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Hi everyone, this is Matt Travis, and I'm your host of Awakening Creativity, a podcast presented by Midland Center for the Arts.
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In case you haven't heard of what's going on at the center, we are in the middle of a major renovation of our hall of ideas.
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We're working hard to deliver a museum space that's one of a kind, and we thought today would be a great time to have a conversation with Joe Cook, who works for Hootinger Interactive Exhibitions.
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It's a great conversation, and we hope that you enjoy it.
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This is Awakening Creativity.
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I'm your host, Matt Travis, and I'm so delighted to be joined by a longtime friend, friend of the center, Joe Cook.
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Joe, welcome to the show.
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Thank you.
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Thanks for having me.
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It's great to be here.
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Yeah.
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So, Joe, uh, you work for Hootinger uh exhibits.
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Can you tell us your exact role with the company?
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No.
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Uh my role is constantly an ever-changing and evergreen.
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Uh my job is technically an exhibit developer.
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So I'm I'm one of the ones who's working on creating experiences for people.
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Yeah.
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Great.
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So before we get too far into the weeds, the first question that we ask folks on this show is uh, you know, if you ever had to introduce somebody formally, um, it's actually kind of awkward because you either read an incredibly long bio uh or you go incredibly short and succinct.
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And then maybe you miss the the pieces where the person really kind of seizes their own identity.
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So how would you like to be introduced and how would you like our audience to know you?
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Hmm, great.
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So I would say a nice introduction for me or that would make me feel nice would be uh uh this is Joe Cook, um a leading exhibit developer.
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Okay, we can do that.
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So, folks, this is Joe Cook, a leading exhibit developer.
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And that's uh particularly relevant to our work here at the center as we are just wrapping up uh a really exciting uh renovation of our of our new museum.
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And Joe, how long how long have we been working with you all in that project?
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It's a little over two years now, I think.
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Or yeah, around around two years.
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Like it's it's hard to keep track, but I know that the first time I was out at the center was this this exact same time of year.
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So it was following up a conference, and I came for the for the very first visit to uh to to see the space, yeah, with with Joe Davis and Jenny.
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Vigue uh vividly, not vaguely, vividly remember that, and we're so glad to have you here.
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So we'll chat a little bit more about the hall of ideas, but I'd love to know a little bit more um about you, Joe.
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So, Joe, you've had a pretty uh dare I say, like vagabond-esque um life, in that you've lived in many interesting uh cities and spots.
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So can you kind of walk us through where those were and how you ended up in Nuremberg today?
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Sure.
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Yeah.
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So it's been uh, as you say, kind of a long and interesting journey.
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So I was born in New Jersey, grew up my childhood in Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City, uh, and then ended up moving to uh Boston after I graduated from high school.
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So I graduated high school and didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life.
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I only knew that my father told me if you want to go to college, you got to pay for it yourself or find your own way to pay for it.
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So I said, okay.
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And then I moved to Boston, a city full of universities, and there I quickly learned that a lot of people graduate from college and still don't know what they want to do with their life.
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So I thought before I take on that debt, let me just experience the world a bit.
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Ended up moving out to San Diego to chase the sun.
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Uh that turned out not to quite be for me.
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So then I moved back to New York to live with some cousins who work in the film industry, which then led me into building sets and scenery uh for film theater plays.
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Uh and then uh yeah, slowly but surely I ended up at a party in upstate New York and met my old boss, where uh I ended up starting work in the museum field.
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So that's kind of the uh traditional path to uh to the museum chasing son in California to working on sets in New York City to a random party in upstate New York is kind of the traditional career path.
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That's a traditional career path, yeah, yeah.
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I mean, but it is it is interesting to think about because they're really for a lot of museum work, especially on the technical side and design side, there's not really a one sits one size fits all um path towards that industry.
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Is that accurate?
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Yeah, no, you you you tend to find at these conferences and things when you talk to people, especially the people in the exhibits field.
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I mean, in the in the education department, it's more straight.
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But people who are working on exhibits tend to have a much more crooked, crooked pathway to find their way into exhibits, and especially in in the the specific part of museums that I work in, which is interactive exhibits.
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So we tend to be the people who are thinking a little more crookedly as well.
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Yeah.
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So tell us a little bit more about what you were like uh as a kid.
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And is there a point where you could look back to and say, okay, I see some elements of kind of play and curiosity that uh have led me to this this path to work in the museum design field?
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Sure.
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I mean, I mean, for one, my my parents were, bless them, very much uh go find your own thing to do on the on the on when you're home.
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So uh outside with you and to take as many toys as you want, but I don't want to see you again until dinner.
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And uh and so we we spent plenty of time playing outside in the yard, being as creative as we could.
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Um and then the other thing really for me that really got me into the field where I'm at is uh at a dear friend in high school whose um father was a curator of exhibits at an Air and Space Museum, which was tied to a science center.
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So they shared one building that's now the Science Museum of Oklahoma, and we would go there on in the summers on on days and we'd be the only kids running around the whole place.
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So that was really totally nuts getting to put on Chuck Yeager's flight helmets that were just sitting in the back and flying flight simulators, but then also just experimenting with uh open-ended exhibits and playing.
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And um, so it was really kind of this constant barrage of of finding my own fun and finding my own way to entertain myself.
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Um and especially in in that museum setting, yeah.
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Yeah, it's uh loosely relatable as my dad was a principal, and so on snow days I would get to go to school and play basketball.
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Unfortunately, it didn't catapult a career either as a principal or uh an NBA player, but uh you know, that idea of the love is there.
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Being in a space, being in a space by yourself and getting a chance to to uh play and explore.
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So you mentioned you kind of weren't sure what you were gonna do when you got through high school.
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Did you have any ideas or any kind of inkling of what that maybe what were your kind of top two or three career possibilities when you were 17 or 18?
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No, actually I really didn't have a a specific direction that I that I thought I that I thought I would end up in.
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I mean, I mean, I guess I always felt that I would do something creative.
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You know, I was always the kid in the back of the classroom who was rather drawing than doing my math.
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Sure.
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Um, but uh but no, I had no I had no specific uh place that I was that I was leaning towards, actually.
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So that moment where you ended up at the random party in upstate New York, I'm I'm fascinated by this idea.
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So like what was the conversation and what led you to say, okay, I'll give this a go.
