closely separated points. Crucially, they also improved faster with practise (European Journal of Neuroscience, vol 19, p 473). This is evidence that the brains of trained musicians are more plastic, says Ragert, suggesting that learning an instrument may enhance your capacity to learn other skills.

This can even extend to languages. Trained musicians are better at discriminating pitch changes in made-up words similar to those found in Mandarin, a "tonal" language where such changes can alter the meaning of a word. This is evidence that they are better equipped to learn new languages (Applied Psycholinguistics, vol 28, p 565). And that is not all. Music training has even been shown to enhance empathy because it fine-tunes your ability to recognise emotional nuances in speech (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol 1169, p 209).

Much of this research has been done in children or professional musicians who started training very young. Developing brains are known to be more malleable than adult ones - for music, there seems to be a sensitive period at around 7. So would the same kind of training make any difference to me? "Those who begin musical training earlier in life see greater enhancements," says Dana Strait, who works in music cognition at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

All the signs point to musical training being powerful at any point in life.

Melbourne Sings - Our Amazing Stories

2010-05-13T11:35:00.001+10:00

Please take a moment to watch and listen to some of the amazing stories that have come from With One Voice's Melbourne Sings Choir.

Just beautiful!

Unlocking Creative Potential - Tania de Jong AM

2010-04-26T13:23:00.001+10:00

Sustained growth in the future can only be achieved by the continuous generation of new, creative ideas and strategies. There are a range of ways in which organisations address this issue including structures, processes, incentives, systems and unleashing the creative potential of individuals. Many organisations today have turned to workplace innovation programs in the conviction that creativity is one key to competitive survival. And organisations know their ability to innovate lies in the creativity and abilities of their people. The individual needs to understand and adopt internal thinking processes that increase the potential for new thinking. Organisations have to do the same.

Creativity will be the strategic tool for the 21st Century and will help us solve community, organisational and global challenges.

ELEVEN TIPS TO UNLOCK YOUR PERSONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL CREATIVE POTENTIAL

We are all far more creative than we believe. Remove self-limiting beliefs.

Ask why? not why not?

Questions for leaders to re-invent the future:
- What could exist that does not exist now?
- What could be happening that is not happening now?
- How can we learn how to acknowledge each unique voice and unlock our human potential?

Unlocking creativity leads to ideas that create value in individuals, teams and organisations

Diversity leads to innovation. Listen to all the voices around you and share your ideas across barriers of siloes, age, gender and cultures.

Find ways to develop a culture of creativity and innovation across your teams, departments and organisation.

All it takes is nurturing enquiring minds - who knows what may be possible!

Unlocking creativity leads to greater wellbeing, engagement and sense of meaning and purpose, as well as innovation!

Share stories of positive outcomes you achieve through your creative leadership programs

Start to measure the outcomes of your creativity and innovation programs so you can show hard data to the skeptics and gain their support and investment for future programs.

Don’t miss Creative Innovation 2010 – Registrations are now open at www.ci2010.com.au

Tania de Jong AM is Founder Creative Universe, Creativity Australia, Music Theatre Australia, Pot-Pourri, The Song Room and Founder and Executive

How's this for creativity? Using sand...

2010-03-08T12:58:00.001+11:00

This video shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent," Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears, and she won the top prize of about £75,000.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple, sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear, and the happy scene is obliterated.

It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives, and the woman smiles again. Once again, war returns, and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears.

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside, and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population's being killed, with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.

Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And, there's surely no bigger compliment."

Please take time out to see this amazing piece of art ...

The importance of innovation in business

2010-02-04T13:43:00.001+11:00

Creativity encourages innovation and innovation plays a vital role in the development of new business concepts, processes and products. Innovation drives growth and opportunity in new markets and breathes life into a mature industry.

Once considered just in the areas of science and advertising, creativity and innovation now play an important role in all levels and departments of a business. Executives at all levels have a responsibility to lead and stimulate innovative thinking across the entire enterprise. Shareholders, employees and customers rely on executives to create a healthy, innovative work environment. This adds meaning and purpose to all aspects of an organisation’s brand, service and culture.

