{"id":11509,"date":"2017-07-06T21:57:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T21:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=11509&post_type=story"},"modified":"2024-08-26T20:06:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T20:06:27","slug":"what-is-creativity","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/what-is-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Creativity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer 2017 | By Eric Michael \u201996<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

[photo id=”11690″ title=”Creativity-Letter-C” alt=”” position=”left” width=”25%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

Creativity transcends disciplines. Whether pushing the boundaries of artistic expression or pioneering innovative solutions to scientific problems, creativity is both a tool and a process \u2014 an inspired state of mind that can improve pursuits of every kind. We asked a broad spectrum of UCF faculty: What is creativity?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

A Search<\/h2>\n

A. Dale Whittaker<\/span>
\nProvost<\/a> and Executive Vice President<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is bringing something to life that doesn\u2019t exist because you\u2019ve challenged yourself to think and act differently. At UCF, a place that advances knowledge, creativity is essential to everything we do. So the question we always ask is, \u2018How do you go beyond what you think you know and think in a way you haven\u2019t thought before to develop an answer that doesn\u2019t yet exist?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

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[photo id=”11689″ title=”Creativity-Letter-A” alt=”” position=”right” width=”25%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

An Association<\/h2>\n

Rick Hall<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span>Production Director,\u00a0Florida Interactive\u00a0Entertainment Academy<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI think creativity is a very trainable, improvable skill. I teach my students to try to understand where it comes from. What are creative inspirations, and how can you leverage what you know to improve your odds of being creative on demand? There\u2019s a process \u2014 and it\u2019s not putting your fist to your forehead and waiting for a lightning bolt to strike. Creativity is really just your ability to associate two disparate ideas in a way that others haven\u2019t thought of before. You\u2019ve got to proceduralize creativity. And never let a good mistake go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

A Practice<\/h2>\n

Brooks Dierdorff<\/span>
\nAssistant Professor of Photography<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity comes from working hard and doing it regularly. I think about it as a practice where you show up every day and make things. And even if you don\u2019t feel particularly creative or inspired that day, you keep going and going, and eventually your mind is unlocked. But it takes all that hard work to get to that place. You might make a lot of bad stuff, but you can\u2019t skip that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

[blockquote source=”” cite=”” color=”#ff6600″ css_class=””]\u201cCreativity comes from working hard and doing it regularly. I think about it as a practice where you show up every day and make things.”[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

A Process<\/h2>\n

Debra\u00a0Reinhart \u201974<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Associate Vice President for Research and Scholarship<\/a>;\u00a0Pegasus Professor of Environmental Engineering<\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I worked with students in the STEAM project \u2014 which challenged artists to collaborate with scientists and engineers on artistic expressions of their research \u2014 I discovered that their creative processes were very similar. Whether it\u2019s finding a solution to a math problem or creating a painting, creativity is figuring out the process required in a way that may not be obvious or is completely new \u2014 a discovery, perhaps. As an engineer, you have to use creativity to solve problems within certain constraints. It\u2019s a process of meeting criteria in ways that aren\u2019t apparent, and thinking in ways that other people haven\u2019t considered. That\u2019s creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

\n

[photo id=”11954″ title=”Creativity-Letter-E2″ alt=”” position=”left” width=”25%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

An Expression<\/h2>\n

Stella Sung<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Director, Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment<\/a>; Pegasus Professor\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is the expression of an individual\u2019s way of looking at the world and translating that viewpoint into something shared with the greater human community. I\u2019d like to think that people are much more creative than they give themselves credit for. We express it in different ways, and it can come in many forms. I wrote a piece of music called \u2018The Circle Closes,\u2019 and I think that perfect form of the circle where creativity, inspiration and expression combine is an endless process \u2014 a perpetual engine. I hope that I can live my life thinking that way and trying to help others embrace the idea of endless creativity as a part of our beings \u2014 a part of our souls.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

[blockquote source=”” cite=”” color=”#ff0000″ css_class=””]”I\u2019d like to think that people are much more creative than they give themselves credit for.”[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

A Secret<\/h2>\n

Michael Pape<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur\u00a0in Residence<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is a process of bringing something new into existence that challenges prevailing assumptions. It\u2019s fundamental to human existence. To challenge prevailing assumptions, you need to discover secrets. From my time as a research scientist and as an entrepreneur, I\u2019ve identified two kinds of secrets. There are static secrets that must be mined or uncovered, and there are dynamic secrets that must be hunted or that emerge under observation. I take inspiration from the writings of Rollo May, who teaches if you seek originality, you probably won\u2019t find it, but if you just observe, embrace chaos, and try to frame it into form, you might uncover those secrets in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

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[photo id=”11692″ title=”Creativity-Letter-i1″ alt=”” position=”right” width=”25%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n

An\u00a0Instinct<\/h2>\n

Ken Stanley<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span>Associate Professor of Computer Science<\/a>; Director, Evolutionary Complexity Research Group<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned a lot about creativity from doing experiments in artificial intelligence. As soon as you decide to be creative, success becomes a little fuzzy. What does it actually mean to be successful? To be creative, you need to drop your objectives \u2014 stop trying to get somewhere in particular \u2014 and just follow paths because they\u2019re interesting in their own right. That\u2019s often the story behind great discoveries or great artistic creations. Somebody simply followed their instinct and didn\u2019t have an expectation of what steps they should be following. Many of these ideas are explored in my and Joel Lehman\u2019s recent book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

[blockquote source=”” cite=”” color=”#99cc00″ css_class=””]\u201cCreativity is about living and learning. It\u2019s improvisational, it\u2019s loud, it\u2019s messy, it\u2019s noisy \u2014 it\u2019s all of those things.”[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

A Step Beyond<\/h2>\n

Carolyn Hopp
\n<\/strong><\/span>Associate Lecturer and Coordinator, School of Teaching, Learning and Leadership<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity is about living and learning. It\u2019s improvisational, it\u2019s loud, it\u2019s messy, it\u2019s noisy \u2014 it\u2019s all of those things. You can think about many different ways to get to an end, but seeing beyond that end is creativity. So I ask my teaching students what they will do with that student who says, \u2018I don\u2019t understand it that way.\u2019 How are you going to get them to see beyond? In this world \u2014 now especially \u2014 it\u2019s so very important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16644,"template":"","categories":[977],"tags":[1628,324,1340,148,1204,121,285],"class_list":["post-11509","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-college-of-business","tag-college-of-community-innovation-and-education","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-dale-whittaker","tag-florida-interactive-entertainment-academy","tag-school-of-visual-arts-and-design","issues-summer-2017"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Creativity?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF professors, artists, artificial intelligence experts, video game designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, composers and teachers define creativity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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