Creativity and innovation celebrated at annual Florida Creativity Conference – Charlotte County Florida Weekly
Creativity and innovation celebrated at annual Florida Creativity Conference
Awaken your creative potential and innovative perspective at the 20th Annual Florida Creativity Conference, taking place in person March 10-12 at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota. From improv to connecting to your inner child, to exploring the metaverse, to using music as a teaching tool and more, FLCC offers nearly 40 invigorating workshops.
Attendees will leave FLCC with enhanced creative-thinking, problem-solving, and innovation skills — all of which can be used in the office and at home.
“Our attendees come from all walks of life — educators, creative and business professionals, and nonprofit organization representatives,” said Beth Miller, executive director of the Creative Education Foundation, which presents the conference. “Through a range of interactive workshops, participants will learn from our wonderful speakers and each other. We know they will walk away with a fresh toolkit of productive practices for their companies, organizations, schools and — most importantly — for themselves.”
Attendees will be able to choose from a range of dynamic and hands-on workshops that present diverse creativity processes taught by leaders from myriad industries and backgrounds. This year’s featured keynotes include FLCC regular Rachel Schaeffer Wolfe; University of South Florida professor Csaba Osvath, Ph.D.; The Dalí Museum’s Innovation Labs Co-Director Kim Macuare, Ph.D.; and recent RCAD graduate KyKye Suvanna among many others.
Multi-hyphenate Ms. Schaeffer Wolfe will lead a two-part keynote workshop on her Story Alchemy process. Attendees of her sessions will embark on a unique and transformative journey to become the hero in their own life story through healthy self-love, creativity and confidence.
Mr. Osvath — who holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Florida and has developed the university’s Creative Experience and Design-Thinking course — teaches artists and creators to bring their skills in 2023 with his keynote “The Metaverse.” The session will teach attendees the current state of the metaverse’s digital and immersive social worlds and how people can utilize the metaverse for workshops, lessons, exhibits and online storefronts.
Ms. Macuare, co-director of Innovation Labs at The Dalí, combines her skills in creativity, education and curriculum for her workshop “Visual Thinking Strategies: How Looking Can Make You a Better Thinker, Communicator and Collaborator.” Having learned visual thinking strategies (VTS) through her museum background, Ms. Macuare teaches attendees of her session to transfer VTS skills to the business world and other industries. VTS is projected to have a revolutionary impact on how we think, communicate and collaborate. During the workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to have hands-on practice with VTS applications.
A self-proclaimed “eclectic creative,” speaker Ms. Suvanna recently graduated from RCAD in 2022 with a BFA in creative writing. Though her career is only just taking off, she utilizes youth to her advantage during her session “The HeART of Freeing Your Inner Child.” Inspired by makahiki — ancient Hawaiian traditions dedicated solely to play — she posits that creativity and play should be fully embraced and enjoyed in our everyday lives. During the session, attendees will connect with their inner child through letter writing and will learn more about the inner children of their fellow attendees.
Some of the other sessions and workshops, to list just a few, include:
¦ “Achieving Creative Flow State through Rock Balancing” and “Why Adults Need Play Too”
¦ “Expanding for Growth During Times of Recession” and “Tolerance for Ambiguity”
¦ “Inspiring Nobel Prize Winning Ideas” and “Big Ideas That Will Knock Your Socks Off!!”
For a full list of speakers and sessions, see www.flcreativity.com/2023-speakers-sessions.
“The Florida Creativity Conference is engaging, inspiring and fun; I love the brain food,” said Martha Well, chief strategic officer of The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, who is returning to FLCC for her fourth year. “The workshops are purposeful, the people are interesting, and I get to laugh a lot — the improv classes are a great change of pace. Before the conference is over, I am already re-energized and looking at things from new perspectives.”
The Florida Creativity Conference promotes and encourages creativity and innovation in ways that make a positive difference in people’s professional and personal lives and communities. FLCC is presented by the Creative Education Foundation in partnership with the Ringling College of Art and Design.
Full registration for the three-day conference is $550 and includes access to deliberate creativity workshops, main stage events, plus lunch on Friday and Saturday. A combo package for general admission for FLCC and its sister conference, the Creative Problem Solving Institute taking place on June 25-29 in Buffalo, New York, is available for a discounted rate of $1,740. Discounts are available for educators, students and those who work at nonprofit organizations.
The conference takes place across Ringling College of Art and Design’s inspiring and modern campus at 2700 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
For further information about this year’s lineup of speakers and to register, see www.flcreativity.com.
The mission of the Creative Education Foundation is to spark personal and professional transformation by empowering people with the skill set, tool set and mindset of deliberate creativity.
For more information about The Creative Education Foundation, see www.creativeeducationfoundation.org. ¦