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So so the party was a really random, funny one anyway, because it was the it was an event for um like put on by one of these local magazines, which is giving out awards for the best burger restaurant and the best whatever.
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And the company that I was working for at that time, they won an award, which was basically no one else in the whole world could have won the award.
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Like it was it was basically an award for this place on this location with a boss named that.
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And then the the children's museum had also won an award that was very much the only award, they were the only place that could have won the award.
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It was like best place for kids on Thursday nights for free in Poughkeepsie.
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Um and so we'd both we'd both sort of won this this funny, very specific award, and neither one of us really fit into that party atmosphere in in that particular place.
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And uh so so so Lara, my old boss, she was walking around and she looked at our booth, and we were we were a fabrication company, so she looked at our booth and she said, Oh, you guys look interesting.
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Uh, do you know how to build exhibits?
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And I said, Well, this company doesn't necessarily build exhibits, but I know how to build exhibits.
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I used to work in this set shop in New York City, and sure.
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We built a mobile museum one time in the back of a trailer, and uh I said, I could I could do that, and I knew what they were.
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And um, so so so yeah, so then uh she said, Well, well, why don't you apply?
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And I said, It's a great idea.
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And actually, I went home that night and said to my wife, we had a my daughter was only six months older, so at that point, I got home and I said to her, I think I found a new job today.
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And uh yeah, sure enough, I sent in my resume and all the stuff I needed to do the next day, and I ended up there and it was there for five years.
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And Laura's still a very, very great dear friend of mine.
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So then talk to us how you transitioned there uh from Poughkeepsie to ending up in Nuremberg with Hootinger.
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Sure.
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So once again, it was a kind of a matter of chance, actually.
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So uh I kept getting all these annoying emails from LinkedIn that I think everybody knows what those are like.
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And uh one day I just said, okay, fine, I'll look at LinkedIn, why not?
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And I looked at it, and the first thing that came up was uh move to Germany and work as an exhibit developer in this firm.
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And the only real skill we need is that you speak English very well.
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I said, I speak English pretty well.
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Uh called my wife and said, Hey, what do you think about moving to Germany?
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By the way, she's very much so not German like me.
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Uh, and we both thought it could be an interesting adventure.
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Our kids were three and five at the time.
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Yeah, decent time.
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And and essentially, you know, the the real thing is when my when my daughter was first born, she's older than my son, I had said to my wife that I think my job as a father is to inspire awe in my daughter.
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And I thought, how better to inspire awe than living in Europe?
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Um, there's plenty of amazing things to see and do there.
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And Nuremberg is actually, if you really look at a map of Europe, it's almost dead in the middle of Europe.
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So we thought everything is kind of at our fingertips.
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And um Yeah, so so it was really based in kind of that that that how do we inspire the kids to do great things and see new things and yeah.
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I'm interested in this idea of inspiring awe in your kids.
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So how does that kind of play itself out on a daily basis?
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In daily basis with my life now, you mean?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Well, some days it's not really some days there is no awe to be inspired.
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Um but no, I mean I think I think it's something my wife and I both really strive for is to to look at our daily plans, whatever they might be, and to just find any any given moment that that might really um inspire the kids to think a bit outside of the box or to to look at things from a from a side-eyed perspective, if you will.
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Um we we are a family that definitely questions the the status quo all the time.
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Um and you know, my my kids have grown and they have their own personal opinions about a lot of things, and sometimes it's still a you know, a battle to show them the things that are that we we think might inspire on them.
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Uh and you know, sometimes you definitely you definitely see the results, even even as they get older and older and into those teen years, there's moments where, you know, my my son's word right now is bet.
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I don't know, you got it from YouTube or something.
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Yeah.
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And every so often they'll just be like, oh, bet.
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And you're like, okay, whatever that is, I won something today.
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Yep.
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Yeah, there's uh the the Michigan football team that won the national championship a few years ago.
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That was kind of their saying.
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I didn't had no idea what it was until I saw them all uh tweeting it uh or Xing it or whatever you call it at that time.
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Oh, okay.
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I have no idea where this came from.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So I mean that's interesting.
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This idea of inspiring awe, which is really like pretty profound and and and incredible to think about.
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So how does that then inform your work as an exhibit fabricator?
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Um yeah, I I think I think the way it inspires everything we do is that the the first thought I have about any any exhibit that I'm let's say developing or pitching or thinking about is that I I always do my first thought is to be about the the user, the end user.
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So so I don't typically start by thinking about the content or the storyline or anything like that.
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The first thing I'll think about is um is somebody gonna find this um experience to to cre is it gonna create awe in someone, or is it there's gonna I mean I think awe is too big of a word for most for most exhibits, but it's uh you know, you want to create something that people are gonna see it and go, oh, okay.
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Or like what I say a lot in exhibits, it'd be like aha moments.
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Sure.
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Where the the user uses something and they they they're not quite sure about it.
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Maybe it's just w strange looking, uh, but then they use it and they say, aha, okay, and they they start to build this knowledge inside their own head.
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Um and so and so that's the first thing I look for with exhibits is how can I how can I do that?
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Um and then secondarily we we build and layer into the the sort of specifics of the educational outcomes.
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Yeah, I mean, so as you well know, the um uh the new hall of ideas at the center, you know, the kind of primary thesis statement or the underlying idea is this idea of the namesake of our show, uh awakening creativity, you know, reminding everybody that uh that they are creative, whether they see it in themselves or not.
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So um I'm gonna ask you specifically about that in the context of the museum in a minute.
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But what are ways uh in which you utilize um creativity either through problem-solving elements of the build or in the design process itself?
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Like what are some critical moments you can point to and say, okay, we use some uh we flexed our creative muscle in interesting and otherwise uh unknown ways?
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Yeah, that's a that's a tough question.
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Um I think I think every every exhibit is different.
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And then um I I'm from that old school world that I also use the term exhibition.
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And so, you know, in the in the old school phrasing, exhibition would be the entire thing, and then the exhibit would be the individual elements within within that exhibition.
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And um so so on the one side, there's the creativity to come up with a good exhibition framework, um, which, you know, and I'm I'm mostly in the world of science centers, so it's a bit like curating a science center exhibition, even though you typically don't talk about curators in science centers.
