Keep Connecting the Circles

Posted on March 12th, 2008
By JackTemplin

Last weekend, I attended the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island 's excellent annual Encore awards ceremony and party .

Among the winners was outgoing RISD President Roger Mandle. In his remarks, Roger said something that resonated deeply with me, and which I believe captures something many of us are trying to do within Rhode Island's creative community. Paraphrasing Roger - he encouraged the crowd to keep connecting the circles.

Like all states, Rhode Island has a myriad of "circles," groups of like-minded people who congregate and collaborate with one another. However, relative to most other states, I believe two things set our "circles" apart:

We have much more than our fair share of "creative circles" - communities of folks doing expressive, innovative, entrepreneurial work. From painters to chefs to writers to industrial designers to startup gurus to programmers (just to name a few), we are blessed with an abundance of creative circles.
Our circles "overlap" more. Because of our compact geography, tolerant culture, and tight social networks, there is naturally more awareness and cross-over between the circles. Rhode Island's famous "one degree of separation" is barely, if at all, an exaggeration.

Like many of the folks I've talked to, I believe we need to play to these advantages, that we should continue to connect our creative circles as much as possible. Not only do such connections lead to a larger, stronger community, they also enable the cross-pollination of ideas, talents, and resources so important to what the RIEDC calls the "Innovation Economy."

The good news is that this connection-building is happening, and I believe, accelerating. Recently, from IDSA to AIGA to the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce to Tech Collective (again, just to name a few), I keep hearing calls (and more importantly, plans!) for cross-circle collaboration.

For our part, RI Nexus will continue to connect circles both within the state's info-tech and digital media community, as well as to connect to adjacent circles outside of our traditional boundaries. I suspect in the coming months, all of us will see more invitations and opportunities to venture into other creative circles. In the interest of both our larger community and individual personal growth, I encourage us all to step outside of our usual comfort zone onto the fertile creative ground that exists between the the circles.

4 comments

Comments

jpamental

Submitted on March 13th, 2008 - 9:51pm link

I was fortunate enough to attend Ellen Levy's talk today over lunch at at the Business Innovation Factory and this was a major focus. It was a great cross-section of innovative thinkers from around the state and a perfect example of widely different circles coming together. I'm very excited about continuing to explore these kinds of overlap - the opportunities to meet really interesting people and get involved in new areas are endless.

Jason

JackTemplin

Submitted on March 14th, 2008 - 9:19am link

Hi Jason, Thanks for the report from BIF's Ellen Levy talk. I wanted to go, but the day turned nuts.

For those of you who weren't aware of it, this is the event we're talking about:

http://rinexus.com/calendar/2303/bif-living-network-effect

BIF has a number of other cool events coming up that you can check out here:

http://rinexus.com/directory/1...

acutler

Submitted on March 14th, 2008 - 9:59am link

Jack:

Thanks for your posting. Your "connecting the circles" metaphor, I believe, is our single greatest challenge and opportunity moving forward. Finding ways to cross-fertilize people of different backghrounds, and skill sets is an essential component in building an even stronger foundation for cool things to be happening here in the future. As the communications chair of the IDSA-RI Chapter, our chapter will be on the forefront of such interconneted activities. Again, thanks for raising this important issue!

degan

Submitted on March 20th, 2008 - 11:09pm link

Jack -Your post on Roger Mandle’s comments best describes the overarching mission of the Rhode Island Independent Higher Education Association (RIIHEA). Our leadership – of which Roger has been quite active - is constantly looking to connect those circles and thanks to Roger's leadership we continue to do so. Currently, public and private colleges and universities interact on many levels with the PK-12 (public education school systems). We have undertaken a process of cataloging these activities and the collaborations already at work. This project, a joint collaboration of the Rhode Island Campus Compact and the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, was inspired by Roger and lead by Irv Schneider, RIIHEA’s Chair.Another opportunity to collaborate is the work that you and I have briefly discussed regarding nascent efforts to retain the knowledge workers educated here in Rhode Island and the region. Along with the work we are currently participating on together – growing the knowledge based economy – opportunities to connect the circles abound. This project, led by both the Chamber and the Providence Foundation -- and the too many participants to mention -- has been the best example of connecting the MANY circles. Your active participation, input and support has been crucial.Thanks or raising awareness of the continual need for collaboration - particularly between non-traditional partners.All the best,Dan