In today’s fast paced business environment, creativity and innovation is a prerequisite for success, and perhaps even for survival. That is why creativity and innovation are now moving to the top of the agenda for organizations around the world.

Creativity and innovation will be the most important factors in establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Logic and linear thinking will remain important, but are no longer sufficient to succeed in a global economy. Many experts and futurists believe that organizations need to place greater emphasis on right-brain functions such as artistic, big picture thinking and the ability to conceptualise.

Creativity and innovation is a core competency for leaders and managers. We need to teach people how to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, to ask important questions and to generate solutions. Generating fresh solutions to problems, and the ability to create new products, processes or services for a changing market and new world are part of the intellectual capital that gives a company its competitive edge. Creativity is a crucial part of the innovation equation.

OPERA singer Tania de Jong has managed to combine her passions for singing and entrepreneurship to develop business interests around music.

2010-01-28T15:39:00.000+11:00

De Jong's business mix is the ensemble Pot-Pourri, "the first group to do opera with a touch of musical comedy", and Music Theatre Australia, a one-stop entertainment and event production company representing more than 2000 acts, from classical musicians to stand-up comedians.

For more, click here.

The Joy of Finding Your Voice by Tania de Jong AM, Founder Creativity Australia

2010-01-27T16:16:00.004+11:00

Singing is food to the body and soul. Each and every one of us has a voice and we all have the ability to sing. It is part of our DNA. In more primitive cultures singing and harmonising with others is part of life. And children sing with such joy and freedom.

We just need to connect back to our human instrument and be in tune with our bodies, minds and souls. So many of us have been told to be quiet by our parents, friends or children when we sing around the place, in the shower or in the car for the sheer joy of being alive. We carry those messages that have silenced our voices and self expression through our lives, believing that somehow our voice is not good enough to sing. Sometimes that can also constrain our creativity and ability to unlock our full potential as human beings.

When I was fourteen I desperately wanted to have singing lessons and my best friend started sessions. One night after school I went to her place and asked her to teach me one of the songs she had learnt. After a while of learning the tune, I sang it to her as she accompanied me on piano. She told me that I should never bother having singing lessons as I was not good enough! I believed her, but finally in Year 11 I got up the courage to audition for the Chorus of the school musical, “Oklahoma”. I received the lead role and my friend did not make the Chorus! Singing has been the greatest joy, passion and sustenance to me ever since.

It is never too late to start to sing, and singing will bring you greater joy and wellbeing than you thought possible. Start to sing just because, join a choir and share your voice with others, take some lessons… Start today!

Never give up on your dreams to allow your voice to be heard. We all have important messages to share through our voices.

“Sing, Sing a song, Sing out loud, Sing out strong
Sing of good things, not bad
Sing of happy, not sad.
Sing, Sing a song, Make it simple to last your whole life long,
Don’t worry that it’s not good enough,
For anyone else to hear,
Just Sing, Sing a song.” Joe Raposo

JOIN one of our choirs today and find your joy!

Creativity Australia celebrates our first birthday

2009-11-16T15:03:00.005+11:00

November 10th 2009 marked one year since Creativity Australia's launch.

The amount that we have achieved and success we have enjoyed in our programs have been nothing short of amazing, thanks of course to our incredible Board, Patrons, Ambassadors, Thought Leaders and supporters.

Over the past 12 months Creativity Australia have initiated:

The 'With One Voice' Program
Melbourne Sings Choir
Royal Childrens Sings Choir
Mind Over Music Choir
Collingwood Sings Choir

And the coming 12 months will see the beginning of:

Geelong Sings Choir - a community and social bridging choir for residents of Geelong
Maribyrnong Mums Choir - a support network and community building choir for single mums in the Maribyrnong area

Creativity Australia's November newsletter has all the latest information on current and upcoming programs, so please do check it out here.

Here's to another fantastic year of creativity and innovation!

What happened to our creativity? by Tania de Jong AM

2009-11-02T13:08:00.004+11:00

If you enter a kindergarten you will encounter some of the best creative thinking anywhere: finger paintings with pink and green people and blue dogs and polka-dot skies, imaginative stories of fairies and magical, far-away places. Young children are naturally creative. They must create ways to learn and construct a world view from a collection of initially disconnected events, colours, movement and sound. So what happens between the open, effortless experimentation of our childhood and the blocks in creative thinking experienced by many adults?

