Watch Tom's Mini-Presentations on iTunes U!

I'm teaching a new class for DePaul University's Distance Education Program - "Creative Tools for Social Change." As part of the material we made five short videos, including "Our Creative Heritage," "Introduction to the Creative Economy," and "Introduction to Community Organizing." You can view them here - and you don't even have to register for the class (iTunes software required)!

Join the New Creativity Champions Community

Join the new "Creativity Champions" Community at ning.com - the home of "do-it-yourself" social networks.

View my page on Creativity Champions

Tom Presented "Creatives As Leaders" at 2008 Performing Arts Convention

Over 3,000 leaders from America's performing arts community gathered in Denver last week for the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention. Chorus America, Dance/USA, Early Music America, the League of American Orchestras, OPERA America and the Theatre Communications Group are the principle conveners. I presented a workshop that lays out the argument for creativity as a national value and makes the case that artists, cultural workers and creative professionals have values and skills desperately needed in public life. View the presentation using the viewer from Slideshare.net. Email me at to@tresser.com if you'd like a copy of the presentation.

Here's what one attendee said: "I attended Tom's seminar "Creatives as Leaders" at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver. He perfectly articulated what I have suspected for years now--that artists, creatives have a unique ability to influence public policy if only we would stand up to be counted! I have seen this in action and it was a breath of fresh air to hear Tom say it publicly. The next day I attended another meeting of the 50+ people from our group that attended the conference together. At least one person stood up and said that as a direct result of Tom's seminar, she planned to run for local office in the next five years. One can think of no higher praise for Tom's work than that!" - Laura Murphy, Adjunct Instructor, Adams State College Art Department & VP, Monte Arts Council, Monte Vista, Colorado

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Tom Helps to Keep Lincoln Park Public

Tom has been active with a group of neighbors from the Lincoln Park community in Chicago who have been fighting the privatization of the treasured lake front jewel. We formed a grassroots group, Protect Our Parks, and sued the Chicago Park District and the Latin School of Chicago to stop them from building an artificial turf soccer facility in the heart of Lincoln Park that would've been for the exclusive use of this very wealthy private school. We sued and won. Now we're working to roll back the illegal construction and return the field to an open grass meadow. We have seen citizens groups in a number of states rise up to stop the privatization of their local parks. Judges in New York City have blocked two separate projects, one on Randall's Island involving a consortium of 20 private schools building private soccer fields and one involving the installation of an upscale restaurant into Union Park.

How Do the Arts Build Communities?

I visited a class on arts and social change at Roosevelt University taught by visual artist, Maggie Leininger. I gave this presentation about my work for Peoples Housing, where I organized a community arts program that combined culture, training and micro-enterprise.

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"The Artist as Leader" at Links Hall

Join Tom and the folks from the Stockyard Institute for an interactive workshop at Links Hall on Monday, April 7- "The Artist As Leader - A Workshop for Community, Political, and Social Change Agents."

We'll show you why we think artists, cultural workers and creative professionals have what it takes to lead in the public sector. We'll combine presentation and group creative work.

Are You A Creativity Champion?

Does your work, politics or lifestyle cause to study, celebrate, defend, or accelerate creativity? Then you're a creativity champion - and we' love for you to:

(1) Join the LinkedIn "Creativity Champions" Group.

(2) Stop by the "Creativity Champions" blog and introduce yourself.

Tom to Offer Workshops at Columbia College Leadership Week

Tom will be creating and facilitating four workshops for the 2008 Leadership Week at Columbia College. Here's the run down:

“Building an Effective Student Organization (that lasts longer than the current academic year)”

This workshop will lay out the fundamentals for building an effective campus organization that will outlast your own participation. Think of it as establishing a new nonprofit organization. Most of the elements that make a nonprofit successful can be applied to your student organization. We’ll look at mission, recruiting, leadership, communication, recruitment, programming and sustainability.

“The Artist as Leader (Yes, You!)”

Did you ever think of yourself as a leader? Would you believe that the very same values and skills that brought you to Columbia College might make you an excellent leader in the public arena? This workshop will lay out the argument for creativity as a national value, as a basis for a new winning politics and – therefore – as the basis for a new definition of leadership.

“Creative Tools for Social Change”

Hip Hop and voter registration. Media hacking and globalization. Street theater and commercialization. Increasingly activists are turning to creative techniques to effect social change. The line between impactful social protest and creative work is becoming blurred. This workshop will introduce you to the work of a group of creative change agents called the Interventionists. Come and meet the Yes Men, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, the Billionaires for Bush and the Guerilla Girls!

“Basics of Community Organizing for Artists”

Did you notice the word “Change” plastered all over the place at Columbia? Did you know Chicago is one of the global capitals of community organizing? Community organizing is where citizens band together in the face of powerful opposition to create real change for themselves in their neighborhoods. This workshop will introduce you to the proud tradition of Chicago-style Direct Action Organizing and the work of Saul Alinsky and his successors. We’ll take a special look at how artists can participate in this powerful democratic civic work.

Tom's Class Produces "Instant Exhibit"

My class at the School of the Art Institute, "The Art of Crossing the Street - The Artist as Citizen," produced a one-day exhibit at the Betty Rymer Gallery on Thursday, December 6. The exhibit invited spectators to become artists by marking and decorating boxes arranged in a cityscape. At the end of the exhibit people were invited to take the artwork home, any many did!

Tresser.com Opens Creativity Champion Bookstore

Check out the new Creativity Champion Bookstore at Amazon.com!