An international celebration of creativity and innovation is taking on a new look and location on the Miami University campus as Creativity City opens during World Creativity & Innovation Week (WCIW).

WCIW is a celebration of creativity in all its forms, and Creativity City is an extension of that mission -- an interactive, hands-on demonstration of creativity and innovation that started on the Farmer School front lawn in 2017, went virtual during the pandemic, and this year, takes place from April 15 to 21 in the Armstrong Student Center Atrium, across campus, and around Oxford.

Hundreds of students from 28 organizations and all five Miami University colleges are taking part in events ranging from collaborative painting and jousting to positivity exercises and experiments with cabbage.

“Most of our learning comes from classrooms and this is a way to learn and play collaboratively outside of the classroom,” student organizer Danielle Rubin said. “We are excited to move to the center of campus this year and connect with so many more students in different ways.”

The week culminates with World Creativity & Innovation Day on April 21, with a closing ceremony in the Shade Family Room in the Armstrong Student Center at 3 p.m.

Started by Marci Segal in 2001, WCID began as a single day, but Marci quickly grew it to an entire week beginning with Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday (April 15) and ending just before Earth Day (April 21). Farmer School entrepreneurship professor Jim Friedman began celebrating World Creativity & Innovation Week as an ESP 351 class project in 2014, and the first Creativity City was launched in 2017. In 2019, the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship became the steward and international headquarters for WCIW.

“The students of the Miami University Community of Creativity & Innovation (MUCCI) have been working for a year planning this event. Their learning and growth in the past year has been exciting,” Friedman said. “This is such an amazing student celebration – designed by Miami students, staring Miami students, for Miami students.”