ABSTRACT
Over the past five to ten years there has been an outpouring of new thinking about creativity. From neuroscience research on creativity and the brain, to the pioneering human-centered design at IDEO and Stanford’s d.school, to blog posts and TED Talks on remixing ideas and building a culture of experimentation. This work is starting to be embraced by many for-profit companies, and by many segments of society at large. Meanwhile, there has been some attention to creativity in our field—it was the theme of the 2012 American Alliance of Museums (AAM) conference and the topic of a Journal of Museum Education issue in 2005 and an Exhibitionist issue in 1999—but for the most part all this new thinking about creative practice as a way of working has not yet broadly infiltrated the museum community. Museum workers do not share a common vocabulary for discussing what creativity means in our field, nor a common set of best practices for doing it, the way we do for other issues—like museum ethics, community engagement, or risk management—that affect our everyday work. This chapter is about developing that common language, and about each of you understanding the role creativity can play in your own life.