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And um so within within that that world, uh you come up with a a good overall framework, and that that can be difficult because everybody's trying to do something different.
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So if you just choose, let's say, light as a gallery, which a lot of museums would do and should do, and it's great, um, you know, you might get some pushback that that's that's not very creative.
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So then you might have to automatically start with like how can we find a a new and interesting way to approach uh the theme of light.
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Um and uh so that's that's kind of a big picture way to think about it.
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And then from an individual exhibit perspective, if you're uh wanting to talk about uh let's stay on the topic of flight, and you want to talk about the the different spectrums of light, um you know, there's there's again a lot of different ways to approach that.
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And so, and so if you start from the the perspective of like I'm saying, how do you how do you um create something which is kind of open-ended and will give people a bit of an aha moment, then then you know, maybe you're looking for the principles of light that it can stay a bit a bit hidden to the to the to the let's say average user, something that they maybe didn't just read in a textbook in school.
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Um and then from there it's really it's really does become a a bit of an artistic approach to it where you you search for um these these surprises.
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So well, for instance, one of my favorite things, and we just had it happen in Europe with uh with an eclipse is if you uh go out to an eclipse and you look at the shadows from leaves on a tree, then the shadows are no longer looking like leaves.
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They you see the eclipse in every single shadow because every single point of light becomes a pinhole camera.
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And so it's really the it's really a totally insane thing.
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You just look at the ground and you just see all these little crescent suns everywhere.
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So every shadow becomes a crescent sun.
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And it's this insanely beautiful and magical effect.
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Um, that actually that's an exhibit I would love to develop someday, but I can't figure out a good way to build it now.
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So speaking of exhibits that you have developed, yeah, yeah.
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So as you mentioned, yeah, you've been working on this Hall of Ideas project uh here at Midland Center for the Arts for the last couple of years.
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Um we talked about this idea of creativity and emphasizing, elevating, reawakening creativity.
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How do you see that uh concept at play in the in the design execution at the center?
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Um Yeah, I think I think one way that it's um really done quite well is is that we we chose to look at um the person from many levels and also creativity from many levels.
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So if you start at the main the main section in the hall of ideas, uh it's really this idea straight in your face from the beginning that you are creative.
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So it says it really big on the front wall when you walk in that we really wanted people uh to to know straight away when they came in the building that they everyone is creative, no matter because we heard that a lot from from people when we were doing a lot of early uh testing and talking to the to the community, that a lot of people say, I'm not I'm not a very creative person.
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And I think a lot of people might say that about themselves, and uh, and so we really wanted to be sure that from the very, very beginning we're telling, letting the visitor know, like they no, no, no, they they are creative and they do have value.
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And uh and and here you can try to experience it.
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And then as you move through, you you you talk you we talk about the creative community and how within a community there are so many different people, and everyone does something creative within their within their roles, and and there we have a bunch of exhibits which are kind of also designed to be worked within a group so that so that lots of people can be interacting with them together, and maybe you find a new friend there and can work with them on something.
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Uh, and then you move through into the creative individual where you really learn about uh what about me as creative and how do I get to use my creativity.
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Um yeah, and then we get to culminate with um the creative power, which yeah, we we can go into a power power.
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It's like superhero, yeah, superhero moment.
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But yeah, I mean it was really fascinating as you mentioned um, you know, in our original focus groups, uh, you know, we held up a picture of someone that the silhouette of somebody that looked like a scientist with a lab coat and a microscope and and you know a beaker or whatever else.
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And then we held up a picture of somebody that, you know, had a beret with a canvas and a paintbrush and looked like a traditional painter and said, which one of these is creative?
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:00.799
And of course, the vast majority of the folks said the painter.
00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:10.319
And then that's when we said, okay, we have some work to do on defining what it means to be creative, and how do we use this museum, our hall of ideas?
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.200
Um, how do we use that as a space to do that?
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.480
And so um, that's really kind of kind of what we've been working on.
00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:21.200
So um, Joe, you've worked on so many projects throughout the world.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.400
I mean, Smithsonian galleries, many leading uh museums in all of Europe.
00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.680
In your opinion, what's what's different about this project here at the Center for the Arts?
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.519
I would say that what's different is really this focus on creativity.
00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:47.119
Um, you know, a lot of a lot of science centers or children's museums would um uh put creativity in somewhere, but it's not really such a a focus of the entire exhibition.
00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:59.839
I mean, I mean, here every single theme that we cover within the exhibition somehow focuses on the creativeness within within fields in that theme and people in those in those fields.
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.440
Um and that's that is very, very, very unique.
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:10.640
And it's very unique to not just stick creativity in the corner and call it the art studio and put some paintbrushes out.
00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:29.680
And that's all there's nothing wrong with that, but I think I think here we really we really really try to focus on the science behind creativity and all those little things, and and and focusing on the fact that that um you know the arts are everywhere and the arts are kind of constantly present in your life.
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.759
Whether or not you call them the arts or think about them as the arts, they are they are ever ever present in people's lives.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:47.119
Um and and and I think uh that's one of the things we wanted to show in this exhibition is no matter who you are, where you are, where you come from, um art can save you.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:48.240
I mean, that's good.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:49.680
Art art can save you, and it's true.
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.799
I mean the data the data's pretty overwhelming.
00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:21.440
I mean, having a creative practice or um you know what it does for well-being and overall stress levels and heart rate and uh I mean it it it's really quite profound and never uh never are the arts uh both formally and kind of informally in this creative space that we're talking about, um, more important than right now in a world that's like frankly um fairly divided, it's it's one of the things that that certainly can can unify us and and uh and can heal us.
00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:27.759
So we're very excited um to have that be such a critical part of of what we do at the center, what we do in the hall of ideas.
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:41.839
Yeah, and I think I think it was really something, uh if I may speak for the rest of the design team that that for us was really nice to from the very, very beginning kind of gave us a real grounding point um to build from.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:55.359
Uh it was this this this real idea of of keeping the arts sort of somehow in the forefront of our mind, and then also with me constantly pushing the the uh idea of of think about what the visitor is gonna do at every station and what they're gonna get out of it.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:55.920
Sure.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759
Um and uh and those two things really I think helped guide.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.519
The entire project and hopefully people enjoy it.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.079
Sure.
