Marci Segal, Creativityland Inc president and co-founder, World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 - 21 received Creative Studies Alumni Foundation Achievement Award from the International Center for Studies in Creativity for her work that continually expands the creativity field.
A little idea that could, received recognition from the International Center for Studies in Creativity. Creativity Specialist Marci Segal was lauded for opening the doors, and tirelessly striving to keeping them open, so that people all over the world can unleash their creativity to make the world a better place and to make their place in the world better too without doing harm. World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 - 21 began as a small idea among 4 Canadians in 2002 that has since grown to be celebrated in more than 40 countries in businesses, schools, communities and homes.
Marci Segal, of Toronto, Canada, one co-founder of the world event, received accolades from her peers at her alma mater on November 12, 2009 in recognition of her efforts to keep the creativity conversation going - and take it out of the realm of being considered only applicable to the arts and sciences.
"It's fascinating what happens in workplaces when the week is celebrated for the purpose of unleashing creative potential,' Segal says. "We continue to hear reports of how refreshed, motivated and inspired people become when they are given opportunity to express their creativity in ways that support and are not directly linked to a business outcome."
Segal is the first Canadian to hold both the undergraduate and graduate training accreditation from the ICSC which, twenty-five years ago, was considered a gaff. "When I'd tell people in Toronto about my education, they'd scoff. Potential employers often responded with "they'll give you a degree for anything in the United States, won't they?" After holding posts in the Canadian federal government, Goldfarb Consultants, Pollara Research and advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding, Segal opened her own creativity and innovation consultancy, now called creativityland inc. to work with people in organizations so that new ideas have a soft place to land before tools, strategies and techniques are shared to unleash the power of the creative imagination for the purpose of business growth.
World Creativity and Innovation Week is celebrated each April 15 - 21 and continues to grow in participation. Organizations allow employees an afternoon to decorate their offices, or bring in speakers, hold idea sessions, and contests that shake up normal thinking. While immediate results from participating may not be evident, reports from organizations like phd canada and Johnson and Johnson world wide report residual benefit through improved morale, and motivation to move new ideas forward.
Segal says she will continue to advocate for deliberate use of creativity and encourage people to participate until this celebration becomes an annual tradition world wide. "It's a truly human celebration when you think of it," she said. "WCIW is open to everyone with no limits to age, sex, country, religion, education, vocation, you name it. There is only one condition for participating though - do no harm."
The Alumni Award presented last week acknowledged her other contributions to the creativity field as well, including her books written relating creativity to personality style, dispelling the myth that only some people have creative capacity. Segal sits on the board of the American Creativity Association.
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