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“If it falls to our luck to be street-sweepers, sweep the streets, like Raphael painted pictures, like Michaelangelo carved marble, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, and like Beethoven composed music. Sweep the streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth would have to pause and say …Here lived a great street sweeper.” 

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., June 20, 1965, Kingston, Jamaica

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.

Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. It’s a message with deep resonance. Robinson’s TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? “Everyone should watch this.” 

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.

“Ken’s vision and expertise is sought by public and commercial organizations throughout the world.”

— BBC Radio 4

(Source: ted.com)

Inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), NaNoDrawMo is a personal challenge to push would-be artists beyond the bounds of comfortable “when I have time” practice for one month and see what happens.

Loosely defined goals are for each participant to produce 50 individual works/drawings between Nov 1 and Nov 30. You can always do more than 50 if you’ve got it in you! That’s just the minimum everyone should be shooting for.

You do not have to be good. There is no quality requirement. The idea is to force yourself to practice by setting a high quantity goal. Also, it’s not a competition (except with yourself). Any medium is OK…

For more info, check out nanodrawmo.org (Redirects to the NaNoDrawMo group on Flickr).

The Story of Lovers Rock is a feature length documentary tells the story of an era and a music that defined a generation in the late 70s and 80s. Lovers Rock is romantic reggae that was uniquely British. It developed from a small UK scene to become a global brand through the likes of UB40 and Maxi Priest

Lovers Rock was particularly influential to a new generation of black British young women and men who identified with this music that reflected their experiences. Female artists like Louisa Marks, Janet Kay, Brown Sugar, Carroll Thompson led a ‘girl power explosion in it’s early phase.

The music provided a coping mechanism against a backdrop of racial tension and riots across the UK as well as being a counterpoint to the male dominated ‘roots’ scene. 

The film combines live performances with some of the Kings and Queens of Lovers Rock with comedy sketches, interviews and archive material. 

Interviews include Denis Bovell, UB40, Levi Roots Linton Kwesi Johnson, Angie La Ma, Maxi Priest, Mykaell Riley, The comedy sketches are provided by the likes of Eddie Nestor, Robbie G, Wayne Rollins, Glenda Jaxson. Rudi Lickwood, John Simmit., Annette Fagon.

(Source: youtu.be)