Friday, October 9, 2015

Community Innovation Labs


"Community Innovation Labs offer the opportunity for the cultural sector to play a vital role in community change, using artistic practices to build a shared vision, explore new possibilities, and advance adaptive solutions...

Our Labs create the space and conditions for organizations to test innovative new ways to take on their most complex, intractable challenges. We do this by helping them bring together teams of 'unusual suspects,' unfreeze the status quo, and test their most promising ideas by putting them into action...

We believe that innovation is primarily a process, not a product, fueled by discipline, focus, and a strong will for change. It requires letting go of what is no longer useful and experimenting your way forward. This is difficult and vulnerable work. We also believe that artistic experiences help us learn to productively navigate the tension between thinking and feeling, both of which are required to respond to complex challenges."
The project asks several questions to find fruitful areas for collaboration:
  • What problematic situation(s) in your community would be a good fit to explore in a pilot Lab? 
  • In what ways might a pilot Lab build on existing momentum, networks, and efforts? 
  • What group of community stakeholders from a range of sectors and backgrounds might be champions of this effort? Who is already committed?
The Community Innovation Labs model is clearly applicable to FSMLs aiming to foment creative abrasion between arts and field science in pursuit of fundamental discovery and solutions to wicked environmental problems.

The project website has links to a recent Webinar and an incredibly insightful and valuable Information Packet.

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