Creativity City takes shape on Farmer School lawn
Four-day event began Monday
Four-day event began Monday
Starting early on a frigid Monday morning, something new appeared on the front lawn of the Farmer School of Business, something that will only last a few days but, it’s hoped, will spark the creative spirit in any and all who visit.
Creativity City is a four-day event celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Week. Led by the creativity organization Igoodea, students from the Institute of Entrepreneurship and other campus creatives made several venues where visitors can engage in some variety of creative activity or thought process.
“You can really celebrate creativity in any way you want,” Creativity City mayor (and finance and entrepreneurship major) Maryanne Smith explained. “Design an activity designed to engage students, and really anyone walking by, and teach them a little bit about some of the concepts – brainstorming, delaying judgement, coming up with more ideas – inventive creativity, specifically.”
This year, there are 13 properties in the city. 12 are staffed by Igoodea members or entrepreneurship students, while the remaining property will have a rotation of outside groups. In addition, a performance stage will be in place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
One thing visitors might notice, especially if they attended the previous years, is the city’s appearance. “The brick walls are a result of us trying to make things a little easier because we are not architects. In previous years, it’s been kind of a mess,” Smith said. She and her father prototyped the modular design before having the walls built. “Hopefully, they’ll make things a little bit easier in the future to make it all look nice.”
“Our hope is that somebody who comes to the city will get a small inclination that even if they don’t think of themselves as a creative, they can be creative,” Smith noted. “It’s more of a choice than an inherent talent. It does not take much to be creative. So hopefully, someone learns a little about creativity and practices and walks away looking for a little different stimuli each day, eventually realizing that creativity is something they can practice, rather than just something they have inside them.”