"Creativity, solitude and collaboration"

Is solitude or collaboration the key to creative success? Keith Sawyer points to a NPR special on "creativity, solitude, and collaboration" in which he talks with "Quiet" author Susan Cain in an effort to answer the question. While solitude - different from loneliness - has in some respects gone missing from our culture, and periods of quiet aren't as readily available, or accepted, as they once were, collaboration is of course an absolutely essential part of the creative process. Every successful idea has its roots in another. And in contrast to this somewhat staged either-or at NPR, I see creative success as a cycle of engagement and reflection. Some people just require more of the latter.

About the latter, if you've never read William Deresiewicz's "Solitude and Leadership" essay, you should. 

Just a reminder that All-Access Passes for IdeaFestival 2012 go on sale after May 15. I hope to see you there!

Wayne

What Can Science Learn from Ballet?

What can science learn from ballet? Scientist and dancer Sylvie Leotin:

Everyone who studied the creative process across disciplines agrees that it is virtually identical, despite real differences in materials and goals. Studies also show that scientists with creative avocations are often more successful than those without. We believe it's because they are able to apprehend problems with greater breadth, simultaneously linking intuitive and subjective ways of feeling, with objective and communicable ways of knowing....

C. H. Waddington, a celebrated embryologist, was a dancer. He linked his work to the unfolding of a set of dance instructions, causing him to rethink embryology as a process rather than a mechanism, and resulting in a novel approach.

Wayne

Thrivals 5.0

“The Quest”

The Call to Adventure

Quest - a search for something that has an unknown location…

There is something about venturing into the unknown that we humans find intriguing. Indeed, the quest motif appears in the folklore of every nation. In our stories we identify with the hero who sets out on an unknown journey, who then must overcome the obstacles along the way. Joseph Campbell, author of the Power of Myth, believed that we each have a quest and that the hero has a thousand faces—us.

Thrivals 5.0 & the Wondaland Arts Society will present  “questors”- people who have actually dared to leave the known limits of their world and have ventured into an unknown and dangerous realm, where the rules and limits are not known, returning as our heroes.

2012 Sponsors/Partners

IdeaFestival is honored to partner with some of the most forward-thinking and innovative companies,  academic institutions and media influencers from around the world.  These partners have helped us create fresh thinking, make new connections, introduce innovations that matter, and most of all – Stay Curious.   To learn more about IF click here. To learn how to partner with IF, please click here.  Media partnership inquiries, please click here.

Title Sponsor	Presenting Sponsors
Lead Media Sponsors
Lead Sponsors
Session Sponsors	Media Partners
Supporting Sponsors 21C Museum Hotel BookStacks Plus GE Appliances & Lighting GlowTouch Technologies Jefferson National Financial Parker Lane LLC Proof on Main Spalding University Xstreme Media, LLC Al J. Schneider Company/The Galt House Dometic Corporation Genscape, Inc. Hardscuffle, Inc. MedVenture Technology Corporation PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Signature HealthCARE Inc. Unistar LLC Underwriting Sponsors 8th District Councilman Tom Owen AdvanceKentucky Chrysalis Ventures Ford Motor Company LAP & KTP J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons, LLC Kentucky Enterprise Fund Kentucky Personnel Cabinet Kentucky Space David Mohney Net Tango, Inc. Norton Healthcare R&R Limousine YUM! Brand Foundation ADP/Karl Halbach Central Bank & Trust Company Commonwealth Bank & Trust The Green Building Igear Online Kentucky Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation Louisville Water Company The Media Collaboratory Morehead State University Northern Kentucky University Outrider Technologies The Wunderlin Company Taste of Innovation The Comfy Cow EDGE OUTREACH Feast BBQ Heine Brothers' Coffee Kern's Kitchen, Inc. DERBY PIE Levy's Restaurant - Churchill Downs Lilly's Bistro Louisville Water Company - Pure Tap Marketplace Restaurant Michter's American Whiskey Co. North End Cafe Proof on Main Seviche. A Latin Restaurant Shalimar Indian Restaurant	Thrivals 5.0 Sponsors The Sociable Weaver Foundation YUM! Brands University of Louisville Liberal Studies Metaformers Snowy Owl Foundation Louisville Urban League MPI Printing KentuckyShow! Sutherland Foundation University of Louisville College of Business Norton Healthcare Centers for Prevention and Wellness Hardscuffle, Inc. The Blue Philanthropic Foundation Community Foundation of Louisville UNISTAR, LLC Mark Edwards Violins Friends of IdeaFestival 21 Century Parks John Y. Brown III Cafepress Genentech Hosparus, Inc. Kentucky School of Art Scott & Jenny Kimel Jody McKee Michelle Naiser OPM Financial, LLC Lisa & Peter Resnik Hollis & Kim Smith The Yearling Fund Blue Equity Ceci Conway Heritage Hardwoods International Center for Long-Term Care Innovation Kris & Bridgette Kimel Dr. Nancy Martin Michter's American Whiskey Company Old Stone Press Republic Bank & Trust Company Robert Schneider, UBS Financial Services Inc. Jannie Winter Community Partners Actors Theatre of Louisville American Advertising Federation-Louisville Center for Nonprofit Excellence Forge Friend of Lou Greater Louisville International Professionals (G.L.I.P.) IABC-KY Junior League of Louisville The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts Leadership Louisville Center Louisville Downtown Development Corporation Louisville Downtown Management District Louisville Independent Business Alliance Louisville Professional Chapter of MBA Women International Main Street Association National Association of Women Business Owners Louisville Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NEW) New2Lou PRSA - Bluegrass Chapter The Speed Art Museum Venture Connectors Young Professionals Association of Louisville - YPAL

What are you curious about, Aubrey de Grey?

Aubrey de Grey responds to our question about what makes him curious by describing two reasons to BE curious. "Finding things out just for the sake of finding things out" has turned out to be a good strategy for humans over the millenia because it routinely delivers useful knowledge. The other reason to be curious is to reach a specific goal, like, say, "defeating aging." The key to progress for him: emphasize and balance both impulses.

We're pleased to say that The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik, one of the very first Facebook employees, Kevin Colleran, and the author of "How to be Black" and digital editor of The Onion, Baratunde Thurston, will be among the many people who will join us this year.

All-access passes to attend IF 2012 go on sale May 15. Stay curious.

Wayne