Category Archives: ideas
the creative power of doubt
This week I enjoyed an overview of the work of Albert Hirschman by Cass R Sunstein in the New York Review of Books. Hirschman is described as seeking, from an early age, to ‘prove Hamlet wrong’, seeing the character as … Continue reading
gravity and hope
I was listening last week to a group of arts educators as they were sharing and developing defensive arguments for their very place in the academy, and exchanging concerns about the potential despondency of their students as arts and humanities … Continue reading
outrospection
The latest RSA animated presentation summarises a talk by Roman Krznaric based on his book The Power of Outrospection. Krznaric offers us this new contrast for introspection, and talks simply and enthusiastically about empathy, usefully ‘de-fluffing’ it as a construct, … Continue reading
the unfinished conversation
In Liverpool with time to visit some of the galleries, a highlight was John Akomfrah’s film ‘The Unfinished Conversation’ exploring and celebrating the life and work of Stuart Hall. It runs at the Bluecoat Gallery until 25 November if you … Continue reading
telling stories
A stimulating interview with political journalist Philip Gourevitch in the Boston Review. His work involves bringing us stories from war zones and political hotspots, and his comments have immediate relevance for those of us working with conflict in groups or … Continue reading
song at the beginning of autumn
Talking with a friend last night about the end of summer, and the cool mists and spiderwebs of autumn approaching, he spoke wistfully of the title of Les Murray’s poem ‘The Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever’. Although he added that … Continue reading
west-eastern divan
I’ve been enjoying the start of Daniel Barenboim’s Beethoven symphony cycle at the Proms. There was a great buzz in the hall, not just for Barenboim and Beethoven but also for his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - the great project he … Continue reading
curiosity and complexity
At a workshop last week the ‘Kafkaesque’ processes of institutions were a recurring theme and a source of many frustrations. In the interests of reclaiming energy, and potentially replacing frustration with some lively curiosity, here are a few alternative viewpoints: … Continue reading
map or no map?
In a conversation about planning (or not) following the last post, Fiona Duggan reminded me of two stories from the Strategy Bites Back collection. (This is the lighter-spirited follow-up to the excellent Strategy Safari by Mintzberg, Ahlstrad & Lampel) The first … Continue reading
creativity and play
The Earlyarts network (www.earlyarts.co.uk) have been exploring constructions of creativity and play by asking their network members about their preferred focus. The results seem largely to depend on work sector – with ‘creativity’ in the foreground in arts settings, and … Continue reading