KidzArt Official Blog

Small Business Saturday takes place this Saturday, November 26th. Sponsored by American Express Open, the campaign’s goal is to drive shoppers to local merchants throughout the US to help increase revenue, create jobs, boost the economy and improve their communities.

According to the Small Business Administration, over the past 20 years, 65 percent of net new jobs have been created by the nation’s small businesses. By spending money at your locally owned stores and businesses, you can help the sector that’s been hit the hardest by the recession.

American Express is enticing consumers to buy local by offering a one-time $25 statement credit when you register an eligible American Express Card and use it to make a purchase of $25 or more on Saturday.

So be a patron of small independent stores and don’t forget about all the service based businesses. Businesses, like your local KidzArt, have gift certificates for unique products and services that might have you going back regularly!

The hope is that Small Business Saturday will create a general awareness of locally owned businesses that will elevate sales both on the 26th and throughout the holiday season.

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In final episode of Charlie Rose’s twelve part series  on the brain, he explores creativity.  He and his panel of experts and artists discuss the capacity to be creative. 

They emphasize that creative talent isn’t reserved for the special but it’s a critical part of every profession from acting engineering. The brain is a creative machine with thousands of ways to express it. 

According to panelist and neurologist Oliver Sacks, the biology of creativity comes in part from lifting and eliminating inhibitions.  He also states that “imitation may be an essential preliminary to any achievement.”

Panelists and artists Chuck Close and Richard Serra both attended Yale University at the same time along with many other accomplished artists.  It was noted how the environment for sharing ideas and experimenting at Yale and in NYC during that time period fostered and contributed to the development of these great talents.

To learn more, watch this segment of The Brain Series here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUOHBk5qDM&feature=youtu.be

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According to The National Center For Creative Aging, research is showing the positive impact that creativity can have on the health and well being of people as they age.  Clinical evidence has revealed that older adults who participate in the arts have significantly better overall health, fewer falls and doctor’s visits, diminished use of medications and better scores on the geriatric depression and loneliness scales.

Psychiatrist Gene Cohen, director of George Washington University’s Center on Aging, Health & Humanities has studied creativity and aging for thirty years.  Cohen theorizes that arts participants have a heightened sense of control and social engagement, both of which may boost the immune system. Neuroscientists are exploring how stimulating mental activity such as artistic expression fuels the growth of new brain cells in the cerebral cortex.

All of this suggests that more engagement, pleasure and mental activity translates into healthy benefits for older people.  The arts can be used as a tool to increase the quality of life for seniors, resulting in reduced healthcare costs and older adults who can remain independent and “age in place”.

The National Endowment for the Arts has compiled a list, Creativity and Aging: Best Practices, which includes creative community senior programs all over the nation that can be modeled in your area.  Or check out KidzArt’s SeniorzArt program offered at participating KidzArt franchises.

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