What delegates said:

'The diversity theme was extremely well served and I was hugely impressed by the range and scope of presentations. The cultural theme clearly showed itself
throughout.'

'I am fascinated by the diversity and the passion for creativity... I gained a great deal.'

'...a heady mix of pioneer academics from the USA, India and South Africa giving keynote lectures and practical workshops on every aspect of creativity... from Japanese dance and musical improvisation to demonstrations from business consultants on how creative thinking can be used to innovate and promote organisational change.'

'Well done for putting together a diverse
set of people in a creative environment.'

Parallel workshops and presentations reflected diverse cultural approaches to creativity. Young creativity researchers were also encouraged to present their findings and discuss their ideas with the experts.

Daily keynotes and workshops focused on education, the arts, business, personal development and creativity in the community. They were complemented by a rich programme of multicultural entertainment. Keynote presentations featured some of the pioneers of creativity and those who have developed and encouraged its use around the world.

Alec Reed
The conference was opened by Alec Reed, founder chair of the highly successful Reed Executive plc employment agency. Alec Reed is a living example of creativity in action. Having started his company with just £75 in the 1960s, he created a company of international repute with 1500 employees, 200 branches and a turnover of £250m.

He described how he believes creativity is the most needed feature of any organisation and something which is becoming increasingly relevant. Indeed he regards creative people as the lifeblood of organisations in the future.

Dr Kobus Neethling, the conference keynote speaker, argued that the 21st Century needed a new kind of creativity for the sake of the people's of the world and our environment, something which the recent World Summit in South Africa had underlined.

He traced the journey we may take in our quest to deal with these great issues. This journey would begin in a state of unconscious incompetence -when we don't even realise there is a problem; through a period of conscious incompetence - we know there's a problem but don't know how to deal with it; leading to conscious competence - which can be achieved via creativity training. He described the ultimate goal as a state of intuitive competence.

Kobus made an interesting distinction between 20th Century Creativity and 21st Century Creativity. He argued that 20th Century Creativity had a self-centred focus, creating wealth on the one hand, and poverty, starvation and environmental damage on the other. 21st Century Creativity though was strategic creativity characterised by unselfishness, caring and compassion. This would still involve monetary wealth, but result in a healthy planet and healthy people. He stressed the need to choose which kind of world we want to live in and that the outcome of the next century will depend very much on how we use our creativity.

Leon Secatero
Soon before the start of the conference, The Creativity Centre heard from a distinguished group of Navajo and Cherokee Elders who felt that they had to be at the conference.

Marilyn Fryer set aside her keynote presentation to allow the Grand Elder of the Navajo, Leon Secataro, known as 'The Messenger', to speak about the urgent need for the people's of this world to take better care of our planet. The Elders expressed grave concern about the way in which current lifestyles are causing irreparable damage to the Earth and stressed the need to use our creativity to take a new and more positive direction.

Meet The Pioneers
A very special highlight of the conference involved creativity pioneers Morris Stein, Sid and Bea Parnes and Vincent Nolan, who brought Synectics to Europe, hosting a question and answer session for delegates. Firstly each pioneer gave a brief, and in some cases moving, presentation about their most significant achievements in the field. A lively discussion followed.

The pioneers contribution to the conference as a whole, in workshops and in one-to-one discussions was very highly valued by the delegates, some of whom could not believe they were finally meeting the people whose books they had been reading.

Education Keynotes
Although all themes of the conference were addressed every day, the second day was largely devoted to creative education and this featured Prof Arthur Cropley and Margaret Talboys. Prof Arthur Cropley explored in-depth the way in which creativity is defined and recognised, and highlighted the powerful role played by the social context in this process.

Margaret Talboys, from the UK's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, described their latest creative education initiative, 'Creativity: Find it, Promote it', to which The Creativity Centre has made a significant contribution. Margaret reported on progress to date.

Dr Marilyn Fryer of The Creativity Centre said she would like to see all teachers receive training in creative education. The Centre believes that 'any training for teachers on creative education should both cater for the multicultural society in which we live and reflect the wisdom and knowledge of a whole diversity of cultures. The conference was partly set up to highlight these kinds of issues.'

Towards the end of this session, Tim Dunkerley and Paul Winter from Downs Views School - for pupils with learning difficulties - introduced Unified Rhythm, a highly successful percussion band comprised of professional musicians and children with special needs, led by Brighton's Red Zebra. They discussed the benefit of creativity across the curriculum for special needs pupils.

Dr MK Raina
MK Raina presented a highly comprehensive and thought-provoking paper which traced the complexities of cultural differences in the way in which creativity is perceived and valued.

He referred to The Torrance Phenomenon which advocates giving honour where honour is due, as opposed to universalising a particular culture and ridiculing others. MK Raina pointed to the value of a synthesis of Eastern and Western approaches to creativity and he quoted David Hartman who argues that 'The strength of America has always been its ability to challenge its own truth by presenting alternative possibilities'.

