Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s creativity and devotion to public service, our mission is to nurture the curiosity, imagination, and originality of future leaders in many disciplines, turning the spark of creativity into a flame that benefits our communities.

Starting in 2002, the Creativity Foundation gave an annual Creativity Laureate Prize to the most gifted and creative individuals in the arts, humanities, sciences, entrepreneurship, and public service. The foundation's Creativity Laureates have included YoYo Ma, Sandra Day O'Connor, Eric Kandel, Johnnetta Cole, Meryl Streep, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Nina Totenberg, and many other outstanding individuals. Starting in 2003, the foundation added the Creativity Legacy Award Program to recognize unusually creative young people – in high school and college – who show great promise in the arts, humanities, sciences, entrepreneurship,
and public service.

Creativity Foundation changed course in 2020, spurred by the arrival of Covid (when public gatherings were not possible). Instead of hosting a public annual event in Washington D.C., we decided to give grants to non-profit institutions world-wide that are doing effective and creative work that promotes the Creativity Foundation’s mission. Nominations for these grants are made by two groups: a) the Creativity Foundation’s Legacy winners and b) the Creativity Foundation’s Junto (our board).

ChelseaDee harrison - Reclaiming History for the future

CHELSEADEE HARRISON, 2008 LEGACY AWARDEE, CREATING AND TEACHING ART – I was directing a production of Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro at New York University when I first learned there was a rapidly spreading spreading virus in the city. At that time, we thought rehearsal… More...