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:19.119
And as we're talking about this project, I certainly be would be remiss if I didn't mention you can find out more information on the project itself, www.midlandcenter.org, as well as ways to uh contribute as we have an exciting matching opportunity available uh right now.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:27.759
So please visit our website and check that out for more information, as well as how you can support this uh this exciting uh you heard it here, one of a kind, uh, one of a kind experience.
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:40.799
So um, Joe, you know, you mentioned kind of broadly the overall experience, some of the things that our guests will encounter as they kind of go through the um the kind of creative transformation they'll experience.
00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:47.359
Are there a few exhibits that are particularly memorable or one of a kind that you'd like to kind of speak about in a little more detail?
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.359
Yeah, I mean, there's uh there's one really big one that is very, very, very exciting.
00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:06.400
Um, and honestly, uh I have to say I'm very uh grateful that the center has given us the ability to pursue it because it's really um unique and novel and it might not work.
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.319
Um I mean it'll it'll work function, it'll work functionally, but I'll explain it.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:11.200
I'll explain it now.
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:26.160
Um so so this is an exhibit that we call the muticle, which is um named named after a real patented object, which was patented by um Dow the the architect, Aldenby Dow, the architect who designed the building.
00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.319
And the the actual uh object is also uh there, the prototype of it is also gonna be in the space.
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:50.240
But he had written this uh really lovely patent uh letter, which um expi uh was a was a a design for an experience where one enters a space and they're able to create music through emotion and light and I think a symphony of feeling yeah, symphony of feeling, that's right.
00:23:50.319 --> 00:24:00.000
And and um as as so so we kind of had this thing in our head, and then we as we looked at the space and thought about what we could do with this this one area.
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:07.200
There's an area that we call the crow's nest where you kind of stand up and you're sort of able to oversee the entire gallery space.
00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.319
And so then the design team, we had a lot of back and forth, months and months of conversations.
00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:18.240
We decided it'd be really cool to let a visitor basically become the conductor of the entire gallery.
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:28.640
So one of the things you can do there is actually playing on a piano where you get uh feedback to yourself locally, but you're able to also play light boxes that are spread throughout the entire hall of ideas.
00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:31.680
And that's where I say maybe it won't work.
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:36.000
Um until it's well, no, no, no, it works.
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.599
It does work, it's already working.
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.680
But uh does it work in the grand scheme of a museum?
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:49.920
Because I've I've really never seen a museum where you give visitors basically free reign of light control throughout a gallery.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.960
Uh, it's pretty uh it's pretty out there idea.
00:24:53.200 --> 00:25:05.119
And so yeah, hopefully it doesn't become something that's too distracting or but it but it's it's a really it's such a it's such a big and unique concept that it uh where I mean is maybe it doesn't work is because this is really a huge experiment.
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:18.319
Um yeah, I mean it was pretty pretty impactful when uh you know Axel Huttinger uh came here to the center and said, Wow, I've I've they always told me that uh we've never done anything like this and I didn't really believe it.
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.599
And then I came here and we've never done anything like this.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:29.839
You know, somebody that's had a uh you know, or partner, owner of the company, and someone that's uh been in the business for for over three decades, worked on museums all over the world.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.759
So I mean that that's the type of things that uh we're gonna have right here at Midland Center for the Arts.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:34.319
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.000
So it's it's very, very, very cool.
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:44.240
And it's um yeah, it's it is somehow like a culmination of of this entire concept of of art meets science, and and then also like that.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.880
So that's the thing in the in the power of creativity.
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.640
That's that's the main exhibit up there.
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:56.160
And and I mean that's such a I I I can't wait to see kids get up there and really like understand that they're controlling the entire space.
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.680
That's it's such a cool thing.
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.079
Yeah, I mean it's unbelievably empowering that you really are at the center of it all.
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:06.960
You know, for those of you familiar with our museum space, this is that area directly above the the pendulum.
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.359
Uh and if you haven't visited, I encourage you to come and visit.
00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.799
Um that area is tiered.
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:11.839
There are multiple tiers.
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.920
Each one kind of looks like a semicircle.
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:22.240
And on top of the semicircle, there are these light boxes that are maybe, what are they, 14 inches high and yeah, 14 inches high, about three and a half feet long.
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:27.119
Yeah, and each box uh there's 48 pairs, is that right?
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.559
Or 48 pairs.
00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.680
48 pairs, yeah.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.839
So each pair of boxes corresponds with a note, and each note has a color, and you can play with the colors that that you see.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:44.559
So um, you know, as you play chords or different notes, you'll kind of see this uh moving cascade of of color out in the space.
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.960
But I really can't articulate how empowering that is.
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:56.480
Um, as we're working on the design, you know, for those of you that aren't familiar with my background, I uh uh in another life uh have doctorate in conducting, so I spent a lot of time on the podium.
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:09.920
But when you stand up there in that crow's nest area where this moodle exhibit is, all the tiers, as I mentioned, are arched, and it kind of looks like um an orchestra, an orchestra uh seated around a conductor.
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:22.559
And it's designed to create that empowering feeling of what it is like to be at the center of the sound, but also at the center of um this wonderful illuminated picture that each one is truly a snowflake.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.799
You know, you could go up there and and mess around, play something completely original.
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:38.000
I could go up there and play Bach, and somebody could come up there and play a Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift or John Legend, and each one is gonna look a little bit different, not only based on the music that you play, but also based on the color palette.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:41.119
You you have uh complete and full rain.
00:27:41.279 --> 00:28:00.960
So um that particular exhibit is really thrilling, but I also see it as a really thrilling um moment for us as a center because we can create uh small, intimate concert spaces up there and um use the instrument um as as quite literally a musical but also visual palette for artists to play with.
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:03.119
So it's a really exciting uh opportunity for us.
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:04.960
Yeah, and it's very it's very fun too.
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:15.920
I mean, even to think about uh, you know, our software designers came up with a few really cool ways that the the light boxes react to sound in a in a totally unique format.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:29.440
And and we we've talked about not to tell you guys what you're gonna do in the future, but even the idea of having almost an open mic night up there where the where where community members who aren't, let's say, the most famous musicians could come and you say, well, this open mic night, we're gonna have a guitar up there.
00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:34.960
Anyone can come in and play the guitar, or anybody who plays can play it, or this this night a piano.
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.359
So uh and it reacts to voices too.
