On Thursday, KANEKO will present a speaker whose bio boasts a computer science degree from MIT and a two-year stint as video game designer at Atari. Keith Sawyer, Ph. D., now a a professor of psychology, education, and business at Washington University in St. Louis, will deliver a presentation based off his latest book, “Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.”
Sawyer’s talk, titled “Group Genius and the Creative Process,” will begin at 7 p.m. (tickets cost $15) and focus on his research. Three musical improvisers – a percussionist, cellist and wind quadruplist – will join Sawyer on stage for a live demonstration on the dynamics of collaboration.
In his book, the KANEKO event page says, Sawyer tears down myths about creativity and builds new principles in their place. His message is that everyone has the potential to be creative, we just need to learn the secrets of group genius.
Learn more about Thursday’s event on thekaneko.org, and check out a three-minute snippet of past presentation of his in the video below.
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If you’re looking for more of Sawyer, check out the workshop KANEKO is holding on Friday, “Keith Sawyer: Collaboration and Creativity Workshop.”
Here’s Sawyer’s bio (from KANEKO’s website):
Dr. R. Keith Sawyer is professor of psychology, education, and business at Washington University in St. Louis. He has published scientific articles and books, his latest is “Group Genius.” After receiving his computer science degree from MIT in 1982, he began his career with a two-year stint designing videogames for Atari. From 1984 to 1990, he was a principal at Kenan Systems Corporation, where he worked as a management consultant on innovative technologies.
Since receiving his Ph.D. in 1994, he has dedicated his career to research on creativity, collaboration and learning. Sawyers has been a jazz pianist for more than 30 years and spent several years playing piano with Chicago improv groups.
Credits: Photo of Keith Sawyer from thekaneko.org. Video from Bright Sight Group on Vimeo.
Disclosure: Silicon Prairie News is a media sponsor of KANEKO events exploring creativity.
