Internationally recognised business thinker, author and speaker Alf Rehn argues that organisations’ effort to develop a culture of creative thinking have turned creativity into an uncreative, pale imitation of itself.

In Dangerous Ideas, Alf Rehn makes a case for individuals and organisations to “shock themselves into change” by stepping out of their comfort zone:

“I’ve worked all over the globe on issues of creativity and innovation, trying to coax people out of too comfortable and traditional views. Now, Manchester is known as a creative city, and Cornerhouse is justly famous as a creative hub and a hothouse of ideas, and I look forward to raising these issues in this context.

What I believe is that while the discussion on the creative economy is one of the more important ones for our age, we must do a lot more than merely treating creativity as some cute and fuzzy set of pleasant ideas that can be easily integrated into existing structures. Instead, I feel we need to re-discover creativity as a radical force – one which may well evoke feelings of danger and the unseemly rather than having people lazily nodding along.

In other words, creativity as grime and punk rather than muzak, and what better place to bring this out than Cornerhouse?”

Where and when?

You can find out more about, or  book tickets for this event, at Cornerhouse, 10 March at 6:30pm. Get involved by using the hashtag #RehnMCR.

Sunday, 29th August 2010, 2pm-4.30pm
MadLab, 36-40 Edge Street, Manchester, M4 1HN

Share Your Enthusiasm!

Do you have a passion for technology? What gadget could you not live without? What wonder of science do you think the world should know about?

Come to the next MGG Tea Party and share your knowledge with girls (and guys) who want to know more. We’re having a Girl Geek “Show and Tell” and you’re invited to come along, learn something new and teach us about the things you find fascinating.

What is it?

Science, Engineering or Technology, wherever your interest lies, you’re welcome to talk for up to ten minutes (or less if you’d rather) on a subject of your choice. If you don’t have anything to share then just come along for the technology, a cup of tea and some cake. Oh, didn’t I mention there’d be cake? Well, it wouldn’t be a tea party otherwise!

There’ll be a relaxed atmosphere where you can share your thoughts and ideas with like minded ladies. If you’re new to technology and just want to learn more then come to listen and meet some great people.

Sign up now!

Cutting Room Experiment will be an afternoon of activities where every event has been created out of an idea from members of the public.

Very different ‘flash mob’ style events will take place on the hour every hour and hundreds of people will be able take part in the activities, which could range from 100 people playing violins at once, to a mass poetry reading.

The event will take place in a new public square called Cutting Room next to St Peter’s Church and will be funded by regeneration bodies, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and New East Manchester, the public sector organisations behind the area’s transformation over the past 10 years. The NWDA has invested £72m into Ancoats and funded Cutting Room as part of this investment.

The name of this newly created square, just off Great Ancoats Street and next to St Peter’s Church, comes from the rich heritage of the textile industry in this district in the late 18th and 19th century. This outdoor space was where large swathes of material were cut out.

Cutting Room Experiment is being held to celebrate the completion of the new square and to mark the landmark of ten years’ regeneration activity taking place in Ancoats.

Got questions? Want to know more? Well, you’re in luck. Organiser Jon is inviting curious bloggers down to the Bay Horse on Thursday May 21 at 6:30pm for what may be Manchester’s first ever ‘blog launch’, constituting a chat about the event and a free pint.

Meet people and organisations based at St Wilfrid’s, sample the flavour of the Centre and view business facilities available there.

There will be exhibitions and demonstrations themed around sustainability and the environment, arts and creativity, and volunteering as well as the opportunity for business-to-business networking.

It’s free to attend and refreshments will be available throughout the event.

You can watch a live video feed on the day of the event or find out more about Firmstart.

This is mainly a collection of previous security updates with little in the way of new features, so it’s is unlikely to break your system.

Nevertheless as ever you probably want to read the release notes to see if you are likely to be affected before installing on a critical machine.