The second annual Curb Creative Practice Boot Camp, a one-of-a-kind hands-on workshop that was a hit among Vanderbilt community members when it was introduced last fall, is now accepting registration for all sessions.
The boot camp offers a unique opportunity for faculty, staff, students and Nashville community members to experiment alongside each other as they strengthen their capacities for creative problem solving and innovation. Hands-on workshops immerse participants in the creative process, providing them with fundamental insights, techniques and strategies to inspire and realize creative goals and collaborative work in their personal and professional lives.
The 2012 Creative Practice Boot Camp is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 31, at the Curb Center at Vanderbilt. All events are FREE but require advance registration. Last year, all sessions sold out.
Please email with any questions regarding registration.
If a session you would like to attend fills up before you can reserve a spot, email curbbootcamp@gmail.com with the name and time of the session in the subject line. We will notify you if a spot becomes available.
See photos from last year’s Curb Creative Practice Boot Camp.
The Curb Creative Practice Boot Camp sessions are:
Improvisation
Second City Improv, Lauren Dowden and Rachel Miller
Do you wish you could be more spontaneous and innovative in the classroom, when presenting your work, or on project teams? Do you wish you were better at listening, building on others’ ideas, or using humor to break through difficult moments? The Second City Master Class Workshop will immerse you in the fundamentals of improvisation.
Storytelling
Minton Sparks, storyteller, spoken word artist, poet, writer
Seeking to improve your ability to share your story and ideas? This workshop, led by award-winning spoken word artist Minton Sparks, is for faculty, staff and students interested in harnessing the fundamentals of storytelling, narrative and poetry to bring concepts to life in the classroom, engage others in creative projects or research, and present their story in a compelling way in job interviews, presentations and essays.
Data Visualization
Eric Rodenbeck, Stamen Design’s founder and creative director, Esquire magazine’s “Best and Brightest” new designer and thinker
Seeking to convey complex data to students, colleagues and audiences in more compelling and engaging ways? Wish you were more facile with ways to display, understand and navigate through rich and varied flows of information? Eric Rodenbeck, a cutting-edge leader in this emergent field, will take you behind the scenes of his design process, offering you insight into the analytical and narrative choices that drive successful data visualization and the development of data-driven narrative.
Brainstorming
Barry Kudrowitz, designer of special effects, amusement park rides, projectile Nerf toys and professor of product design at the University of Minnesota
Wish you could improve your ability to elicit ideas in the classroom, at research meetings or with clients? This workshop offers an extremely fast-paced immersive experience in leading brainstorming sessions and utilizing humor and play to facilitate strategic discussion. You’ll learn how to set the stage for brainstorming – focusing on how to harness the best of both individual and group brainstorming – and how to synthesize and build upon ideas to develop novel, unforeseen possibilities.
Looking/Thinking by Analogy
Kerry Ruef, educator, founder and director of Private Eye, with David Melody
What are the habits of seeing and thinking that enable you to ask provocative questions, theorize across domains and disciplines, strip away stereotyped assumptions and images, and think through analogy? The Private Eye workshop offers a hands-on learning process employing a jeweler’s loupe, a series of questions and everyday objects that will provide you the foundation for hypothesizing, theorizing and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Empathic Interviewing
Jacki Lyden, NPR contributing host and correspondent, journalist, author
What are the keys to empathic interviewing? How do you draw out and listen for unstated meaning and deeper understanding? How do you prompt an interviewee to reflect and think? This workshop, led by NPR national correspondent Jacki Lyden, is for doctors and nurses, researchers, artists, journalists, leaders and designers seeking to enhance their empathic interviewing skills, and for potential employers who seek to get the most out of their recruitment interviews.
Contact: Heather Lefkowitz, (615) 322-2872
heather.lefkowitz@vandebilt.edu