The Institute for the Creative Process at the Alberta College of Art + Design (ICP@ACAD) is unique in a Canadian post-secondary institution. The Institute exists to focus and organize the various activities, enterprises, and initiatives of ACAD with regard to the cultivation of dialogue, research, and special projects that directly address the nature of the creative process and design thinking.
The Institute is organized around a central notion: that the creative process can be identified, articulated, and applied to a wide range of issues and needs. For some, this will mean using that process as a way of crafting visual materials for business, for others it may mean using process steps to address the issues that concern many in our world: How does a community develop a sense of cohesion and common purpose? What is the optimum way to structure a learning environment? How can a corporation engender innovation within its ranks? How do various occupational groups manifest innovation in their work, and how might this be consciously approached in a variety of settings? How can wellness and health issues be addressed via a direct application and knowledge of the creative process? These and an infinite number of other topics are the business of the ICP@ACAD.
Our world requires this type of thinking. Communities want to be supportive of the "knowledge economy" even as they are in transition from earlier social models. Relationships between various groups are in flux, and societies search for solutions to the complex relationships that stem from change and migration. Artists, designers, and cultural producers of every stripe strive to express themselves in ways that can galvanize thought and stimulate new ideas, yet questions remain as to how they can sustain themselves as members of society. The corporate world needs people who can innovate, fuse ideas, and approach their endeavors within the context of a larger panorama. At the end of it all, our most worthy resource is people and their ability to consider, reason, and synthesize; we need to understand how to promote those qualities. These questions and more are in need of investigation, discourse, and finally, implementation of the creative process. That is the work of the Institute for the Creative Process at the Alberta College of Art + Design.
The process steps for design and innovation are understandable. They may be recognized by various terms: design thinking and theory, innovative process steps, and more. While we recognize that individual talents and abilities play a significant role in such undertakings, we also know that the creative/design process, the method by which solutions are found and new knowledge is discovered, is something that can be documented, researched, and applied to a broad range of issues. The mission of the ICP@ACAD is to study that process and share our findings, promote the articulation of it, and assist in applying that process to a variety of topics. The ICP will initiate projects that employ the creative and design process, apply it, and act as a vehicle for such thinking. Our world will be our laboratory.
Over the past six years, the Institute for the Creative Process at ACAD has been responsible for one of Calgary's most exciting cultural events: Stirring Culture, and Smart Night.
The President's ACAD Smart Nightis a unique black-tie event in Calgary, and was launched in 2007 as a vehicle to challenge ideas and stimulate dialogue within our community. Previous Smart Night events have featured authors Dan Pink, Malcolm Gladwell, Chip Heath and Tom Kelley as keynote speakers.
Stirring Culture is brought to you by the Institute for the Creative Process at ACAD; a research institute which is unique among Canadian post-secondary institutions. ICP@ACAD studies the creative process: the method by which solutions are found and new knowledge is discovered. The process can be documented and replicated in a broad range of areas including; community development, education and health and wellness.
The various Stirring Culture projects explore the relationship between the creative process and the building of culture and community.
The 2005/2006 series; Stirring Culture 1: Arts, Imagination, and Community was hugely popular; the speakers and their messages around culture resonated with audiences thirsty for the conversation. It attracted substantial community involvement and over the course of the series five thousand people took part; either in person at the EPCOR Centre Jack Singer Concert Hall in downtown Calgary or by attending a live simulcast in Edmonton at the Shaw Conference Center. Stirring Culture 1: Arts, Imagination and Community featured international speakers such as Tim Rollins, Will Alsop, Charles Landry and Bruce Mau.
Following this series of lectures, ACAD launched Stirring Culture 1.5: a unique initiative, the only one of its kind in Canada. This project, which continued through 2009, involved ACAD faculty and design researchers in the United States working on charting out the processes of four concepts central to the creative process: innovation, creativity, play and diversity. The first of the visual maps - for innovation - was unveiled at The President's ACAD Smart Night in March of 2007. The second - for play- was unveiled in 2008 at Smart Night 2008. Lastly, the third – for the creative process – was unveiled in 2009.
Stirring Culture 2: A Time to Act, held in 2007/2008, provoked the conversation to prompt cultural development in Canada. This series of speakers focused on the premise that it's time to take decisive action about how we embrace and promote cultural development. His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond, Louise Blouin MacBain, Peter Sellars, and Richard Florida came to Calgary as keynote speakers for this exciting series.
In 2010, ACAD launched Stirring Culture 3: Women Innovators in Design. This took the form of a unique series of public lectures by prominent women with successful practices in the various aspects of design that have made significant impacts through their innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to design practice, business, theory, use of materials, and design education. The speakers who presented at ACAD as part of Stirring Culture 3: Women Innovators in Design are leaders in the use of design as a tool for transformation within our businesses, our communities and our daily lives. The speakers also served as presenters at the College, interacting with students and faculty in workshop settings.
The Alberta College of Art + Design is committed to the cultivation of dialogue, research and to our role as a catalyst cultural institution. We look forward to continuing the Stirring Culture series and to igniting valuable dialogue about the commitments we must make as a community to foster the transformative power of design thinking and to nurture the creative design process.