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Expanding Minds

An Expanding Minds workshop is focused on helping youth transition into young adulthood by using concepts of creativity to empower their voices, enhance their sense of agency and expand what they think is possible.  We use concepts of creativity to help young people understand what a creative mindset is and how to use creativity as both a problem-solving tool and a way to generate new ideas.

Image by Marek Piwnicki

Learning Objectives

  1. Students will learn about the definition of creativity—using the imagination to make something new--and what creativity looks like in the industries of music, art, business and technology.

  2. Students will explore how creativity relates to them in their own lives, their experience of the present and their goals for the future.

  3. Students will engage in discussion and activities designed to illustrate creative concepts such as optimism, risk-taking and open mindedness.

  4. Students will develop strategies to enhance their own creative mindset.

Workshop Themes

Imagination

Students will learn about the power of the imagination and how it relates to a creative mindset.

  • Students will engage in exercises designed to strengthen their imagination and creativity.

  • Students will work in small groups to create stories based on their imagination.

  • Students will use their imagination to envision future possibilities.

Saying Yes

Students will learn about the concepts of optimism and open mindedness and how they relate to creativity.

  • Students will learn to define the concept of optimism and how “saying yes” involves having an open mind. 

  • Through discussion and exercises, students will explore the obstacles to having an open mind, e.g. fear of failure and fear of judgment.

  • Students will learn strategies to remain optimistic and open minded as they develop their creative toolkit.

Creative Projects

Students will work on final projects during this workshop to illustrate the power of a creative mindset.

  • Students will identify an area of interest and decide how to further develop it, e.g. a social justice topic, an arts related topic, a question about themselves or their heritage.

  • Students will choose music and develop a logo to accompany their project.

  • Students will present their final projects (as a poster or performance) on the final day of the workshop.

Take a Look Inside

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