21st century skills.

Twenty schools across the United States are charged with expanding their programs to nurture children's creativity and prepare them to thrive in the 21st century. Funded by Crayola and the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the "Champion Creatively Alive Children" grants provide schools with the opportunity to explore new ways of fostering children's critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills. The goal is to share outcomes via NAESP's website to help other educators develop promising practices of integrating the arts into their schools' curriculum. (December 2010)

The Creativity World Forum that drew more than 2,500 persons from 38 states and 18 countries to Oklahoma City last November continues to provide stimulating information by way of videos of conversations with such speakers as Daniel Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, and David Pogue, who share their insights on the importance of creativity and innovation in driving both our individual and societal growth. The dialogue from this conference also continues and widens via the ongoing state-of-creativity blog. (January 2011)