Sir Ken Robinson to give Common Experience talk on creativity

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
March 2, 2010

Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity and innovation, will headline Texas State University-San Marcos' spring Common Experience event April 7 at 8 p.m.

Robinson’s presentation will be based on his latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. The event will take place in Evans Auditorium on campus. Admission is free but space is limited. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Robinson is a speaker with the unique talent for conveying serious messages with humor, passion and wit. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies. In 2005 he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s ‘Principal Voices.’ In 2003, Queen Elizabeth knighted him for services to the arts.

“Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored in Western culture and especially in our educational systems,” said John Cleese.

Robinson works with governments in Europe, Asia and the United State, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Education Commission of the States, among others. For 12 years he was professor of education at the University of Warwick in England and is now professor emeritus.

Robinson's lecture is sponsored by the University Lecture Series and the Common Experience. Contact honors@txstate.edu or (512) 245-2266 for more information. For more information about Robinson, visit his website: www.sirkenrobinson.com.

ABOUT COMMON EXPERIENCE

The Texas State Common Experience is a year-long initiative aimed at building a conversation on the campus and in the community based on a common reader and a common theme. This year’s Common Experience theme, The Whole Mind: Crossing Boundaries of Disciplines, is based on Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. Pink was the fall Common Experience speaker. See www.txstate.edu/commonexperience.