Creativity Center

The Creativity Center is a trans-disciplinary mashup of students, faculty, and staff engaged in open-ended inquiry. It is a network designed to create unexpected dialogues and to support valuable new ideas. To learn more, go to our website: http://sites.hampshire.edu/creativity/

Mission
The Creativity Center encourages and supports academic risk-taking and creative communities. We provide students and faculty with the space and support to try something new, free of predetermined outcomes. We connect the Hampshire community in interactive ways that blur the boundaries between academic and social life. Our goal is to foster innovation and a thriving, creative campus culture.

What We Do
Provide Grants and Seminars. We offer financial support for exploration of the issues, ideas, and approaches driving Hampshire’s future as an educational innovator. These include Student Grants, Course Development Grants for faculty, and a Faculty Seminar.

Host Events and Programs. Our events and programming are designed to bring people together, across disciplines and practices, in interactive and engaging ways. These include Creative Connections, TEDxHampshireCollege, and Experiments in the Commons.

Initiatives
FOR STUDENTS: Each semester the Creativity Center awards grants to students for project work that is innovative, encourages academic risk-taking, or that is uniquely collaborative. Application Deadline: Thursday, November 14th

FOR FACULTY: The Creativity Center offers faculty academic-year-long seminars to spur new thinking within the college, while allowing faculty to get interdisciplinary feedback on their own ongoing projects and courses. The seminar is designed to bring faculty together in small groups that combine diverse areas of study. APPLICATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH COURSE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS Course Development Grants support faculty development of courses that are innovative, encourage academic risk-taking, or that are uniquely collaborative. APPLICATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY OCTOBER 25TH

EVENTS: EXPERIMENTS IN THE COMMONS Experiments in the Commons creates a public space and time for our community to gather over snacks and ideas. Meet new friends, discover new perspectives, and the week off with fresh inspiration. Students, faculty, and staff are welcome! EVERY MONDAY – 12PM-1PM IN THE LIBRARY AIRPORT LOUNGE TEDxHAMPSHIRECOLLEGE TEDxHampshireCollege seeks to inspire the Hampshire College community by bringing engaging speakers from the broader world to our campus, while serving as a platform for sharing the work of our community members with the world. Our event themes illuminate divergent perspectives, and provoke and expand our intellectual horizons FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18TH – 7PM IN THE MAIN LECTURE HALL CREATIVE CONNECTIONS Speed dating for the liberal arts. Fast paced, facilitated conversations designed to foster unusual meetings and conversations. These events connect faculty, students, staff and local community members, bringing new ideas, collaborations and inspirations to campus. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH – 4:30PM +6PM IN THE MAIN GALLERY, LIBRARY

FOR EVERYONE: DROP-IN HOURS Need a brainstorming partner? Looking for ways to get connected to the Creativity Center and campus? Want some help devising a new event format or meeting plan? Stop by our offices! EVERY WEDNESDAY – 1PM-4PM IN THE LEMELSON BUILDING

Contact Us
We’re here to help keep you connected, inspired and doing something tremendous. So, feel free to get in touch: creativity@hampshire.edu

Thom Long Thom is The Creativity Center’s anchor to faculty in the five schools and the Five Colleges. If you are a faculty member and you want to get yourself (or your students) involved in CC events and initiatives but don’t know how, talk to Thom.

Roxanne Finn Roxy is your one-stop contact for inquiries related to Roddenberry and Harkness grants, and the Center for Design (formerly the Lemelson Center for Design). Curious about how our Idea Platforms initiative is changing spaces across campus? Just ask her!

Carla Costa Carla is your guide to Creativity Center events and our Innovation + Collaboration grants. She is our resident expert on programmatic nuts and bolts, from budgets to inter-office connections.

Kevin Crouse Kevin is the Creativity Center’s trusted work study student. You’ll see Kevin snapping photos at our events and if you spot him on campus ask him about what’s coming up next at that Creativity Center.