All posts tagged Creativity:
Start the Work that Matters!
It’s time to do more of the work that means something to you, stretches you and makes a difference. In Michael Bungay Stanier’s Do More Great Work you’ll find fifteen ‘maps’, practical exercises to help you identify how to find, start and sustain more Great Work. Amongst other things you’ll learn:
* Where to find clues to your own Great Work. (They’re all around you.)
* How to locate the sweet spot between what you want to do and what your organization wants you to do.
* Tactics to best manage the overwhelm.
* How to double the likelihood you’ll do what you want to do.
There are also original contributions from leading thinkers like Seth Godin, Dave Ulrich, Michael Port, Penelope Trunk, Leo Babauta and Chris Guillebeau on how to do more of the important stuff. To do more Great Work you need focus, you need courage and you need resilience.
Give a listen to the Do More Great Work Interview Michael did with me recently- Listen! His enthusiasm & passion for this topic is undeniable!
Got Passion & Purpose?!
“RedBall: Grand Rapids” 2009 | ©2009 Kurt Perschke
Kurt Perschke & RedBall Project are in the TOP 25 in the 2009 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan!! An amazing accomplishment considering that there were 1,236 artists entered in the competition.
ArtPrize is a radically open competition from September 23 - October 10, 2009.
Tonite the Final 10 will be announced. If selected in the final 10 projects, Kurt & RedBall Project will be vying for the grand prize - $250,000.00!
All appendages are crossed for Kurt & RedBall Project.
Stay tuned…
Got PLAY?!
My latest ITP (In-The-Paint) assignment came in late December of last year. The HSI team was alerted, by inside sources, of an alarming increase in the number of players downloading the 1996 film Space Jam -
According to our reliable source, players were repeatedly listening to one particular song from the film’s soundtrack, Basketball Jones. Players had been heard publicly lamenting, to anyone who would listen, about how their hoops journey mirrors the comic tale of the player being crooned about - Tyrone Shoelaces. There had been incidents of players openly bellowing out the song’s chorus on the court, in locker rooms, in hotel elevators and at team meals:
Basketball Jones…
I got a Basketball Jones…
Oh baby, oo-oo-oo! (sung twice)
Yes, I am the victim of a Basketball Jones…
Was the song having a detrimental influence on players and the game? Were players truly afflicted with a case of “Basketball Jones”? I was briefed and dispatched to Orem, Utah on January 5, 2009 for the 2009 NBA D-League Showcase event to determine if action needed to be taken.
In these times of increased scrutiny in all facets of American business, the sports world is not absolved or pardoned from the call for increased transparency. The demand and necessity of more disclosure in sports is being felt at all levels –players, teams, management, owners and governing bodies. After much internal deliberation, we determined that it is in our best interest to come forward and divulge our existence to the general public as a independent, non-league funded and/or affiliated agency – we are members of the unit known as…
HSI: Springfield/Hoop Scene Investigation.
Continue Reading…
While I was in London last week for the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards, I walked around the city by St. Paul’s Cathedral last Monday evening and had the unexpected and delightful opportunity to encounter one of 30 pianos randomly placed throughout the city as part of the Play Me I’m Yours public art project. I saw & heard someone playing the same piano located at the Millennium Bridge & featured in the above street piano video by Andrew Balkwill.
Millennium Bridge/Photo Courtesy of Peter Visontay
What a BRILLIANT & PLAYFUL idea - BRAVO!
Image courtesy of: Kurt Perschke
Kurt Perschke’s RedBall Project has gone north to Ontario, Canada and the city of Toronto as part of the Luminato - Toronto Festival of the Arts + Creativity - the annual ten-day celebration of the arts where Toronto’s stages, streets, and public spaces are infused with theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music, film, literature, visual arts, and design.
Kurt sent an email alerting me that my efforts to spread the word about his amazing public art project is paying “playful” dividends!
——-Original Message——-
From: kurt perschke [mailto:kurt@redballproject.com]
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 6:14 PM
To: Kevin Carroll
Subject: Toronto Day 1 - The KC crowd
Hey Kevin,
We just stared day one of RedBall Toronto and it turns out the first site was across the street from the Right To Play headquarters! Their board meeting turned into a RedBall day and they were out in full force, I would definitely say they ‘go it’. We also had a visit from a an intrepid group from Invesco Trimark, who said you had introduced them to the project in the last year, they were all over it - literally- and plan on catching some of the other sites.
Just wanted to give you a heads up and many thanks again for spreading the word.
best - kurt
Got PLAY?!
Malcolm Gladwell shares his unique “forensic” writing style once again in his latest magazine piece for The New Yorker.
His latest “social forensic case” delves into just how “Davids” aka Underdogs (KC note: I just couldn’t resist using this image from one of my favorite childhood cartoons!) can defeat the “Goliaths” of the world with a bit of rule breaking, great effort, cleverness, a dash of the unexpected, and ingenuity.
For me, a story that can stitch together a compelling read using disparate tales of an low-skilled, girl’s youth hoops team’s rise to dominance + a Biblical tale of a “rule breaker” (aka David v. Goliath) + Rick Pitino as a freshman “bench warmer” at UMass + Julius “the Doctor….Errrrrving!” and create a painstakingly detailed, highly insightful, cleverly “penned”, joyfully unexpected reading experience for the “David-in-all-of-us” ... is gonna be a post on my blog!
Well shared, Malcolm…well shared!
Enjoy the read + break some rules!
