Last month, the California State Senate approved a bill to develop a Creativity and Innovation Education Index, to use as a tool to measure how schools are fostering creativity among their students. California is just one of several states to implement a law like this, Massachusetts being the first, according to Education Week.

The California Alliance for Arts Education describes the index:

A creativity and innovation index would provide a way for schools to rate their progress in teaching, encouraging and fostering creativity in students. Index scores would be voluntarily compiled by school and district staff from a survey of curricula and teacher reports. It would quantify the opportunities in each school as measured by the availability of classes and before and after-school programs offered by and through school districts that nurture creativity and innovation in students. Examples might include visual and performing arts education classes, debate clubs, science fairs, theatre and dance performances, music concerts, film-making, creative writing, and independent research.

To many people in education, it might seem like a shock that California is concerned with measuring creativity opportunities when the budget for arts classes and music programs has been cut in school districts all over the state in recent years. However, employers and business owners are saying that new applicants to the workforce are not equipped with the creativity and critical-thinking skills required to get hired.

We spoke with Mary Wright, Associate Director for The Conference Board, a business membership and research association, who specializes in the intersection of business and education. She was a leader on a report called, “Are They Really Ready To Work?” in 2006, which identified key skill sets that employers thought were important for their employees to have, and creativity / innovation were among the top five.

We spoke with Wright about the concept of a Creativity Index and how she thinks it could affect the workforce readiness of young people today.

Youth Radio: Explain in a nutshell, the findings of your workforce readiness research with regards to the need for non-academic skills.

Wright: We wanted to understand what business really meant by--new entrants are not workforce ready. We looked at both basic skills, which we took from No Child Left Behind-- the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and also asked about the applied skills, like 21st century skills. The applied skills are things around critical thinking, information technology application, teamwork and collaboration, and creativity and innovation. There are about 13 or 14 skill sets we looked at.

It was clear to us that the applied skills were the ones that were considered most important. Certainly, people would argue that math and science develop significantly critical thinking skills. They give you tools to figure out problems. But if you can’t communicate what you just learned or what you just did, you’re not as valuable in the workplace.

It was interesting given the emphasis that people have on STEM [science, mathematics, technology and engineering] skills, and yet, what employers were saying, it wasn’t the math skill that was important, it was the critical thinking skill. That would be true regardless of whether someone was in a STEM career or a retail career.

A lot of my friends think current music is way too reliant on technology instead of good old fashioned musical talent but a new video by bd594 turns that argument on its head.

CAPTION: Musician, Alex De Grassi (background) and author, Daniel Levitin (foreground) sign books and CD's at Inforum. Photo Credit: Meles Gebru

The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco hosted an Inforum event last week that featured a conversation between Daniel Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music and musician Alex de Grassi, a Grammy Award-nominated Fingerstyle Guitarist.

Levitin, who is also a Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University, provided the technical know-how about music and cognitive functions while De Grassi brought years of musical experience as a guitarist. The conversation had something for everyone, neuroscientist or music nerd.

While this was Levitin and De Grassi’s first time formally working together, De Grassi happens to be one of Levitin’s favorite musicians. When he wasn’t bouncing information off of De Grassi, Levitin was requesting he play bits of his favorite songs.

One interesting topic they discussed was about the chemicals the body releases while listening to music. Oxytocin, the same chemical that is found in breast-milk and is also released during sex, is present when people listen to music together. “I’m not saying that listening to music is the same thing as having sex or doing drugs, but our bodies do react in a lot of the same ways to it,” said Levitin.

So while questions like, “Is musical talent genetic?” remained unanswered, the audience got a little more insight into why, for example, it feels good to go to shows.
 

Meles Gebru also contributed to this post.

One word, phenomenal. That’s just about the only word I can think of that would best describe my first time being at a real live concert this past Tuesday, the best hip-hop concert in Oakland. Read more...

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Deyante Newson

An innovative genre of music has now become watered down pop music. Hip-hop has taken a turn for the worst.

Nowadays, instead of rappers putting meaning into their music, many songs deal with how much money you have or how “tight” you are.

Back in the day originality and a social message was what made a song good. We had groups like Wu-tang and Outkast. They put out music that teaches or that touches you. In the song “C.R.E.A.M”, In Spectah Deck raps “It’s been 22 long hard years and still struggling/survival got me bugging, but I’m alive on arrival”. This song makes me think of daily life. Deck is letting us know that we shouldn’t give into our circumstances.

Nowadays we have artists like the New Boyz. In their first single they just repeat the phrase “You’re a Jerk” over and over.

The type of music you listen to defines what type of person you are. I want to be the type of person who is defined by music containing morals, intelligence, and wisdom, but that’s just not as available from many artists today.

When she first broke through in the entertainment business, alicia keys got attention for her egdy look, soulful voice, and ever changing braided hair styles, which can be seen in her performance at the 2002 grammys. Read more...

Everyone likes music right? But how many of us are willing to put our dedication and time into the music industry?

The following was originally broadcast on 3/12/11, WABE-FM, Atlanta.

By Mason Gepp

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Two years ago my life was forever altered after I purchased the sleek, innovative, multi-functional iPhone. Besides using it as a phone, I constantly use it to stay connected to the world using the Internet, Facebook and email.

I am a fairly tech savvy person -- seems you have to be nowadays. But my parents, and most people I know older than 50, seem to be technologically challenged. When an adult asks me
if I know how to sync my iphone, download music or use a GPS, they sound like rhetorical questions – of course I do. To me, not knowing how to use these things sounds foreign because I grew up with them.

My parents used to ask me how to turn on the DVD player or how to use the TV remote control. Now, they want me to put music on their iPods or help them navigate their own iPhones. I
can’t really say it’s entirely their fault that they are dependent on me, it’s all new to them. But it frustrates me sometimes. I wish they would make a stronger effort to learn the skills
themselves. And let’s just say they have a lot of catching up to do. I’m not saying my parents -- or people in their generation -- can't figure out these devices, because I know plenty of parents who understand electronic gadgets better than I do. They just need to practice more than people my age. So, I’m willing to make a deal: I will help my parents copy a music CD, if they promise to take the time to learn how to do it themselves from now on.

How has hip hop in the bay area evolved? Back when I was in middle school the only artist getting played in the bay were Keak da sneak, too short and E-40. A song that I remember the most that played at that time was “Tell me when to go” by E-40. Read more...

The Remix Your Life Project: Changing the way we see ourselves, our community and each other.

From humble beginnings as a once a week Gender Specific Support Group, the Remix Your Life Project (RYL) has blossomed into a three day a week project engaging the young people of Youth Radio in the “remixing” of societal issues with regard to race, gender and class through critical analysis/discussion, cathartic poetry and song writing, and the recording, mixing and mastering of their own media content.