March 16 - 19, 2012 / June 8 - 11, 2012 / August 17 - 20, 2012

Creativity Workshop in New York

Program Overview

The Creativity Workshop in New York City takes place in the Chelsea district, a ten minute walk from Penn Station. Chelsea is famous for its art galleries, small boutiques and cafes.

We will meet for 3 hours. You will have the rest of the day to explore the city. New York is famous for its museums, cultural life, and restaurants. It is a great place to people watch and recharge your energy.

What Will You Learn?

The workshop's exercises and instructor talks will focus on how you can:

Believe in your creativity
Stimulate your perceptive abilities
Find inspiration in the world around you
Discover and use images from the unconscious

Get over creative blocks and the fear of failure
Engage your curiosity
Recognize and use your creative instincts
Give yourself the time, permission, and nourishment to do creative work
Develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals
Work collaboratively
Use your memories to engage the imagination

Daily Schedule

(Order and kinds of exercises and instructors' talks may vary. Some exercises are done individually while others are collaborative.)

Day 1:

Introduction to the hows and whys of the
Creativity Workshop.
Relaxation: Exercises in relaxation techniques to help your imagination flow.
Guided Visualization: Calling forth the vocabulary of your imagination using the myth of the hero's journey as a framework.
Automatic Drawing exercise: Finding our hidden imagery.
Show and Tell: Retrieving and sharing childhood memories to spark new ideas. This exercise will sharpen your storytelling skills.
Instructors' talk: How some famous writers, scientists, and artists found their inspiration, and how you can use some of their methods to find yours.

More on Daily Schedule

Day 2:

Relaxation.
Guided Visualization: Map-making as a way to find, chart, and communicate your creative process and projects.
Automatic Writing: How automatic writing (also known as "free writing") can help you create in new and surprising ways. How you can use automatic writing to outrun your inner judge, get over creative blocks and discover new ways of developing and editing written work. How alternating between writing and drawing can help you develop creative flexibility and mind dexterity.
The Interview: Listening to and experiencing a life outside your own. How listening is as important as doing in creative work.
Writing in Cafes: an exercise that will take place over the next 3 days.
Instructors' talks may include:

How to do on-going creative work in short modules of time.
How to use luck and coincidence to jump start creative projects.

Day 3:

Guided visualization: Letter writing as a way to express voice, character and audience.
Miniature Theatre: Storytelling with found objects.
Automatic Writing: Writing in Groups. How writing and/or drawing with others can stimulate your imagination and expand your point of view.

Instructors' talks may include:

The importance of play in creative work.
Valuing creative process over product.

Day 4:

Guided visualization: The Myth of the Other. Imagining yourself living a parallel life. What would you do that you aren't doing now?
The Sand Mandala:Making an Illuminated Manuscript.
Final Group Exercise.
Instructors' talks may include:

The Gift of the Amateur.
Creativity is a Muscle: Use it or Lose it.
Making your home and work environments inspiring.
How to stay creative after the Creativity Workshop ends.
Cafe exercise: Writing, drawing, photographing people you find in local cafes
The Illuminated Manuscript: A collaborative exercise in combining mediums and perspectives.

College Credit Availability for our Workshops in New York

You can receive certificates of attendance, CEUs or college credits for attending our workshops. Certificates of attendance and CEUs are available at no additional charge.
You can earn 1 to 3 graduate or undergraduate university credits for taking the Creativity Workshop. College Credits involve a fee from the granting university.
The credits are issued by the University of Arizona.

Tuition Fee

$850
To reserve your place we require a non-refundable $50 deposit.
Full payment is required 3 months before the workshop begins.

By registering you agree with our Terms and Conditions.

The Workshop enabled me to be a stronger instructional leader. I encourage educational leaders to attend the Creativity Workshop with fellow school administrators. It has helped us be supportive of each other as we implement new curriculum and instructional strategies. The Workshop experience was enlightening for my professional understanding of the creativity journey and enhanced my understanding of students' writing process."

Anna Marie Erbes, Principal, St. Paul Public School District, MN

Upcoming Workshops
2012