“Think Like an Artist: Creativity, Curiosity and Courage” McColl Center for Visual Art’s Innovation Institute Introduces Series Designed to Build Creative Capacity
Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) May 29, 2014 -- The Innovation Institute at McColl Center for Visual Art is launching a “Think Like an Artist” series, offering creative experiences for both individuals and groups. Led by an expert facilitator and a professionally acclaimed artist, the curriculum helps participants fulfill their creative capacity, unleash their curiosity, and summon the courage to act on their ideas.
Beginning this summer, individuals have the opportunity to participate in a new 2-day program. This unique training experience is designed to help participants enhance creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Enrollment is now open and sessions are available in September and November.
The Innovation Institute’s custom programs offer creativity training for groups, teams and companies, ranging from 45-minutes to multiple days, giving organizations the opportunity to tailor their own training to suit any size or type of audience.
“Since launching in 2005, the Innovation Institute has delivered powerful artist-led programs to more than 50 global companies designed to increase creative capacity,” says Suzanne Fetscher, President + CEO of McColl Center for Visual Art. “Participants in our programs graduate with the skills they need to make bold moves they otherwise would not have made that change their futures – some transition to more fulfilling careers, start successful business, transform company operations and even launch new products.”
The ‘Think Like an Artist’ curriculum, combined with the new program format for both individuals and groups, makes it one of the Innovation Institute’s best creative offerings to date and builds on a long, successful history. For nearly 10 years, the Innovation Institute has been in the business of cultivating creative leaders in Charlotte and across the country, with individuals and companies coming from far and wide to benefit from novel learning experiences.
As the only artist-led, professionally-facilitated workshop in the country focused on activating and enhancing creativity, the Innovation Institute has established itself nationally as the go-to resource for helping participants reconnect with their innate creativity and understand how it feeds innovation, for both individuals and teams.
“The Innovation Institute shapes the way people think – and, frankly, changes lives,” says Jennifer Appleby, Innovation Institute Alumni and, President and Chief Creative Officer at Wray Ward. “Participants find themselves more engaged in their work, and teams perform better because they have learned how to collaborate with one another in a creative way. For me personally, the Innovation Institute was monumental. What I learned from this experience was integral in how we ultimately redesigned Wray Ward with a renewed focus on creativity and innovation across the firm.”
With the enhanced program curriculum, participants learn to “think like an artist,” experiencing the artist’s creative process: risk taking, courage in the face of failure and working through ambiguity. Expert facilitators show participants how seeking different perspectives actually improves and maximizes creative efforts. Gaining this new and different perspective helps individuals to see patterns that allow them to break out of habitual thinking.
As businesses grapple with more complex challenges, creativity and innovation are more essential than ever before; they are the keys to sustainable growth and offer tangible competitive advantages in today’s global economy, regardless of business sector. In fact, creativity has been identified as the most important leadership quality for success in business, according to the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study. Creativity is the gateway to innovative change and the new currency by which businesses attract, recruit and retain high-performing individuals.
“We are excited about these new creative experiences and look forward to engaging with individuals in Charlotte and beyond,” says Fetscher. “Everyone at the Innovation Institute is proud of our new curriculum and we are looking forward to cultivating the next generation of creative leaders and inspiring individuals to strengthen their innate creativity.”
Think Like an Artist: Two-Day Program for Individuals
The Innovation Institute’s 2-day program series is designed to help individuals find their inner artist, disrupt the status quo, challenge assumptions, embrace uncertainty and overcome traditional challenges through non-traditional means.
Dates: September 18-19, November 7-8
Time: 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Location: Innovation Institute at McColl Center for Visual Art in Uptown, Charlotte
Tuition: $1,200 (includes materials, breakfast, lunch and parking)
Registration link: http://mccollcenter.org/innovation-institute/open-enrollment-individuals
Think Like an Artist: Custom Programs for Groups
The Innovation Institute’s custom “Think Like an Artist” programs offer creativity training for groups, teams and companies, ranging from 45-minutes to multiple days, tailored to suit any size or type of audience. For more information on our custom programs, contact David Phillips at dphillips(at)mccollcenter(dot)org.
More About McColl Center for Visual Art Innovation Institute
The Innovation Institute was founded in 2005 by McColl Center for Visual Art President+CEO, Suzanne Fetscher. Her vision was to forge a connection around the topic of creativity between the corporate community of Charlotte and McColl Center for Visual Art, a leading artist in residency program. She recognized that artists, who live and breathe the creative process as part of daily life, could provide a uniquely meaningful contribution to corporations and other organizations seeking to instill creativity and innovative ideas among their leaders. The Innovation Institute was the result, where the innovative minds of corporate and community leaders and successful career artists can come together to transform how business people apply the creative process to corporate problem solving. McColl Center for Visual Art will soon become McColl Center for Art + Innovation.
More information: mccollcenter.org.
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Mary Everette Cann, Cann+Jones, LLC, http://cannandjones.com, +1 917-923-6673, [email protected]
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