00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.880
So even if you get uh singers up there just singing, it's it's yeah, it's pretty cool.
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:50.559
It does, and you do I mean you don't think about it, but I when we were messing around with the microphone, uh you may not know, but when we speak, our voices are pitched, right?
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:52.640
We just kind of sit on the same two or three pitches.
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:58.000
So um, you know, I would speak in the thing and it was kind of it kind of looked for a moment like uh I was the Wizard of Oz or something.
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:04.000
Uh uh kind of pulsating uh greenish color.
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.880
Um, but it was uh you know pretty pretty interesting.
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:16.880
We're excited to have that uh really as a one-of-a-kind experience for um us to use programmatically, but also for our visitors to uh to use that as a celebration of creativity.
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:21.200
I mean, that's designed to be this culminating uh moment.
00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.480
And I I wish I could you you just have to experience it.
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:31.839
Just it it just feels so grand and so elevated uh to be there in that space and be at the center of it all.
00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:44.559
Aaron Ross Powell Well, and yeah, and I think the other thing that's really great about it, um, because you know, uh the truth of the matter it is when you get into science centers, children's museums, you'll find a lot of exhibits that are kind of repeated in different places.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.960
I mean, we do our best as developers to work on that not being the case.
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.279
But anybody who goes to five, six, seven, eight museums will find repeat elements.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:54.640
Does it mean they're not great?
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:55.440
No, not at all.
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:10.720
But this but this is one experience that I really having been to all the museums I've been to, I can't imagine a single museum where you could repeat anything even similar because the it's really specifically designed and built for the space.
00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:18.160
So even the concept of letting a visitor control a gallery, you know, if you imagine most museums, you're gonna have these galleries are sort of designed as blocks.
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:18.640
Sure.
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:21.519
So you could give them a gallery, but it won't control.
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:26.880
I mean, in your case, it's basically that gallery is 70% of the entire museum.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:27.359
Yep.
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:30.240
So so you're really giving them control of everything.
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:32.160
Um that's really cool too.
00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:32.960
Really, really unique.
00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:42.400
And just to kind of put this into comparison quantitatively, uh, how many museums have you projects have you worked on, and how many museums do you think you've visited all over the world?
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.680
Oh, geez.
00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:46.640
Uh how many museums have I worked on?
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:51.200
Um, so I've been at the company at Hootinger now for almost eight years.
00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:52.640
It'll be eight years in January.
00:30:52.799 --> 00:31:02.799
And I guess cumulatively probably worked on 40 or so different museums in some in some fashion or another.
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:07.200
And then visited that's probably in the hundreds world at this point.
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:08.400
So you heard it here.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.880
Worked on 40, visited hundreds.
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.519
First time ever experience at Center for the Arts.
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:13.759
Yeah.
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:14.079
Yeah.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:22.400
I mean, how does that how does it make you feel as in a design as a designer to be a part of something that's uh truly one of a kind and not really been done before?
00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:24.720
It's very, very, very cool.
00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:40.960
You know, it's kind of funny because because for my for my family, they hear me talk about stuff and they hear about so much stuff and they they know what's kind of going on in my life with work and everything else, but they don't really have a way to kind of quantify it.
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:46.640
And and the best way I could do it is to bring to bring them and show them what I've been talking about, and then they see it in person.
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:49.440
They go, Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:32:00.079
Um so I'm really I'm really hopeful that I can do that, do that for this, for this project, because yeah, that would be a that would be a really nice way to quantify all that.
00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:01.920
But that's not really what you asked me.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:02.960
No, it's okay.
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:03.680
It's okay.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:04.960
What'd you ask me?
00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:06.720
I don't even remember anymore.
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:07.279
Okay.
00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:08.960
No, it's good.
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:15.519
So, Joe, um, it is a tradition uh for all of our guests who come on this show that we leave them with a gift.
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:17.920
So you might notice we have uh Jasmine over there.
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.559
We had Ariel Jacobs, who is Jasmine on Broadway.
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:25.119
We have uh a stopwatch, uh pocket watch, rather, over there.
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:29.359
That's from Scott Sylvan, who's an illusionist, and that was a part of his uh tradition.
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:36.559
We have a mid-century modern book to pay homage to our um our uh mid-century modern uh architecture here in Midland.
00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:42.880
Uh what else we have Beethoven, uh, of course, uh we had a wonderful pianist, Amiri Harewood, uh, come here.
00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.559
And so this is hot off the press uh with our new brand.
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.160
This is a uh Prism Kaleidoscope says Hall of Ideas.
00:32:50.240 --> 00:33:00.880
I think this might be the first one ever gifted, but uh, this is for you to take back to Germany as a as a memory of uh your time in the podcast today and a small memento of your work on the project.
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:02.079
That is fantastic.
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:02.720
Yeah.
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:03.680
Love these things.
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:04.319
Super cool.
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:04.799
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:05.279
Thank you very much.
00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:06.079
Give it to your family.
00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:06.319
Yeah.
00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:06.480
Yeah.
00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:10.000
So uh one last question for you before we go.
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:19.200
Um, so outside of your work, which is highly creative by nature, you know, what's one thing uh that you're doing to awaken your creativity right now?
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:24.160
Uh I think the thing I do mostly to awaken my creativity is spend time in nature.
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.240
So the nice thing is my commute to work is usually by bicycle.
00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:29.359
There you go.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:33.839
And uh so my my bike ride to and from work is usually somewhat in nature.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:34.880
I try to keep it in there.
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:43.440
So um, yeah, spending time in nature, letting my brain kind of calm down and relax a little bit, that that tends to really help awaken it when I need it.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:44.079
Cool.
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:44.480
Yeah.
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.599
Well, Joe, thank you so much for for being on Awakening Creativity.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:48.559
Always good to be with you.
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:50.559
And uh we appreciate you taking time to be on the show today.
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:51.759
Yeah, my pleasure, Matt.
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:52.799
Thank you very much.
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.359
What a great conversation we had today with Joe Cook.
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:10.000
He's got me thinking deeply about that idea of awe, trying to use awe as a device to consider in our daily actions.
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:18.320
Try to inspire awe in others in the way that we treat one another, trying to use awe as a motivator uh in all that we do.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:22.159
It's something that I'll consider this week, and I hope that you'll think about it too.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:25.679
I'd like to thank JNC Media for helping us record this show.
