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Get creative
New CREATE Centre wants
all learning infused with creativity
and the arts.
By Wade Zaglas
T
he centrality of creativity and the
arts to learning and the future of
the workforce is the focus of a new
centre at the University of Sydney.
Launched by award-wining playwright
Wesley Enoch, the opening was attended
by about 100 teachers, academics and
other industry professionals.
The Creativity Research, Engaging the
Arts and Transforming Education (CREATE)
Centre will be led by Robyn Ewing, a
professor of teacher education and the arts,
and Michael Anderson, a professor in the
School of Education and Social Work.
The CREATE Centre will emphasise the
importance of “creativity and the arts –
literary, performing, visual and media – to
learning” and will collaborate with similar
creative centres across the world, as well
as key Australian institutions including Bell
Shakespeare, the Sydney Theatre Company,
the Museum of Contemporary Art and the
Sydney Writer’s Festival.
A host of national and international
schools and universities have already signed
up to collaborate with the CREATE Centre,
as well as practitioners and policymakers
in fields as diverse as medicine and
health, education, performance studies,
literature, business, music and Indigenous
language learning.
“It is critical now that we create dynamic
places and spaces for imaginative learning
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and ensure our young people are equipped
for both our current challenges and those
that lie ahead,” Ewing said.
“Recent Deloitte Australia research
suggests that re-imagining how we prepare
for the world of work – and equipping our
future workers with interpersonal skills and
creativity – could contribute $36 billion to
our economy.”
In an interview with Campus Review
Anderson pointed out that research
other than the Deloitte study points to
the economic benefits of creativity and
interpersonal skills. He also said infusing
creativity and the arts into schools,
universities and other institutions could
turn them into more “exciting and vibrant
places to be”.
“When you introduce creativity into
schools, a world of possibility opens up.
Teachers begin to innovate in learning and
teaching and the whole environment can
change,” he said.
Anderson believes every subject – from
geography, English, maths and science –
can benefit from more creativity, particularly
because they encourage students to
“become problem solvers” rather than
thinking in formulaic, passive ways.
Anderson also said that, sadly, “there is a
silo approach when it comes to creativity
and the arts in our schools, with teachers
often thinking creativity is strictly the
domain of drama or the arts”.
“But we know that creativity and the arts
feature across all curriculum documents,”
he added. “The problem is a disconnect
between policymaking and practice.”
Solving the big problems of tomorrow
– such as climate change – was another
reason Anderson provided for embedding
creativity and the arts across all learning.
He also spoke about the service jobs of
the future, the increasing influence of
AI and how we are doing our children a
“disservice” if we continue to teach in ways
rooted in the industrial age.
Anderson’s final point was that creativity
is something everyone has, and that for
too long it has been characterised as
something visionary and rare. He argued
that while everyone possesses creativity,
it might manifest in different ways and in
different degrees.
He also urged more teachers to think
about how creativity can be regularly
included in lesson planning across all
learning areas – something the CREATE
Centre plans to assist institutions with. ■
Wesley Enoch launches the new CREATE
Centre. Picture: Supplied.