Larry O’Farrell
Faculty of Education
Queen’s University
BUILDING CREATIVE CAPACITY
THROUGH ARTS EDUCATION
Questions
 Why is creativity so important?
 Can creativity be taught?
 What does creativity look like?
 How can the arts help?
 What does a creative environment look like?
 What surprises could creativity hold for us?
Why is creativity so
important?
 The “creativity agenda”.
Can creativity be taught?
Creativity in the Curriculum
 Successful learners “are creative, innovative
and resourceful, and are able to solve
problems in ways that draw upon a range of
learning areas and disciplines.” (Australia 2010, 7)
 “Creative thinking and behaviour can be
promoted in all national curriculum subjects
and in religious education.” (United Kingdom 1999, 11-12)
A teacher’s commitment
 Creativity “is extremely important because
employers and post-secondary institutions
are looking for problem solvers and idea
people—not just people who are intelligent or
can operate technology. They want leaders,
quick thinkers, creative people.” (Canadian Arts
Teacher)
Deficit and Barrier Models
 Deficit – Creativity can be taught through
instruction.
 Barrier Model – Barriers need to be removed
to allow creativity to surface. (Ripple 1999, 633)
What does creativity look
like?
An Adventure in Creativity
Creativity for all
 “Creative abilities exist in varying degrees
among us, as do other kinds of intelligence. It’s a
matter of getting those abilities to surface and
making them work for us.” (Shalcross 1981, 2)
 Levels of Creativity
 Individual—“I have not thought or done this before.”
 Social—“We have not thought or done this before.”
 Universal—“No one has thought or done this before.”
(Fisher 2004, 9)
Can the arts help?
 UNESCO’s Seoul Agenda urges Member
States to “apply arts education to introduce
innovative pedagogies and creative
approaches to curricula that will engage a
diversity of learners.” (UNESCO 2010, 4)
The Arts and Creativity
 The arts value creativity
 Experience of art-making (creative mindset)
 , “It brings out something deep inside of you,
like a feeling, maybe some people can’t
understand what you did, it’s something
special to you, something that belongs to
you, and just makes you feel really good.”
(Canadian Arts Student)
 Flow as an optimal experience, “when
consciousness is harmoniously ordered”
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990, 6)
What does a creative
environment look like?
 “You have to allow yourself to play. You have
all these barriers that we have around - you
have to break them.” (Canadian Arts Teacher)
Overcoming barriers
 Internal barriers – stage fright, fear of failure
 External barriers – social pressure not to
deviate from the norm, negative reactions of
others (Shallcross 1981)
Innovation Time Off at
Google
 Google headquarters provides opportunities
for play and recreation including exercise
equipment, video games, table football,
billiards and pingpong.
 Permits engineers to use %20 of their
working time to their own creative projects
 Several of Google’s newer services including
Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense
originated in Innovation Time Off.
Building Safe Space in Drama
 Creative Drama – games to overcome
inhibitions and introduce expressive elements
 Games also introduce learning and lead to
more challenging exercises.
What surprises could
creativity hold for us?
Creativity and problemsolving
 “You don’t always have to be solving a
problem to be creative, right. You can be
quite simply dreaming, daydreaming even
and doing so in a creative, that’s a creative
act, so there’s no problem presented to you.”
(Canadian Arts Teacher)
 “If you’re not able to solve that problem, it
doesn’t necessarily affect how creative you
are.” (Canadian Arts Student)
Thank you
 My colleagues: Prof. Brian Heap (University
of the West Indies, Dr. Laura McCammon
(University of Arizona), Dr. Aud Bergraff
Saebø (University of Stavanger, Norway)