Dr. Stuart Brown’s discussion about play at the Serious Play Conference ‘08.
Heed his words and practice what he’s preachin’!
Dr. Stuart Brown (founder of the National Institute for Play + a great friend + human catalyst) shares is phenomenal knowledge, research, and play wisdom in his recently released book - PLAY.
Read it, Heed it + GO PLAY!
This is simply BRILLIANT! BRAVO, JR…BRAVO!
About JR: JR is 25 years old and owns the largest art gallery in the world. He exhibits his arts freely in the streets, attracting people who are usually not visiting museums. His work is a mix of art and action, reflecting the concepts of political involvement, freedom, identity and boundary. He describes himself as an “artivist”, a condense of artist and activist. With his 28 mm lens, with people wincing, huge posters and his anonymity, the photographer does not give any interpretation and leave a free space to allow the subject/actor and the bystander/interpreter to meet. With the surprise and the questions that JR is raising, each of us can review our own thoughts and free ourselves from stereotypes and prejudices. This is all JR’s work: to ask questions…
The 3rd step of the 28 mm lens project, Women Are Heroes, was directed in Africa, in post-war zones. JR took photography of women of whom he wanted to share their painful stories and to testify their urge for life. The women’s portraits have been exhibited in Sierra Leone and Liberia. To see more of JR’s projects visit: JR Art
From the “Tea With McNair” Blog
” i know a place
{ Preface to an exciting new series! }
...One day, on my way to recess, I found it. The magical place—my own private Narnia. It was an accident. I had been drawing in my sketch pad—having completed the filling in of the ten blanks in my Think and Do workbook calculated to drum into my brain the role of the adverb in modern culture. I was never allowed to go to recess early—no one was. Hence I drew. On this day, not having completed a particular drawing, and the story that went with it, I took my sketch pad with me as we headed for recess. No tether ball for me that day. I sketched and wrote all through recess.
Tetherball_1
“Are you alright?” Asked the officer of the day in the noisy, frenetic playground. It was uncharacteristic of me not to join in any reindeer games.
“I’m fine. I just need to finish this.” And then it hit me. That I said “need” instead of want. That there was something started in the classroom, a place of reason and learning, and continued to completion during our recess from reason—the mindless pursuit of play, for no real reason.
This was my new favorite place, but could it, I wondered, be a better place than either the classroom for reason and the clash-ground for recess. Is there a place I can go, anyone can go, to do what they love and that what they love has purpose? Is there a place like that? I’d like that.
Welcome to the place Between Reason and Recess!So, today, I am launching a new series of exercise, playful projects, designed to push your personal creativity ever-closer to the surface, out into the light of day. It is also intended to develop tools and skills usually thought to be only for artistic expression and integrate these skills into all areas.”
And introduce new creativity exercises McNair Wilson does! Get your camera, sketchpad, lead pencils and pad of paper warmed up and ready to follow his easy steps.
What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!
...to support the cause of play!
From one of my play partners, KaBoom!
1. Take a picture
2. Call a friend
3. Bounce a ball
4. Throw a party
5. Pick up a newspaper
We guarantee that you will experience moments of deep emotional connection and joy following the practice of steps one through five. If you do not experience moments of deep emotional connection and joy, there is one additional step…
Step Six - repeat steps one through five.
What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!
The Zeum is “a non-profit multimedia arts and technology museum with a mission to foster creativity and innovation in young people of all backgrounds, communities and learning styles. By providing hands-on experiences in four core creative processes (animation, sound and video production, live performance and visual arts), we encourage youth to share their stories, build their voices, and use multimedia tools for creative self-expression.”
Here are a few outtakes from my visit there in ‘07:
One of the exhibits there is by an organization called World Savvy which: “provides educational programs and services with the aim of informing young people about issues such as poverty, conflict and peace building, human rights, and the environment. World Savvy’s goals are to develop students’ skills to prepare them for their future as global citizens, enhance their understanding of world affairs and develop their sense of responsibility and global citizenship.”
If you’re ever in San Francisco hanging out with the kids - or the kid in you - Zeum is a must-see.
What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!
Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.
Stefan and the monsters are branching out into the jewelry biz, but you know it had to be for a worthy cause…
The first is Metal For Monsters, a charity jewelry project started by graphic designer Eric Jean-Louis and industrial designer Vivian Cheng of Blend Creations.
{(met-l fer mon'strs) cause. 1. An effort by Blend Creations to raise money for UNICEF by collaborating with artists for a special line of limited-edition stainless steel pendants.}
They invited nine artists to design laser-engraved stainless steel Monster pendants to benefit Unicef. Happily, two of the Monsters agreed to help.
Each pendant is limited to 100 pieces, signed and numbered on the back, and sells for $81. $16 of that goes straight to Unicef. Please check it out.
I think I’ll take my two monsters to go!
What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!
Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.
Now hear this: Stefan is really going BIG Time now. Check out this blog post from his Daily Monster site:
”...A special welcome to those of you who just found out about this site from the L.A. Weekly. The Weekly is very kindly featuring one of the Daily Monsters on its cover this week, advertising an article on Making Fiends creator Amy Winfrey, and one on… ahem… well, they have one on me, too. Great thanks to La Vida writer Gendy Alimurung for giving a massive shout-out to our little Monster community, and to Joshua Bearman for making the initial introduction back in December.”
Monsters don’t die; they multiply! What’s next, “Monsters Take Manhattan…then Paris…then…?!” Stay tuned.
What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!
Books by KC
