Every single person has a degree of in-built creativity. Some people have the broadness of mind to unlock it and use it to enhance their life and work skills. In others, creativity lacks spark, and its potential is never realised. Which is what 'Okinomos', the Foundation for a Creative Society, is about.
Theatre studies professor John Schranz and neuroscientist professor Richard Muscat believe that if people were made to understand the origins of creativity - its genesis - then they would be able to fan it and set it in motion.
The two professors' collaboration on the theory began 15 years ago and, among other things, it evolved in the establishment of EMA-PS, a European Master's degree programme in performative creativity, in 2007. The programme brings together four universities - Rome's La Sapienza, Paris 13, the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan in Poland, and Malta's own as co-ordinator - and their experts, and is now encountering Joseph F.X. Zahra, the former Bank of Valletta chairman, and his disciplines of business management and marketing.
The application of creativity in business has been the focus of training in various fields for years. Not so the inquiry into the genesis of creativity. Which is why the professors have a new baby.
Some years back, over coffee under the watchful eye of Queen Victoria's statue in Valletta, they discussed the concept with Mr Zahra, himself also involved in training and research. That conversation led to the foundation for a creative society to apply research and teaching to business. Its website is currently under construction and will be launched in a few weeks.
Prof. Schranz points out that the foundation was named 'Oikonomos' (the Greek word from which 'economy' emerged), because, in its etymology, it stands for 'laws to keep the house together' - 'house' as in a collective.
Chaired by Mr Zahra, the foundation board comprises Prof. Schranz, Prof. Muscat, Winston Zahra Jr, Karl Diacono, Dr Mark Fenech, and Dr Tonio Fenech. Peter Jan Grech, managing director of brand strategy firm BRNDWGN, was originally approached to handle the promotional material for EMA-PS, and foundation's marketing and branding, but was infected by the buzz surrounding the project and has now taken up membership of the foundation, giving it his professional support.
"I am creative by profession," Mr Grech says, "so it was impossible for me not to become involved. Understanding what makes us creative opens doors - now apply that thinking to business. Creativity applies to all sectors and all industries. Think of people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson. Think of what their creativity has produced. The foundation's aim is not to encourage people to aspire to apply the same creativity or to emulate the result of someone's creativity. Rather it aims to inspire people and enable them to discover their own creativity."
Referring to their innovative Master's programme, Prof. Schranz explains how EMA-PS encompasses five disciplines "bridging the arts and sciences to conduct ground-breaking research into creativity and the brain". Students undertake study-units in neuroscience, sports sciences, cognitive psychology, performance studies, philosophy and business management, to focus on memory systems, learning processes and creativity.
"Throughout the programme, we examine the disciplines which lead to creativity," Prof. Muscat explains. "There is a significant amount of joint lecturing which forces both students and lecturers to be creative because it is as if two lectures are taking place at the same time. The aim is for students to obtain the widest possible view of what encourages 'performativity', what enables a human being to be creative."
Prof. Schranz adds: "Actors need all their faculties to perform. What is particularly interesting about sportsmen and actors is that they revisit their mistakes. In their case, every undesired result is re-elaborated until they are more satisfied with the outcome of their action. That is why sports and theatre are investigated. I like to think of the performer as the decathlon athlete of the arts and humanities - a master of non-specialising, so to speak. Theatre illumines life: we are human by doing."
The students in the first intake are currently working on their theses. Their diversity alone proves the universal application of creativity: the students from China, Malta, France, Italy and Greece have first degrees in anthropology, musicology, theatre studies, communications, sport psychology and mechanical engineering. The mechanical engineer, in the meantime, has gone on to become a successful performer. The next intake will be in October, giving more opportunity to those interested in joining.
The launch of the Oikonomos foundation has already seen it run a training seminar for the top management of a five-star hotel. The foundation's trainers were impressed by the response from every participant. Powerpoint presentations of the foundation's aims have also been made to various groups of professionals.
Prof. Schranz says the foundation's board is keen to start management training seminars, kickstart a series of cultural initiatives like exhibitions and music events with discussions linked to creativity, and rope in more business leaders. Among its wider ambitions, it even hopes to set up in Malta an interdisciplinary think tank of top brains, following discussions with world renowned Prof. Giacomo Rizzolatti, discoverer of the Mirror Neuron System, a researcher from the prestigious Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and others.
Prof. Muscat says if people grasped how the brain enables creativity, they would work in a particular way. "There are massive implications for education, as well," he points out. "It is a matter of obtaining insight into human capabilities and the human's motor programme, what gives out the 'Go' signals. True, particular contexts encourage creativity, but, in reality, everyone has the ability to be creative."
For more information about Oikonomos, contact the foundation secretary at Vjac001@um.edu.mt.