The Curb Center at Vanderbilt

From Brown’s Design Thinking, we learned that Edison used the team-based approach to innovation and made it [innovation] a “profession that blended art, craft, science, business savvy, and an astute understanding of customers and markets.” Brown showed us how organizations (Kaiser Permanente, Shimano, etc.) used group collaboration as the soil in which new ideas can conceptualize and grow.

The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt is the nation’s leading research and policy center focused on the American system of creative enterprise, expressive life and the public interest. (http://www.curbcentervanderbilt.org/)

It is Vanderbilt’s very own creative “lab” where faculty, staff, and students can collaborate and focus on making creative expression central to the college experience. The Curb Center is built around 3 core principles. Their first principle is to identify and strengthen the public interest related to creative enterprise and expressive life. The second is to broadly define the system of creative enterprise and expressive life. The third is to recognize the importance of bringing different voices and perspectives together.

The Curb Center leads two programs that serve as collaborative forums for the advancement of creative thought and expression on college campuses: the Arts Industries Policy Forum (http://www.curbcentervanderbilt.org/arts-industries-policy-forum) and Vanderbilt’s Creative Campus Initiative (http://www.vanderbiltcreativecampus.org/).

Steven Tepper, who serves as the Associate Director of the Curb Center, included the following conditions that are necessary for creativity:

-an atmosphere where collaboration thrives

-diverse environments where there are adequate opportunities for cross-cultural exchange

-interdisciplinary exchange

(http://www.creativity.emory.edu/what-is-creativity.shtml)

Assuming Brown, Tepper, and Edison are right about the relationship between collaboration and creativity, why are individuals often credited with creative ideas?