00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:29.840
I'd like to thank our producer, Alex Woody, certainly our guest, Joe Cook.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.760
I'd also like to thank our official sponsor, Hub International.
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.079
Thank you for all that you do to make this podcast happen and for supporting the center.
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:43.760
For more information about Midland Center for the Arts, please visit our website, www.midlandcenter.org.
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:46.960
And in the meantime, be good to one another and we'll see you soon.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.559
Hi everyone, this is Matt Travis, and I'm your host of Awakening Creativity, a podcast presented by Midland Center for the Arts.
00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.080
In case you haven't heard of what's going on at the center, we are in the middle of a major renovation of our hall of ideas.
00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:22.079
We're working hard to deliver a museum space that's one of a kind, and we thought today would be a great time to have a conversation with Joe Cook, who works for Hootinger Interactive Exhibitions.
00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:24.879
It's a great conversation, and we hope that you enjoy it.
00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:32.399
This is Awakening Creativity.
00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:37.679
I'm your host, Matt Travis, and I'm so delighted to be joined by a longtime friend, friend of the center, Joe Cook.
00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:38.640
Joe, welcome to the show.
00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:39.359
Thank you.
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:39.920
Thanks for having me.
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:40.719
It's great to be here.
00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.359
Yeah.
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.880
So, Joe, uh, you work for Hootinger uh exhibits.
00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.920
Can you tell us your exact role with the company?
00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:49.759
No.
00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.200
Uh my role is constantly an ever-changing and evergreen.
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.840
Uh my job is technically an exhibit developer.
00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.079
So I'm I'm one of the ones who's working on creating experiences for people.
00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:00.399
Yeah.
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:01.039
Great.
00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:15.599
So before we get too far into the weeds, the first question that we ask folks on this show is uh, you know, if you ever had to introduce somebody formally, um, it's actually kind of awkward because you either read an incredibly long bio uh or you go incredibly short and succinct.
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:20.079
And then maybe you miss the the pieces where the person really kind of seizes their own identity.
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:25.519
So how would you like to be introduced and how would you like our audience to know you?
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:27.599
Hmm, great.
00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:39.120
So I would say a nice introduction for me or that would make me feel nice would be uh uh this is Joe Cook, um a leading exhibit developer.
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Okay, we can do that.
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So, folks, this is Joe Cook, a leading exhibit developer.
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And that's uh particularly relevant to our work here at the center as we are just wrapping up uh a really exciting uh renovation of our of our new museum.
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And Joe, how long how long have we been working with you all in that project?
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It's a little over two years now, I think.
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Or yeah, around around two years.
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Like it's it's hard to keep track, but I know that the first time I was out at the center was this this exact same time of year.
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So it was following up a conference, and I came for the for the very first visit to uh to to see the space, yeah, with with Joe Davis and Jenny.
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Vigue uh vividly, not vaguely, vividly remember that, and we're so glad to have you here.
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So we'll chat a little bit more about the hall of ideas, but I'd love to know a little bit more um about you, Joe.
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So, Joe, you've had a pretty uh dare I say, like vagabond-esque um life, in that you've lived in many interesting uh cities and spots.
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So can you kind of walk us through where those were and how you ended up in Nuremberg today?
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Sure.
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Yeah.
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So it's been uh, as you say, kind of a long and interesting journey.
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So I was born in New Jersey, grew up my childhood in Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City, uh, and then ended up moving to uh Boston after I graduated from high school.
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So I graduated high school and didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life.
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I only knew that my father told me if you want to go to college, you got to pay for it yourself or find your own way to pay for it.
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So I said, okay.
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And then I moved to Boston, a city full of universities, and there I quickly learned that a lot of people graduate from college and still don't know what they want to do with their life.
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So I thought before I take on that debt, let me just experience the world a bit.
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Ended up moving out to San Diego to chase the sun.
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Uh that turned out not to quite be for me.
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So then I moved back to New York to live with some cousins who work in the film industry, which then led me into building sets and scenery uh for film theater plays.
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Uh and then uh yeah, slowly but surely I ended up at a party in upstate New York and met my old boss, where uh I ended up starting work in the museum field.
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So that's kind of the uh traditional path to uh to the museum chasing son in California to working on sets in New York City to a random party in upstate New York is kind of the traditional career path.
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That's a traditional career path, yeah, yeah.
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I mean, but it is it is interesting to think about because they're really for a lot of museum work, especially on the technical side and design side, there's not really a one sits one size fits all um path towards that industry.
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Is that accurate?
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Yeah, no, you you you tend to find at these conferences and things when you talk to people, especially the people in the exhibits field.
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I mean, in the in the education department, it's more straight.
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But people who are working on exhibits tend to have a much more crooked, crooked pathway to find their way into exhibits, and especially in in the the specific part of museums that I work in, which is interactive exhibits.
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So we tend to be the people who are thinking a little more crookedly as well.
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Yeah.
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So tell us a little bit more about what you were like uh as a kid.
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And is there a point where you could look back to and say, okay, I see some elements of kind of play and curiosity that uh have led me to this this path to work in the museum design field?
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Sure.
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I mean, I mean, for one, my my parents were, bless them, very much uh go find your own thing to do on the on the on when you're home.
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So uh outside with you and to take as many toys as you want, but I don't want to see you again until dinner.
00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:13.040
And uh and so we we spent plenty of time playing outside in the yard, being as creative as we could.
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Um and then the other thing really for me that really got me into the field where I'm at is uh at a dear friend in high school whose um father was a curator of exhibits at an Air and Space Museum, which was tied to a science center.
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So they shared one building that's now the Science Museum of Oklahoma, and we would go there on in the summers on on days and we'd be the only kids running around the whole place.
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So that was really totally nuts getting to put on Chuck Yeager's flight helmets that were just sitting in the back and flying flight simulators, but then also just experimenting with uh open-ended exhibits and playing.
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And um, so it was really kind of this constant barrage of of finding my own fun and finding my own way to entertain myself.
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Um and especially in in that museum setting, yeah.
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Yeah, it's uh loosely relatable as my dad was a principal, and so on snow days I would get to go to school and play basketball.
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Unfortunately, it didn't catapult a career either as a principal or uh an NBA player, but uh you know, that idea of the love is there.
