White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 1and environment. In this view theemotions are seen as the vehicle fortransmitting information and stimulifrom the outside environment to ourbrain. Good emotions facilitate thegeneration of good ideas, and a culturallycreative environment facilitates theproduction of creative ideas (Simonton,1977; 2000). But the social, productiveand educational environment issomething which depends on people andthe quality of their actions. As we willsee, in Italy, the local territory, localinstitutions and local systems of smallenterprises constitute a stimulating andcreative environment for the productionof material culture, but at times they mayalso curb and stifle creativity. Whatpolicies favour local (or glocal) creativedevelopment and what policies cause aprocess debilitating creativity? Answeringthese questions will be of vitalimportance for the purposes ofencouraging the process of culturalproduction in Italy.The world of creativityTo establish boundaries for the analysisin this study we must distinguishbetween two main environments inwhich creativity is expressed: theobjective environment and thesubjective environment.At an objective level creativity can beeither built into goods and services orbuilt into a logical, organisational andproductive process. To give someexamples of positive incentives forcreativity, we can cite the organisationalstructure of cultural districts, researchenterprises, venture capital enterprises,departments of innovation, and socialresearch institutes or companies. Theyare all organisational tools whichgenerate elements of creativity withintheir own structure.At subjective level creativity is analysedas an individual and human trait, whichis socially and individually reproducible.If creativity is a fundamental resourcefor post-modern society, which needsgrowing intellectual capital to face up tothe challenge of the knowledge society,the question arises: can we producecreativity? And if it is possible toproduce creativity, how do we maintaina high social level of creativity or, inother words, how do we transmit it tofuture generations?The creative process is stronglyinfluenced by the cultural milieu inwhich it develops. This is the key to theproduction of creativity. In fact, thefreer and more interdisciplinary andstimulating a cultural environment(school or community) is, the greaterthe production of creativity and talent.Herein lies the importance of trainingcreative human capital both in theeducational system and through tacitlearning in the field.The subjective aspect of creativity thusinforms the strategies for maintainingconstant or increasing the social level ofcreativity by means of:• academic educational processes(fine arts schools, design schools, dramacolleges, music schools, etc)• learning by doing processes increative contexts, such as the city andWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 20