Welcome
The Creativity Matters campaign was born out of an innovative summit held October 30, 2007 in Tacoma, Washington. This summit brought together over 160 leaders and educators to address the importance of creativity and imagination in the education of Washington’s students.
The purpose of the summit, which grew from Governor Chris Gregoire’s Washington Learns commission, was to reinforce the idea that creativity matters; to demonstrate that creativity can be taught across all disciplines (not just the arts); and therefore, that it must be taught if students are to meet the challenges of the modern world.
Leaders from many sectors, including Governor Gregoire, and a range of organizations and individuals from across the state made commitments to foster creativity in education. The summit was an exciting and powerful gathering. But it was also just a beginning. At the summit, organizer Eric Liu announced the launch of an ongoing public-private campaign to promote creativity. The Creativity Matters campaign encourages leaders in all communities, in every sector — corporate, educational, government and philanthropic — to promote creativity and imagination of all our children. You’ll see on this website some of the commitments to action that have already been made.
Won’t you join us?
Creativity Matters Steering Committee
Eric Liu - Chair; Member, State Board of Education; Lynn Eisenhauer, Tacoma Public Schools; Janice Fournier, Education and Arts Consultant; Julia Garnett, Russell Investment Group; Marc Frazer, Washington Roundtable; Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Seattle Art Museum; Lisa Jaret, Washington State Arts Commission; Gary Kipp, Association of Washington School Principals; Una McAlinden, ArtsEd Washington; Shannon Rasmussen, Washington Education Association; Dennis Schatz, Pacific Science Center; Eric Schinfeld, Puget Sound Regional Council; Kris Tucker, Washington State Arts Commission; Andrea Wagner, Seattle International Children’s Festival.
See the 2007 Creativity Matters Presenters and Attendees.
Creativity Matters Summit Sponsors
The Office of the Governor, Russell Investment Group, WaMu, Lincoln Center Institute, Microsoft, Swedish Medical Center, The Boeing Company, 4Culture,City of Tacoma, Washington Education Association, PEMCO Insurance, Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Partnership of Learning, Washington State Arts Commission, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, APCO Worldwide.