A Creative Culture

Framing the Arts

Canada does not invest in the arts because we view it as an elitist luxury. How has the case for the arts been framed so that government, universities, and businesses don't see the importance of investing in creativity and imagination? How could the case for the arts be framed?

Economic Creativity

Perhaps Canada should accept that we are "hewers of wood and drawers of water" and that our economy is grounded in resoure extraction from oil to water. Canada is certainly finding it hard to compete when it comes to the manufacturing of everyday objects. We probably can't compete with economies that are capable of cheap manufacturing. What does that leave Canada as a direction of development. The answer is often framed as a shift to a knowledge economy. Here we want to explore the importance of creativity and imagination to the development of a knowledge economy.

The Seams of Silos

Any large organization has to be divided into smaller units which inevitably creates problems bridging the units. However one divides an organization there will be areas of interest or work that overlap units and the danger is that these units become silos that don't collaborate. How then do we design the seams between units so knowledge can travel appropriately?