One of the challenges businesses face today is overcoming the barriers to stimulating creativity and innovation. These barriers are ever present. We live in a world where computers, the internet, image and celebrities take us further away from connecting with one another meaningfully. We are in danger of becoming a society where alienation, disengagement and self centeredness are entrenched. We need to create opportunities for individuals and communities to connect with one another in new and meaningful ways.

Therefore it is critical to find creative and innovative ways to bring people together, to build resilience and social capital during these highly uncertain times. Doing so can develop stronger communication and problem solving skills, and thereby foster sustainable levels of motivation and wellbeing at a personal and organisational level. This will in turn lead to greater levels of engagement and innovation in organisations, and an enhanced ability to make a contribution to our society rather than just focusing on profits.

One way of improving our world is to help people learn how to think and act differently. We believe creativity offers the answers to many of the big issues we face in these unprecedented times, because it can help unlock our full human potential. Yet in many organizations there is no clear avenue for developing personal creativity or for nurturing ideas. In fact, those with the ideas are often ignored or stifled, so that eventually their voices and ideas fall silent. However in the face of competitive and economic pressures, many organisations are convinced that creativity and innovation are the keys to success.

There is significant international research about the enormous benefits of creative participation for wellbeing, self esteem, connection to others, increased brain function and much more. Unlocking creative potential will not only help people’s sense of self esteem, connection and wellbeing but will lead to outcomes including meaningful and creative leadership, greater innovation, a sense of connection and increased productivity. There is a yearning to align life purpose with work to make it meaningful and work is meaningful when all of our self is being engaged and challenged, including our creativity.

For further information and a range of programs to help you create a creative and innovative self and organisation, please visit www.creativityaustralia.org.au

Creativity – the national imperative by Tania de Jong AM

2009-11-02T12:59:00.004+11:00

Australia is a highly successful and prosperous nation. However, we have ridden on our luck, especially in relying on our natural resources to get us through.

But in the 21st century being the lucky country isn’t enough. We have to work on nurturing our talent and inventiveness – in short, our creativity.

We pride ourselves on our innovation and creativity, but what is the truth?

According to McKinsey we are not as innovative compared to other countries as we think we are.
We tend to think of the artists and scientists as the “creative people”.
Innovation is siloed into advanced manufacturing (a declining sector), biotechnology/medical research (a high profile, but very small sector) and a general cultural self-belief (but very few examples of systemic management and incentivisation).

In the face of this, the advanced world is innovating at an incredible rate as funds and resources are marshalled into major institutions and corporations in the USA and Europe, whilst Asia is rushing into education and applied innovation.

Against this, we have reduced R & D incentivisation programmes and our venture capital industry is virtually stillborn.

What do we need to do?

Quite simply, we need to create and nurture a culture of success, happiness and integration within our communities, organisations and institutions. These are the keys to our future survival and prosperity as a nation.

What are we doing about our cultural creativity? Virtually nothing!

So where are we?

Our focus during the Industrial and Information Revolutions has been heavily slanted to the left-side thinking brain

Our schools are heavily focused on the traditional skills of reading, writing and arithmetic and now, social history, at the expense of social, cultural, emotional, psychological wellbeing. Up to three out of four government primary schools do not have access to music, arts or creative learning programmes. This in in itself puts Australia behind most other OECD nations and some third world nations which recognise the importance of creative learning.

There is a massive growing problem of social disintegration in our society - eg rising depression, youth suicide, drugs, homelessness, binge drinking, violent behaviours, child abuse and so on.

People are searching for greater meaning in their work and life at a time when the world has never offered so much abundance.

Q: What are we to do about it?
I welcome your comments and answers and will make some recommendations in my next post.

For further information and a range of programs to help you unlock the creative potential of yourself and organisation, please visit www.creativityaustralia.org.au

2009-09-28T12:47:00.002+10:00

Progress Update on Creativity Australia: September, 2009

Since its launch in November 2008, Creativity Australia has gone from strength to strength in its mission to bring creativity and creative programs to the people of Australia. By bringing creative thinking and leadership into their organisations, employers can increase wellbeing, productivity, employee cohesion and innovation, all of which are more important than ever in this troubled economic environment. Creativity Australia is also developing a number of innovative programs bridging social capital for disadvantaged people and communities, businesses and government.