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Being in a space, being in a space by yourself and getting a chance to to uh play and explore.
00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:23.120
So you mentioned you kind of weren't sure what you were gonna do when you got through high school.
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Did you have any ideas or any kind of inkling of what that maybe what were your kind of top two or three career possibilities when you were 17 or 18?
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No, actually I really didn't have a a specific direction that I that I thought I that I thought I would end up in.
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I mean, I mean, I guess I always felt that I would do something creative.
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You know, I was always the kid in the back of the classroom who was rather drawing than doing my math.
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Sure.
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Um, but uh but no, I had no I had no specific uh place that I was that I was leaning towards, actually.
00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:59.759
So that moment where you ended up at the random party in upstate New York, I'm I'm fascinated by this idea.
00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:06.879
So like what was the conversation and what led you to say, okay, I'll give this a go.
00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:20.480
So so the party was a really random, funny one anyway, because it was the it was an event for um like put on by one of these local magazines, which is giving out awards for the best burger restaurant and the best whatever.
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And the company that I was working for at that time, they won an award, which was basically no one else in the whole world could have won the award.
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Like it was it was basically an award for this place on this location with a boss named that.
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And then the the children's museum had also won an award that was very much the only award, they were the only place that could have won the award.
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It was like best place for kids on Thursday nights for free in Poughkeepsie.
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Um and so we'd both we'd both sort of won this this funny, very specific award, and neither one of us really fit into that party atmosphere in in that particular place.
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And uh so so so Lara, my old boss, she was walking around and she looked at our booth, and we were we were a fabrication company, so she looked at our booth and she said, Oh, you guys look interesting.
00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.240
Uh, do you know how to build exhibits?
00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:09.839
And I said, Well, this company doesn't necessarily build exhibits, but I know how to build exhibits.
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.639
I used to work in this set shop in New York City, and sure.
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.560
We built a mobile museum one time in the back of a trailer, and uh I said, I could I could do that, and I knew what they were.
00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:23.680
And um, so so so yeah, so then uh she said, Well, well, why don't you apply?
00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:25.040
And I said, It's a great idea.
00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:34.799
And actually, I went home that night and said to my wife, we had a my daughter was only six months older, so at that point, I got home and I said to her, I think I found a new job today.
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And uh yeah, sure enough, I sent in my resume and all the stuff I needed to do the next day, and I ended up there and it was there for five years.
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And Laura's still a very, very great dear friend of mine.
00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:53.039
So then talk to us how you transitioned there uh from Poughkeepsie to ending up in Nuremberg with Hootinger.
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Sure.
00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.200
So once again, it was a kind of a matter of chance, actually.
00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:03.919
So uh I kept getting all these annoying emails from LinkedIn that I think everybody knows what those are like.
00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:07.840
And uh one day I just said, okay, fine, I'll look at LinkedIn, why not?
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:15.039
And I looked at it, and the first thing that came up was uh move to Germany and work as an exhibit developer in this firm.
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And the only real skill we need is that you speak English very well.
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I said, I speak English pretty well.
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.879
Uh called my wife and said, Hey, what do you think about moving to Germany?
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By the way, she's very much so not German like me.
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Uh, and we both thought it could be an interesting adventure.
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Our kids were three and five at the time.
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Yeah, decent time.
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And and essentially, you know, the the real thing is when my when my daughter was first born, she's older than my son, I had said to my wife that I think my job as a father is to inspire awe in my daughter.
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And I thought, how better to inspire awe than living in Europe?
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Um, there's plenty of amazing things to see and do there.
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And Nuremberg is actually, if you really look at a map of Europe, it's almost dead in the middle of Europe.
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So we thought everything is kind of at our fingertips.
00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:10.879
And um Yeah, so so it was really based in kind of that that that how do we inspire the kids to do great things and see new things and yeah.
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.320
I'm interested in this idea of inspiring awe in your kids.
00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.720
So how does that kind of play itself out on a daily basis?
00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.679
In daily basis with my life now, you mean?
00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:22.559
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Well, some days it's not really some days there is no awe to be inspired.
00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:48.559
Um but no, I mean I think I think it's something my wife and I both really strive for is to to look at our daily plans, whatever they might be, and to just find any any given moment that that might really um inspire the kids to think a bit outside of the box or to to look at things from a from a side-eyed perspective, if you will.
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Um we we are a family that definitely questions the the status quo all the time.
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Um and you know, my my kids have grown and they have their own personal opinions about a lot of things, and sometimes it's still a you know, a battle to show them the things that are that we we think might inspire on them.
00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:19.840
Uh and you know, sometimes you definitely you definitely see the results, even even as they get older and older and into those teen years, there's moments where, you know, my my son's word right now is bet.
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I don't know, you got it from YouTube or something.
00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:21.759
Yeah.
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And every so often they'll just be like, oh, bet.
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And you're like, okay, whatever that is, I won something today.
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Yep.
00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:32.080
Yeah, there's uh the the Michigan football team that won the national championship a few years ago.
00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:33.039
That was kind of their saying.
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I didn't had no idea what it was until I saw them all uh tweeting it uh or Xing it or whatever you call it at that time.
00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:39.919
Oh, okay.
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.120
I have no idea where this came from.
00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:41.840
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.440
So I mean that's interesting.
00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:49.440
This idea of inspiring awe, which is really like pretty profound and and and incredible to think about.
00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:54.639
So how does that then inform your work as an exhibit fabricator?
00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:12.960
Um yeah, I I think I think the way it inspires everything we do is that the the first thought I have about any any exhibit that I'm let's say developing or pitching or thinking about is that I I always do my first thought is to be about the the user, the end user.
00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:20.000
So so I don't typically start by thinking about the content or the storyline or anything like that.
00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:37.279
The first thing I'll think about is um is somebody gonna find this um experience to to cre is it gonna create awe in someone, or is it there's gonna I mean I think awe is too big of a word for most for most exhibits, but it's uh you know, you want to create something that people are gonna see it and go, oh, okay.
00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.480
Or like what I say a lot in exhibits, it'd be like aha moments.
00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:40.960
Sure.
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Where the the user uses something and they they they're not quite sure about it.
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Maybe it's just w strange looking, uh, but then they use it and they say, aha, okay, and they they start to build this knowledge inside their own head.
