696sum06Assignments

Please read the following: 1. **//Rise of the Creative Class//** (//ROCC//) chapters 1, 3, 4. 2. **//The Hothouse Effect//** (//TTHE//) chapters 1-3. 3. **//The Creativity of the Fireswitch//** posted under the //Articles// file.
 * Assignment 1**


 * Contribute at least 2 substantive responses to Discussion 1**. Feel free to write more than 2 comments, as well as brief responses – but 2 of the responses must be at least 8-10 lines long.

Do Kunstler and Florida have different assumptions about the nature of creativity? Do Florida's ideas have relevance to smaller units such as work groups and organizations? Conversely, do Kunstler's ideas have relevance to larger units such as national and regional economies? For the last paragraph, throw in a completely crazy creative concept that you think could help a community cultivate creative culture in a way that is congruent to either Florida or Kunstler's perspective, or both.
 * Write 2 double spaced pages** comparing Florida's notion of the creative class with the creative hothouse community. Remember, the two ideas may be viewed as contrasting, complementary, or completely different. Consider the following issues:


 * Assignment 2**

Please read the following: 1. **Creative City**, Part I (pp. 3-76). 2. **Hothouse Effect**, chapters 4-7. 3. **Creative Class**, pp. 267-282. 4. **Lecture 1, “Primeval Urban Blues”**, which you can access in the “Lectures” folder on the home page.
 * Write 2 pages** that describe how Landry’s ideas about “urban creativity” manifested themselves in ancient Athens and 15th century Florence. Reference its relationship to Florida's discussion of cities in the assigned readings. You might focus on Landry's more general ideas about the importance of a city's intrinsic culture, his discussion in Chapter 2 about the characteristics of a creative city, the examples he provides, his ideas about creative change and creativity-inhibitors, and his vision of the "new thinking", which may, in many respects, prove to be very old thinking as well.
 * Contribute at least 2 substantive responses to Discussion 2**. Feel free to write more than 2 comments, as well as brief responses – but 2 of the responses must be at least 8-10 lines long.
 * Go on the Web and find two articles** that contribute to your planning for the Alembica Project. Send the links to me and I’ll post them on the site. **Along with the links, provide a one or two sentence annotation** that describes the articles’ relevance to creativity. The good thing about this activity is that we’ll begin to build a library of interesting articles that all of us can access.

Go to the description of the Visual and Gestural Dynamics activity in the “Paintings” folder. The paintings are already in the folder and you can access them one at a time until you find one you want to work on and then complete the analysis. I thought of asking you to compare paintings but decided in favor of a really focused analysis of one painting. Spend time looking at the work, mapping out the vectors of force, the interactions, etc. The more you look at it, the more you will see. Please read the following: 1. **//Creative City//**, Part II (pp. 79-159). 2. **//Hothouse Effect,//** chapters 8-11 (pp. 101-154). 3. //**Creative Class**//, chapters 7-11 (pp. 116-211) 4. //**Lecture 2**// in the “Lectures” folder on the main Organization Page. The readings in **//City//** and **//Class//** will be relevant to the **Alembica** project. They offer a lot of background regarding the practical necessities for change on a large social scale. **//Hothouse//** ties in more with Lecture 2 and the following writing assignment. Choose a milieu to focus on, i.e., your workplace, a community venue with which you’re regularly involved, or volunteer group (the workplace will probably work best). Select several elements that define the environment – spatial layout, hierarchical behavior, the way time is structured, the way ideas are processed, etc. 1. Describe first how several of these elements shape the perceptual reality of that environment. I mean this literally. In your opinion does it awaken the brain, does it open the doors of perception in any way? 2. Then, come up with 5 things that you would do or change to awaken the perceptual and neurological functions of the people within the office. If you say something like, “Do exercises that stimulate…etc.” then describe the exercise and briefly state why it would work. 3. At the end, write at least 1 paragraph describing the positive outcomes that could accrue from these changes. Write as much as you need to complete the assignment. Three double spaced pages could suffice but use your own judgment on the matter. The chapters on the Bauhaus and Loop Design in Hothouse will help you with this assignment, and the chapter on the entrepreneurs (Chapter 8) will as well. The Cerebyte case has a lot of implications for this assignment, and the type of environment that Terry Beard created in his Framing Shops point the way as well.
 * Assignment 3**
 * The Intimate Social Dynamic of Creativity**
 * Readings**
 * Writing Assignment**

Antonia’s Line, Quilombo
 * Assignment 4
 * For a change of pace, there is no reading for this assignment, only a movie to view and write about. The theme of the films you can choose from is – surprise! – the creative community! Here’s the list of possible films to use:

Remember the Titans, Music from the Heart, Stand and Deliver, Miracle on Ice

The Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis)

Matewan (directed by John Sayles), The Milagro Beanfield War (directed by Robert Redford)

Woodstock, Frida, My Dinner with Andre,

The Magnificent Seven, The Seven Samurai, The Dirty Dozen, The Poseidon Adventure

If you have another choice, run it by me first, as there are some plot elements the film must have in order to work for this assignment. You can also write me to discuss the film to help you get started. The pause button may come in handy as taking notes is helpful.

Describe any methods for enhancing group creativity or solidarity that any of the characters in the film employed. It may have been initiated by a leader or someone who stepped up to the task, or it could have just emerged from the group dynamic. After identifying this method, tell why you think it worked and describe its impact on the group.

What forces were active in resisting creativity? How were they overcome? If they were not overcome, why not?

What were the dominant structural elements of the culture within the film that gave its members the strength to achieve a creative resolution to their situations?

As usual, include any ideas you have that may not be covered by these questions.

The paper should be at 2-3 pages.


 * Assignment 5
 * In this assignment, we will transition from focusing on communities to organizations with an emphasis on applying ideas about generating and enhancing creativity in communities to the workplace. You may find it helpful to reference the Discussions we’ve already had about organizational creativity.

Readings Hothouse Effect, Chapters 12, 15-17 (pp. 155-168, 191-246). Creative Class, Chapters 5-8 (pp. 85-143).

Write several pages that describe how you would apply five ideas we’ve read about, developed for the Alembica project, or discussed in any context to improving creativity in your organization. Think about the entire range of ideas – from peak experiences or harvesting time to some of the more practical steps that we find in the texts. Describe a) each idea, b) how it will be implemented, c) the benefits you hope will result, and d) why it would work. Also, briefly describe the context you have in mind (1 paragraph): your office, a large factory, a small work group, etc.