Most notably, Creativity Australia has commenced its pilot program WITH ONE VOICE with the Melbourne Sings choir, a strategic partnership with Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, Allan’s Music and various agencies. The Melbourne Sings choir brings together employees from the Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, other Melbourne businesses and migrants from the Fitzroy and Collingwoodhousing estates for weekly rehearsals towards quarterly performances at hospitals, the estate, various special and community events and at Sofitel Melbourne.

This is an opportunity to bridge social capital as well as provide employment pathways and mentoring for residents from the housing estates. For participants it is an opportunity to develop networks and unlock creative potential. Participants find their unique voice and learn how to lead and be part of a team. They have already performed for key events including a Bushfire Benefit Arts Auction at Fitzroy Town Hall, and are being approached to create performances for a range of major special events and occasions celebrating cultural diversity.

The Melbourne Sings choir is unique in that it brings people together from all walks of life and ages, cutting across socioeconomic, cultural and even linguistic barriers in the pursuit of making music together. Indeed, a significant proportion of the population of the housing estates are recent migrants to Australia, and the choir provides important opportunities for creating a sense of belonging to mainstream Australia and networking for employment. This has already led to some of the migrants gaining employment through improved self esteem and skills developed through their new networks.

Creativity Australia has been approached to set up other With One Voice choirs in Broadmeadows, Footscray, Werribee, Dandenong and Whittlesea and these currently require funding support. The Royal Children’s Hospital Choir commenced in May and is designed to bring staff from different departments together on a regular basis to improve wellbeing, social cohesion and innovation across the hospital. Other choirs commencing soon include “Geelong Sings” and “Mind over Music” - A new program designed as a positive intervention to assist young people with emerging mental health issues at Orygen Youth Health.

For more information about Creativity Australia, please contact Founder Tania de Jong AM on
03 9682 9686 or enquiries@creativityaustralia.org.au Visit www.creativityaustralia.org.au

'Embrace it': Leunig sees downturn's silver lining - By News Online's Amy Simmons

2009-06-30T10:35:00.001+10:00

For all the pain and suffering the financial crisis is inflicting, the philosophical among us say there is a plus side - a happier, richer side.

Australian cartoonist, philosopher, poet and artist Michael Leunig says the economic death, which people around the world are grieving, will awaken a humbling, spiritual truth.

Leunig, who was declared a national living treasure in 1999, says when the going gets tough people are forced to change and act creatively.

"People discover things about themselves ... it's brilliant," he said.

"Out of economic hardship can come change - we are suddenly cast onto our wits and our talents and our resources and our strengths, as we lose all the choices we once had.

"For many people ... they'll look back and think 'thank God for the downturn, I got out of this appalling career I didn't like and I found something'."

Mr Leunig says the potential for human growth is, undoubtedly, the richer side of the financial crisis.

"There will be all sorts of happy things that will come out of this," he said.

"There will be some astonishing changes, which will be redemptive for many people.

"You wouldn't wish hardship on anyone, but when it comes, you would be crazy not to see the huge growth that will come from it."

Breaking open

Mr Leunig says a sharp blow to the ego is what enables people to find wisdom in their struggles.

"Our hopes and all our ambitions are suddenly broken or lost to us and this is just the dynamic of the human psyche - that when the ego breaks, well, something else emerges through that," he said.

"That can be very painful for people initially, but it is also the source of some truth that they haven't been able to access in that more prosperous kind of life.

"People in their suffering often access things otherwise hidden to them."

Mr Leunig says the crisis may also prompt people to look outside themselves for growth assistance.

"People always need help and sometimes they're not able to create their own spiritual response without it," he said.

"They might find consolation in community spirituality, in churches or in their reading - they will turn to things - humans do that and they reach out to what's available and what they can afford."

Digging deeper

One Brisbane-based personal growth facilitator says this has been his experience in recent times.

