Arts, Creativity & the Brain

I attended a fun and informative 1/2 day conference at the American Visionary Art Museum about using the arts in education.

The three take aways for me were:
a) The arts teach 6 critical skills for the 21st century citizen:
Collaboration
Critical Thinking
Communication
Content
Confidence
Creative Innovation

b) I need to get the creativity books of Keri Smith, especially HOW TO BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD. I recommend that to all of you!

c) A potential teaching tool AND management option for the arts is the creative process modelled through Pixar and Dreamworks (the Talent Developer from Dreamworks was the final presenter).

Divide project into segments
Each person/team takes a segment
The review each others work -- give feedback and make improvements
Mentor Review -- present to the leadership -- get feedback and make improvements (return to peer review cycle if necessary)
Take a 'first pass' at the entire project together -- pitching it to the mentor
Revisions
Final project presentation

This is an "Iterative" process (dictionary.com) It involves shared responsibility to an outcome. How is the usual theatre process similar yet different?