Exploring Creativity
Reclaiming History for the Future
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 virus in the city. At that time, we thought rehearsal might be cancelled for a few days but, little did we know, we’d spend the next… More…
History of the Foundation
Anyone who visits the Creativity Foundation website, or comes to one of the foundation’s events, soon discovers that the spirit of Benjamin Franklin hovers benevolently over the foundation’s Laureate and Legacy programs… More…
Interview with Dudley Herschbach
Although Creativity Junto member Dudley Herschbach is now officially retired, and an Emeritus Professor at Harvard, I found out in a recent phone conversation that he is still fully occupied. Not only is he doing research on both theoretical and experimental questions in chemistry, but he is also attempting… More…
A Motorcycle Trip through South America
Let’s begin with a story of a flat tire. I’m on a dirt road in central Bolivia, miles from the nearest town. My machine, a Suzuki that rolled off the production line somewhere in Japan just four years after I was born, has been a faithful companion until now… More…
Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project
Yo-Yo Ma works in that zone between between disciplines, between cultures, where he and other artists from around the world (not only musicians, but also dancers and visual artists) make connections and collaborate to create distinctive new sounds… More…
An Artist’s Journey
We are all familiar with the archetypal portrait of the artist: a tortured soul, alone, splattered in paint, ink or whatever the medium, shunning all company and callers for the sake of heeding the call of the muse. Feverishly working into the night, the artist of our vision… More…
Reflections on the origin of the Foundation
Benjamin Franklin Kahn sought me out to discuss my earlier Smithsonian work as director of symposia and seminars and interdisciplinary studies. Soon, I learned of his long-held idea to form a sequel to Franklin’s junto. He flattered me by inviting me to join his circle of friends from geriatric psychiatry, musicology… More…
Improving Health through Green Chemistry & Sustainable Architecture
The earthenable project started out of a class at Stanford's design school. The school brings together groups of students from interdisciplinary backgrounds, much like the Creativity Foundation does. Our team consists of myself, a Stanford Business School student… More…
Teaching Science Labs in liberia
Liberia is tucked in the corner of West Africa as the coast turns from the Atlantic Ocean toward the Gulf of Guinea. It has been six years since the end of a brutal civil war and four years since the inauguration of the first democratically elected government. This past February, I traveled… More…
Mamelodi Initiative
The Mamelodi Township of South Africa is home to more than 1 million people. Set up by the then apartheid government, Mamelodi was designated as a blacks-only area. Today, Mamelodi residents are still almost exclusively black South Africans. Many people in the township… More…