arts & business council

MetLife Foundation National Arts Forums Series

Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island

Creative Intelligence
03/27/2007

Moderator: Roger Mandle, President, Rhode Island School of Design

Panelists:

• Craig Wright, Director, Human Resources, Textron Fluid & Power
• Dr. Ann Galligan, Co-Director, Cultural and Arts Policy Research Institute, Department of Visual Arts, Northeastern University
• Peter McWalters, Commissioner, Rhode Island Elementary & Secondary Schools
• Steve Stone, Director, Business Development, Davis Publications, Inc.
• Tyler Denmead, Director, New Urban Arts

This forum explored ways to invigorate public education in Rhode Island through the arts. Roger Mandle, President of the Rhode Island School of Design, framed the challenges by asking how the arts provide the necessary tools to prepare our students to be innovative risk-takers who are better able to adapt to change. He asked the panelists for their viewpoint on these issues and what opportunities they see to address them.

Craig Wright, who identified himself as the only “capitalist” on the panel, again shared with us his concerns about creativity in the workplace. As one of the human resource executives at Textron Fluid and Power, Craig sees daily how business values creativity and how they struggle to teach it to people who don’t have it.