Dr Elizabeth Rasekoala
Liz Rasekoala, a Nigerian chemical engineer, now living and working in the UK, has made a significant contribution to children's science education and the raising of African-Caribbean children's self esteem through the Ishango Science Clubs which she founded. She talked about the effect of being denied her African identity by British bureaucracy, whilst growing up in Nigeria. One example she gave to illustrate this was the way in which her African name, Tuan, was not regarded as acceptable to the officials, so they called her Elizabeth and it was this name which had to be used on all official documents.

She stressed the need to be sensitive to other cultural differences which may be quite subtle. For example in her Nigerian culture, time is 'owned' by each individual and can be withheld or bestowed as a gift to others. Also unlike most of their UK counterparts, Nigerian children are given responsible roles from a young age and this gives them a sense of self worth.

The arts and entertainment programme complemented the cultural diversity themes of the conference.

Vocal Explosion
On the first night local choir group Vocal Explosion performed stunning interpretations of original songs by leader Juliet Russell. Accompanied by members of Carnival Collective on percussion, the delegates were literally dancing in the aisles! Vocal Explosion is an open choir with no auditions so anyone can join in the harmonies and there are different parts to suit everyone's voice. Juliet brings together performances in a very short time. This time the choir only had 4 rehearsals before their performance.

Song for Youth

As part of the National Foundation for Youth Music's Song for Youth initiative, nearly two hundred young people, from fifteen special schools in the South East of England performed Youth Music's 'Drop in the Ocean' anthem on the Education Day. The young people, ranging in age from 8 to 18 and with varying degrees of learning disabilities, performed the song along with a whole host of specially prepared music and dance pieces, bringing tears of joy to many of the delegates. The children and teachers put in a great deal of effort and hours of practice had gone into the performance.

Ann West from Surrey County Arts who organised the performance commented, 'Singing is such a positive way for the children to communicate and the difference this has made to their confidence has been enormous.'

Unified Rhythm

Later that day Ollie MacDonald from Brighton's Red Zebra led integrated percussion group Unified Rhythm on a procession through the University grounds. This popular group features young people with learning difficulties from Downs View School and Ash Cottage, and young people from youth groups across Brighton.

Ceilidh night
The Quiet Men led an Irish Ceilidh evening on the Monday night, which proved extremely popular with delegates and encouraged everyone to swap dance partners and make new friends.

Arts & Diversity Evening
Tuesday evening's Arts & Diversity evening started with a viewing of art work by Catherine Lucktaylor and Pia von Konow, followed by an Arts Walk through the sculptures of the South East Eco Arts Group, who make many of their totem-like structures from driftwood washed up on Brighton's beaches. Theresa Gurner, the co-ordinator of the entertainment programme, then led the delegates to an evening buffet.

The evening was introduced by the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor David Watkins, who joined the resident percussion band later for a spot of drumming. This turned out to be a common occurance for the Mayor, who is a member of Brighton Samba band Silver Sounds and an accomplished drummer.

He introduced the guest keynote speaker, Sita Ramamurthy, Programme Director of the Arts Council's Decibel Project, who gave an interesting presentation illustrated in story-telling style, about the Decibel Project, which aims to give people from ethnic minorities a greater voice in the arts.

Where are you really from?
Danny Horwood, from Harmony in the Community, compered the rest of the evening. Sound Spectrum were onstage next with the three ethnically diverse women presenting sketches from their humorous play 'Where are you really from?', which satirises attempts to classify British people into distinct ethnic groups and addresses potential conflict between generations.

South Asian tac-tac dancer Mayala followed with a beautiful dance routine, and the evening was rounded off by a stunning performance from Sound Arc, with a rich tapestry of sounds from many cultural traditions.

Dance Explosion
Wednesday night gave delegates the opportunity to take part in their own Vocal Explosion, followed by creative dancing late into the evening.

'Each evening held us captive with events ranging from the
inspiring singing of a Brighton-based group, Vocal Explosion
to a marvellous Arts and Diversity Evening...perhaps the highlight
of all this was the Mayor of Brighton & Hove,
Councillor David Watkins, taking up position
on the drums and performing solo for us'.

New beginnings
Thursday morning's workshops focussed on next steps for the delegates.

This was followed by a closing ceremony introduced by Marilyn and Caroline Fryer. Marilyn spoke of The Creativity Centre's goals to encourage broader cultural perspectives on creativity and Caroline echoed the theme of using creativity for positive impact on the world, with a quote from the Dalai Lama.

Caroline introduced some of the younger creativity students and researchers from around the world, who shared their often moving experiences of participating in the conference.

Finally Anthony Hyatt and Isabelle Jacob led the delegates in an impromtu version of 'What a Wonderful World', which they had chosen to represent the themes of the conference. The delegates shared a last lunch together before going their separate ways.

'This was a very very good conference. I appreciated the way
it was organised. It was a wonderful idea to involve
people form the community in different activities
- workshops, art and entertainment - and a good
mixture of all this. Keep going. I hope I can
be back for the next conference.'

'I am so happy about this conference which is one
of the most beautiful experiences in my life.
I've come back home filled with this positive,
productive energy. I have written a very long
article about the conference... And I still feel
that I can do a lot in many spheres of my life.'