cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744
RALEIGH -- Phil and Nnenna Freelon know a thing or two about thinking outside the box. Nnenna has earned six Grammy nominations for her singing, and Phil Freelon's architectural firm The Freelon Group has won numerous design awards for public buildings. Both have built their careers from Durham.
They spoke here Monday about the need for schools to find new ways to encourage creativity and outside-the-box thinking. "The schools are the first line or place for children to be introduced to the arts," Nnenna Freelon said. Too often, though, that creativity gets shut down. "Thinking outside the box is something that's lost on them," she said.
Phil Freelon discussed that same theme as related to design and architecture. While school children may learn to do well on multiple-choice tests, in architecture there may be numerous right answers. When schools can embrace "different types of learning, we'll be going in the right direction," he said.
They spoke at a lunchtime session moderated by broadcast journalist Charlie Rose at the Raleigh Convention Center during the first day of the 25th annual Emerging Issues Forum. This year's forum is titled "Creativity Inc.," and explores how North Carolina can create the kind of climate that fosters creativity and innovation, two factors that are expected to nurture the jobs of the future.
Monday's sessions included a wide-ranging list of guests and activities. In another example of out-of-the-box thinking, audience members listened to several compositions by Rodney Waschka II, a professor of arts studies at N.C. State University. Waschka creates music for traditional instrumentalists and voices using computer programs. He encouraged members of the audience to think outside the assumptions of what they do, no matter what their professions. "See if you can get rid of those assumptions," Waschka said. "It helped me."
The Freelons spoke about the importance of the arts in their own lives, and in the lives of communities. Nnenna said her mother, who grew up in the segregated South, took her and her siblings to every imaginable cultural offering to make sure they had opportunities that were barred to her. "I think the arts allow us to be fully human ... and to relate to each other in a way that continues to give back."
Phil Freelon spoke about how his grandfather, an accomplished painter, would tell him to close his eyes and listen to what was going on around him. Those moments with his grandfather helped open an appreciation for art, Phil Freelon said.
He attributed his initial interest in design to the school system in Philadelphia. Design was "art with utility. I got immersed in it and I've been at it ever since." Nnenna Freelon said she once thought she had to move to Los Angeles or New York to pursue a singing career. She decided to pursue her career from Durham, and credited the Durham Arts Council and the mentoring of numerous local musicians with helping her develop as a musician.
Other speakers addressed why communities and businesses should embrace creativity. In his opening address, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty called the encouragement of the creative class "a seminal issue not only for North Carolina but the whole country." He warned the audience against assuming that politics and government would drive change and innovation in an expanding digital era.
Roger Martin, the dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, warned against assuming that all creative jobs would come from computers and other high-technology industries, which he said make up 1.76 percent of all jobs in the United States. He distinguished between those jobs that require little decision-making with those that allow workers more autonomy, and therefore more use of creative skills. He called the disparity in wages between jobs that require fewer creative skills and those that do "one of the biggest challenges for modern economies."
He added: "I think every job in America ... can have a higher creativity content to it if employers think of it that way."
