Oklahoma Creative Communities
Oklahoma Creative Communities Initiative
The Oklahoma Creative Communities initiative is designed to identify and develop the creative capacities of a community for economic development and improved quality of life. This initiative focuses on locating and mobilizing the creative abilities of individual citizens to identify and solve community problems.
Traditionally, communities have focused on the challenge of attracting outside resources. We believe that effective community development is based on understanding assets and abilities of local citizens and teaching them a problem solving process to creatively address local concerns.
Communities become stronger and more self-reliant when linked together for problem solving purposes. Gradually, as relationships among assets inside the community are rebuilt, residents cease to look first toward outside help in addressing the most important local concerns.
The keys to community regeneration are:
- locating local assets
- connecting them in mutually beneficial ways
- expanding networks to include marginalized and overlooked assets
- teaching people how to creatively solve local problems
Finding the strengths of community members and connecting them to problem solving initiatives is ongoing work and part of the community building process.
This initiative will identify creative strengths of local citizens using an online, research based creativity assessment. A software platform will serve as central nervous system of the initiative for information exchange and virtual problem solving activities that will be available 24/7. The software will encourage locals to maximize the use of their own community’s creative strengths and abilities to solve problems. As the initiative expands, residents will have access to creative ideas and input from other communities, states, and nations.
What is unique about this initiative is teaching and empowering local citizens to solve problems from within, thus promoting self-reliance and sustainability. Local citizens design and carry out the process and action plans with the assistance of trained facilitators. This replicable model will educate and inspire citizens to create change and a sustainable future for their community.
Communities that have mobilized internal assets offer opportunities for real partnerships, especially for investors who are interested in effective action and a return on their investment.
Oklahoma Creative Communities
Numerous small towns and cities throughout our state face difficult economic and societal issues that government programs and/or private businesses simply cannot solve. But through the Creative Communities program, our citizens can. Creative Communities fills the support gap, teaching citizens to find creative answers to old problems—using innovation to improve lives.
WHAT IS THE OKLAHOMA CREATIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT?
Oklahoma Creative Communities: Your Ideas Matter from Creative Oklahoma on Vimeo.
WHAT MAKES THE OKLAHOMA CREATIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT UNIQUE?
Oklahoma Creative Communities: Ideas at Work from Creative Oklahoma on Vimeo.
WHAT IS THE OKLAHOMA CREATIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT?
Creative Oklahoma defines this new project, Oklahoma Creative Communities, as a group of engaged citizens, across all sectors and within a defined geographic region, that come together as a thought leader group with a commitment to a creative problem solving process whereby new ideas, that have value and did not exist before in the community, will be generated and implemented. The defined geographic area can be a municipality, Native American nation, or designated districts within Oklahoma’s two metropolitan cities.
Each community determines priority issues and ideas that will grow the economic base of the community and improve quality of life for all citizens and then works together on the implementation plan. Partnerships, leadership development, and cross-sector collaboration are key elements of each creative community.
The goals of the Oklahoma Creative Communities project are threefold:
- To facilitate the generation of new ideas that would contribute to the economic and societal community transformation and develop implementation plans for each significant idea;
- To build the creative leadership capacity of each community through schools and local businesses;
- To document and highlight stories of individuals and successful projects as case studies to learn from and to bring about state pride.
Shared stories about these communities will be widely promoted to inspire the next generation of Oklahoma entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, and policy-makers.
Creative Oklahoma will work intently with communities over a twenty-month time period to cultivate new ideas and to further identify, strengthen and expand their assets and creative capacities of citizens with the strategic intention of improving their economic well-being and life quality. These communities will be invited to showcase their stories, talents, and assets at a major creativity event in 2017, with major national and international attention.
WHAT MAKES THE OKLAHOMA CREATIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT UNIQUE?
Most “creative community” initiatives throughout the nation are either arts and traditional creative industry focused, or solely economic development strategies. In our initial research we have not discovered any other statewide creative community initiatives that tap into the creative and innovative talent of community residents to develop new solutions, cross-sector inter-disciplinary networks of engaged citizens, and the development of creative school, workplace and civic environments where new ideas are encouraged and implemented.
The project will emphasize these unique elements:
- In-depth community engagement and teamwork,
- Validation of citizen ideas through research-based creative problem solving methodologies,
- Engagement of young people and the senior in the process, as well as other cross-sector community leaders,
- Advancement of a creative community environment that welcomes new ideas and is sustainable.
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR BENEFITS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY?
- Participation in Oklahoma Creative Communities network for leadership development, sharing, and development of case studies
- Connections for entrepreneurs and business community with innovation trainers, leaders and mentors
- Asset mapping of community strengths and centers of excellence
- Demographics survey and creative industry data analysis
- Partnership with design thinking & creative problem solving experts
- Development of new community partnerships facilitated by Creative Oklahoma
- Access to the Creativity School (cSchool), a teaching cadre of Oklahoma-based academicians and practitioners in creativity and innovation
- Access to Oklahoma A+ Schools methodologies and professional development for community schools
- Special youth leadership development and school creativity development focus
- Focused marketing of community stories through Creative Oklahoma outlets to increase tourism and business opportunities
- Project assessment
Some of the selection criteria includes:
- Current community leadership and evidence of interest and intent to fully participate in the process
- Strength and diversity of leadership representing all community sectors
- Current creative events or strategies already in place in community
- Commitment to a 2017 Creativity event to celebrate and showcase project
DATES TO REMEMBER:
December, 2015 – Online application process opens
February 15, 2016 – Submission process closes
February 16 – 19, 2016 – Application review process
February 22-26, 2016 – Communities selected for participation
March 1, 2016 – Public announcement for program start
March 18-19, 2016 – Retreat for selected communities
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS:
- A+School
- Oklahoma City Metropolitan Public Library System
- AHMM Architecture
- Oklahoma Municipal League