On March 2, 2016 in Elgin Community College’s Seigle Auditorium, Hamilton Wings, an organization that promotes leadership and learning through the arts, held its Create Innovate Ignite Summit.

Formed to bring together thought leaders and decision makers from different fields to discuss the economic, social and cultural impact of creativity and innovation on our region and develop strategies for supporting its growth, the summit culminated a seven month series of events hosted throughout the city of Elgin by Hamilton Wings.

Topics such as how creativity is critical for innovation; how to transform a good idea into a successful business, the benefits of working and living in shared spaces, creativity and social justice, and creative aging were discussed.

“We want to help people spark their imaginations, ignite their creativity and bring their innovations to life,” said Dr. Jones, founder of Hamilton Wings.

The summit opened with introductions and announcements by Summit Emcee Sarafina Vecchio, a teaching artist and Elgin native who is an instructor at ECC’s Kid’s College and also works as a private acting coach.

Attendees of the summit included U-46 school board members, city council members, City of Elgin administrators, ECC board members, Students, and staff and community members from a wide range of backgrounds. ECC president Dr. Sam also welcomed guest on behalf of the college.

Every set of seats in the auditorium had paper, several containers filled with crayons and Play-Do sticks and guest where encouraged to massage the creative spirits throughout the presentation.

The key note speaker was Joan Parr who is said to be one of the world leaders in all aspects of creative learning. She is a graduate of Edinburgh University, where she studied history and art. She also received her post graduate Diploma in Education at Dundee University.

Currently, her responsibilities include overseeing national projects and strategic initiatives such as the Creative Learning Plan, the Youth Music Initiative, Art work in Scotland, Cashback for Creativity  and “Time to Shine.”

As she began her presentation, Parr acknowledge that many of the initiatives she has promoted in Scotland were inspired by a conference she attended in Chicago called Arts Impacting Achievement, over 12 years ago.

“I believe that encouraging creativity can have a positive impact on all types of human endeavors,” said Parr. She then revealed a slide containing statistics proving the intrinsic, social and economic value creativity has on society.

Parr insightfully clarified how to define creativity, and how it can be applied and expounded on initiatives currently taking place in Scotland that promote learning through creativity.

“Creative industries is a term that I don’t like,” said Parr. On the screen a slide consisting of a list of industries the government does and does not recognize as creative. The list included professions such as architect and graphic design but neglected to include Chefs, furniture makers and teachers.

“The list is too arbitrary. Creativity happens in all kinds of professions; creative skills are transferable. I believe creative skills are important, not some list that advises on what’s creative,” said Parr.

Next, Parr spoke about the history of education and acknowledged the way we educate our children is out dated. She confessed that technology and the world around us are changing faster than education is evolving and unveiled several initiatives Scotland promoted.

After the keynote speech but before being dismissed for lunch and break out session, attendees exercised their creativity by having a competition to see which team could build the tallest tower in fifteen minutes only using marshmallows, toothpicks and straws.

“ I’m 57 years old, I don’t think I ever tried to build anything using theses martials. Seeing the teams working together and their towers falling over is hilarious,” said Dave Thompson retired community member.

Once the competition was complete, six teams of 10 attendees were led by facilitators to their break out rooms for lunch and to discuss how to maximize our community assets to foster innovate ventures and create a vibrant community.

To better understand the dynamics of the team, each room had a sheet of paper for participants to describe the roles they fill in the community. In order to set the tone of the conversation facilitators were given questions pertaining to creativity and the community.

“It was almost like magic in there, collectively we discussed our resources and came up with many ideas to advance Elgin’s creative culture,” said musician, Daryl Thomas who facilitated one of the rooms.

After the completion of the breakout sessions attendees gathered in the Seigle Auditorium to present their ideas and enjoy the rest of the summit. As room facilitators were presenting, their presentations where being graphically notated by former ECC student Nicole Brown who owns Brushed Chicago, a company specializing in art and wine events.

Elgin’s very own Green Room Improv team closed out the summit with a high energy, multifaceted comedy show that put a unique spin on how the creative process works.

“It was an honor to be part of this event. Things like this are what’s needed to create change,” said Thompson.