Murray Masarik has been running Real Education workshops and seminars since 1994, attracting men and women from around Australia and the world.

"We've had a bonanza for 10 years of abundance, of work, of capital growth - there's been a wonderful time," he said.

"However, those times have modified, they've changed, and people are realising they need to let go of how they used to do things and find adaptability and change and readjust to the current situation."

Mr Masarik says the financial crisis has not deterred people from signing up to his personal growth courses, but that it has prompted them to dig even harder.

"What we've noticed is that people do express financial difficulty, but what seems to happen is they always find the money," he said.

"They believe this will provide more opportunities for them, there's definitely an echo of 'oh, this is really hard', but they've just seem to search more places to find the money so they can show up."

Mr Masarik says in the current economic climate, personal growth is like a mobile phone - an essential tool to get by.

He says those who can rise up emotionally from the downturn will be best-equipped once it is over.

"People no longer have the security of a boom decade, so they need to become an architect of their life, they need to know what to do and how to do it," he said.

"It's our ability to have emotional constitution, where we can sustain ourselves emotionally, we can rise to the occasion, we can seize the moment and make our lives work very successfully."

Embracing it

Leunig says it is up to individuals to absorb and handle their present suffering.

"One's got to live creatively - creativity means you lose what you expect to have, but you find something better and then you grow," he said.

"If that's what's happening, I say let it happen and embrace it."

2009-06-16T09:59:00.002+10:00

A PASSIONATE APPEAL TO THOSE WHO WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

At the end of a challenging year, we invite you to help us make a difference to the disadvantaged communities of Australia through harnessing creativity and leadership amongst the people who need it the most. With your help, Creativity Australia can provide access to creative thinking, mentoring and leadership programs, resulting in greater wellbeing, innovation skills, employment and participation for disadvantaged people in communities.

You are invited to make a tax-deductible donation - just $250 can help a disadvantaged person participate in our community choirs for 6 months, $2,500 can fund a mentor and $20,000 can fund a community choir! If like me, you believe in the power of creativity, please make a difference today and choose one of the below options.

On behalf of the disadvantaged communities of Australia, thank you for your help.

Collinwood Football Club's Magpies Sings Choir starts Thursday 18 June

2009-06-15T13:33:00.004+10:00

Creativity Australia is thrilled to present the With One Voice program at Collingwood Football Club. We invite you to sing together - side by side - in the brand new Magpies Choir. Eddie McGuire’s dream is for the whole ground to sing together at AFL Games and to bring audience singing into Australian sports events. The choir is for all Collingwood staff and supporters to get together and create a happier, healthier, more connected Collingwood Football Club community. With One Voice is for everyone who wants to gain greater self esteem, networking and leadership skills, capacity for creative and innovative thinking and general wellbeing - even if they have never sung before! The choir will rehearse over 12 months and present quarterly performances for hospitals, charities, special events and AFL Games.

Session information
Time - Thursdays from June 18th, 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Place - The Lexus Centre
Contact - Call 1300 MAGPIE (62 47 43) or email membership@collingwoodfc.com.au

Click here to download the flier, or here for full details on the Collingwood website.

"The Soul contains the love,
The heart nurtures the passion,
The voice expresses who we are,
Side by Side let the people sing.
We’ll fear no foe as we sing on
with hope in our hearts."
- Joffa Corfe, Collingwood Cheer Squad Leader

SING FOR YOUR SUPPER GALA DINNER - TUESDAY AUGUST 18TH

2009-06-09T15:05:00.003+10:00

SING FOR YOUR SUPPER GALA DINNER - TUESDAY AUGUST 18TH

The inaugural Creativity Australia Gala Dinner is taking place on Tuesday August 18th. This will be a stunning night of food, fun, and entertainment to bring creative wellbeing programs to disadvantaged people and communities.

The event will be held at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. Do not miss a glittering night of fine food, wine, the best of Australian entertainment and song and lots of creative touches! And you will all be helping to funds to bring creative wellbeing programs to specific disadvantaged people and communities.

