ITI Articles

It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.*  
 
GO! is two kilograms of insight into The Learning Connexion’s art and creativity programme.  It packages six years’ work by TLC Managing Director Jonathan Milne into 550 colourful pages.
 
There’s nothing quite like it in the history of publishing in New Zealand.
 
The goal of the book is to help people to win Nobel Prizes, or at least get into the style of education that has taken creativity to the Nobel level.
 
“The Nobel Prize link isn’t just a throwaway line,” says Jonathon: It’s based on research by Robert Root-Bernstein that shows that scientists who have won Nobel Prizes are far more involved in the arts than average scientists.  The research has huge implications for education.
 
Jonathan says, “For those who are less ambitious I hope it opens the door to some creative fun and stimulates their senses, especially their sense of wonder.” 

“Part of my intention was to help people understand what TLC does.  We’re not a traditional art school and we’ve always taken the approach that ‘art thinking’ has benefits across the entire spectrum of education.  That’s why we’ve labelled our programmes ‘art and creativity’.
 
“I’ve framed GO! in a way which makes it easy for people with zero art experience to get into the practices that make a difference.  Throughout the book there’s an emphasis on processes that benefit thinking.  It might look like an art book – and it is – but the intention is revolutionary.
 
‘Paradoxically GO! is also old-fashioned.  It connects with the days when the idea of a balanced education really meant something.  It’s a challenge to narrow, vocational training.  It moves beyond ‘survival of the fittest’ to ‘survival of the fitting-est’.  It delivers ideas and actions to boost individual and collective creativity.”
 
Advance copies of the book have just arrived in the country, and the book will be on sale in bookstores around New Zealand later in the year.

*Often attributed to Charles Darwin but probably Clarence Darrow.

The photo included here of Len Lye's 'Water Whirler' is one of the illustrations in GO!  It reflects the spirit of the book with its blend of art, imagination and engineering.