Thursday, May 2, 2013

The TIME Creativity Poll and Creativity Conference

On April 26, in a one-of-a-kind event, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) convened leaders from the world of politics, media, business and government to engage in a direct dialogue about the role creativity plays in our economy and in creating the workforce of the future in Washington, DC. The Creativity Conference brought together many of the most important artists and innovators of our time from all parts of society for a mediated conversation about spurring growth and opportunity based on creativity. This event was presented in partnership with TIME and Microsoft.

Panelists and speakers included President Bill Clinton, TIME Managing Editor Rick Stengel, film studio executive Harvey Weinstein, House majority leader Eric Cantor, and the chairman and CEO of the MPAA Chris Dodd. They discussed questions that are fundamental to the future of the country–from the push to develop environments that inspire creativity to how our leaders can harness the power of a workforce that is moving from industrial manufacturing to the tapping of the creative mind. You can watch speaker highlights here.

In advance of the conference, TIME conducted a poll on creativity and the economy. More than 7 in ten people say the current economic situation makes creativity more important, and even over 8 in 10 think America should be considered a global leader in creativity.

Here are the results:

* 72% say creativity is more important in today's economy
* Of those who say America is not the creative leader, 31% say that American schools are not building creativity in students and 30% say that the American government is not doing enough to support creativity
* 55% say that technology is making Americans more creative, while 32% think it is making us less creative
* 81% of employees say creativity is important to them in the workplace, with 41% of them saying very important
* 31% say that their employers place little to no value on creativity

This says we have an imperative opportunity that if we don't do something about could cost us global competitive edge. The poll shows we agree that improving our creativity capacity is critical today and yet our schools are not doing enough to build creativity and employees think their employers don't value it very much. This disconnect needs to be addressed and shifted so that we prioritize and support advancing our community's creativity.

You can access the TIME poll here.