Highlights include:

The Melbourne Sings Choir, including members of Melbourne’s business community and migrants from housing estates
Zara & Troy of Humour Australia
Pot-Pourri (with their new line-up)
Stefan Cassomenos pianist extraordinaire
Fabulous prizes and auction items

To reserve your tables for what will be a sell-out event and night to be remembered, please email jessamy@creativityaustralia.org.au or tania@creativityaustralia.org.au

Click here to access our online booking system.

To download a printable invitation and booking form, please click here.

Royal Childrens' Hospital Sings - 1st Rehearsal

2009-05-26T13:53:00.002+10:00

Yesterday, Monday 25th May, the new Royal Childrens' Hospital Sings Choir had their very first rehearsal.

As with most things, it is hard to know what to expect when you are just starting out with a new project. We had the feeling that there was a lot of interest and quite a lot of 'buzz' about the new choir program around the hospital, but were blown away to see over 70 members front up at the first session!

Even more surprising (and delightfully so) was absolutely beautiful sound that emerged from this group of people. If that is what they sound like on their first rehearsal, I cannot wait to hear what they sound like after a few.

We will post some more images and audio soon.

'Creative Leadership in Uncertain Times' by Tania de Jong AM, Founding Chair of Creativity Australia

2009-05-25T09:44:00.001+10:00

One way of improving our world is to help people learn how to think and act differently. We believe creativity offers the answers to many of the big issues we face in these unprecedented times, because it can help unlock our full human potential.

Yet in many organizations there is no clear avenue for developing personal creativity or for nurturing ideas. In fact, those with the ideas are often ignored or stifled, so that eventually their voices and ideas fall silent. However in the face of competitive and economic pressures, many organisations are convinced that creativity and innovation are the keys to success.

For further information please visit www.creativityaustralia.org.au

Melbourne Sings Choir - Debut Performance!

2009-05-22T16:01:00.002+10:00

We were so proud to watch our beloved Melbourne Sings choir absolutely nail it at their very first performance at the Artists Unite Bushfire Appeal Auction last night at Fitzroy Town Hall.

It was definitely hard to believe they have only been practising for a couple of months!

Here is a little snippet of their performance:

To see some pics from the night, visit the gallery page on our website.

Introduction to Creativity Australia

2009-05-22T12:45:00.003+10:00

Creativity Australia is a not-for-profit organization partnering with business, education, health, community and charity groups, government and philanthropists. By encouraging greater innovation and creativity, Creativity Australia will provide a new and exciting path to personal wellbeing, acceptance, social inclusion and happier and more productive members of our great Australian community.

Our society is fragmented and our connection with other people and ability to communicate and express ourselves is limited. This fragmentation undermines our fundamental human values, sense of family and community. It is associated with a rise in chronic ill health (obesity, diabetes, heart disease), mental illness and child abuse. It also affects Australia’s ability to realize its full potential as an innovative nation and leads to lower employee engagement and retention.
In the Information Age most of us communicate more with screens and images than we do with other human beings. It is said that most of us go through our lives with our music unplayed.

There has never been a more important time to develop those human attributes which set us apart from machines. We are entering a Creative/Conceptual Age and we require targeted creative programs and leadership engaging with the right side of the brain.

Through these programs we can help people to express their emotions and connect on a meaningful level with others. As people let their music out into the world (figuratively speaking) they will start to unlock their full creative potential as human beings and think ‘outside the square’ so that they can make a valuable contribution.

Our Vision

To unlock the innate creativity present in all human beings, so as to improve mental health and wellbeing, social cohesion, innovation and productivity.

Our Mission

To develop sustainable and creative programs and advocate for creative thinking and leadership around the country in the workforce, and in partnership with the community.

The Creative Connection

Including creativity in people’s lives leads to improved:

Positive feelings, resilience, health and wellbeing

Ability to innovate and think "outside the square"

Connection to others

Engagement in life, work and community

Freedom of expression and communication

Self awareness

Self-esteem and sense of wellbeing

Job satisfaction

Skills for work/life balance and health protection

As a result people are more likely to be happier in their relationships, lives and work and contribute to their communities and nation.

"A profound change is taking place in the organisations that are seriously concerned about the future of business and society as they are realising that ‘rational man’ is giving way to 'artful human'." - Lotte Darsø, Artful Creation

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