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Um and so and so that's the first thing I look for with exhibits is how can I how can I do that?
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:05.840
Um and then secondarily we we build and layer into the the sort of specifics of the educational outcomes.
00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:26.639
Yeah, I mean, so as you well know, the um uh the new hall of ideas at the center, you know, the kind of primary thesis statement or the underlying idea is this idea of the namesake of our show, uh awakening creativity, you know, reminding everybody that uh that they are creative, whether they see it in themselves or not.
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.759
So um I'm gonna ask you specifically about that in the context of the museum in a minute.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:41.279
But what are ways uh in which you utilize um creativity either through problem-solving elements of the build or in the design process itself?
00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:51.440
Like what are some critical moments you can point to and say, okay, we use some uh we flexed our creative muscle in interesting and otherwise uh unknown ways?
00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.639
Yeah, that's a that's a tough question.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:59.360
Um I think I think every every exhibit is different.
00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:05.039
And then um I I'm from that old school world that I also use the term exhibition.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:14.399
And so, you know, in the in the old school phrasing, exhibition would be the entire thing, and then the exhibit would be the individual elements within within that exhibition.
00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:32.240
And um so so on the one side, there's the creativity to come up with a good exhibition framework, um, which, you know, and I'm I'm mostly in the world of science centers, so it's a bit like curating a science center exhibition, even though you typically don't talk about curators in science centers.
00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:43.519
And um so within within that that world, uh you come up with a a good overall framework, and that that can be difficult because everybody's trying to do something different.
00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:54.080
So if you just choose, let's say, light as a gallery, which a lot of museums would do and should do, and it's great, um, you know, you might get some pushback that that's that's not very creative.
00:14:54.159 --> 00:15:00.720
So then you might have to automatically start with like how can we find a a new and interesting way to approach uh the theme of light.
00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.840
Um and uh so that's that's kind of a big picture way to think about it.
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:21.120
And then from an individual exhibit perspective, if you're uh wanting to talk about uh let's stay on the topic of flight, and you want to talk about the the different spectrums of light, um you know, there's there's again a lot of different ways to approach that.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:43.039
And so, and so if you start from the the perspective of like I'm saying, how do you how do you um create something which is kind of open-ended and will give people a bit of an aha moment, then then you know, maybe you're looking for the principles of light that it can stay a bit a bit hidden to the to the to the let's say average user, something that they maybe didn't just read in a textbook in school.
00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:55.200
Um and then from there it's really it's really does become a a bit of an artistic approach to it where you you search for um these these surprises.
00:15:55.360 --> 00:16:09.360
So well, for instance, one of my favorite things, and we just had it happen in Europe with uh with an eclipse is if you uh go out to an eclipse and you look at the shadows from leaves on a tree, then the shadows are no longer looking like leaves.
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:15.039
They you see the eclipse in every single shadow because every single point of light becomes a pinhole camera.
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.159
And so it's really the it's really a totally insane thing.
00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:22.320
You just look at the ground and you just see all these little crescent suns everywhere.
00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:24.320
So every shadow becomes a crescent sun.
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.360
And it's this insanely beautiful and magical effect.
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:34.080
Um, that actually that's an exhibit I would love to develop someday, but I can't figure out a good way to build it now.
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.440
So speaking of exhibits that you have developed, yeah, yeah.
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:43.360
So as you mentioned, yeah, you've been working on this Hall of Ideas project uh here at Midland Center for the Arts for the last couple of years.
00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:49.679
Um we talked about this idea of creativity and emphasizing, elevating, reawakening creativity.
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:55.600
How do you see that uh concept at play in the in the design execution at the center?
00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:08.319
Um Yeah, I think I think one way that it's um really done quite well is is that we we chose to look at um the person from many levels and also creativity from many levels.
00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:18.160
So if you start at the main the main section in the hall of ideas, uh it's really this idea straight in your face from the beginning that you are creative.
00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:36.640
So it says it really big on the front wall when you walk in that we really wanted people uh to to know straight away when they came in the building that they everyone is creative, no matter because we heard that a lot from from people when we were doing a lot of early uh testing and talking to the to the community, that a lot of people say, I'm not I'm not a very creative person.
00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:48.960
And I think a lot of people might say that about themselves, and uh, and so we really wanted to be sure that from the very, very beginning we're telling, letting the visitor know, like they no, no, no, they they are creative and they do have value.
00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:52.400
And uh and and here you can try to experience it.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:18:16.640
And then as you move through, you you you talk you we talk about the creative community and how within a community there are so many different people, and everyone does something creative within their within their roles, and and there we have a bunch of exhibits which are kind of also designed to be worked within a group so that so that lots of people can be interacting with them together, and maybe you find a new friend there and can work with them on something.
00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:25.119
Uh, and then you move through into the creative individual where you really learn about uh what about me as creative and how do I get to use my creativity.
00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:32.960
Um yeah, and then we get to culminate with um the creative power, which yeah, we we can go into a power power.
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.680
It's like superhero, yeah, superhero moment.
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:50.640
But yeah, I mean it was really fascinating as you mentioned um, you know, in our original focus groups, uh, you know, we held up a picture of someone that the silhouette of somebody that looked like a scientist with a lab coat and a microscope and and you know a beaker or whatever else.
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:58.240
And then we held up a picture of somebody that, you know, had a beret with a canvas and a paintbrush and looked like a traditional painter and said, which one of these is creative?
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:00.799
And of course, the vast majority of the folks said the painter.
00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:10.319
And then that's when we said, okay, we have some work to do on defining what it means to be creative, and how do we use this museum, our hall of ideas?
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.200
Um, how do we use that as a space to do that?
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.480
And so um, that's really kind of kind of what we've been working on.
00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:21.200
So um, Joe, you've worked on so many projects throughout the world.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:26.400
I mean, Smithsonian galleries, many leading uh museums in all of Europe.
00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.680
In your opinion, what's what's different about this project here at the Center for the Arts?
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.519
I would say that what's different is really this focus on creativity.
00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:47.119
Um, you know, a lot of a lot of science centers or children's museums would um uh put creativity in somewhere, but it's not really such a a focus of the entire exhibition.
00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:59.839
I mean, I mean, here every single theme that we cover within the exhibition somehow focuses on the creativeness within within fields in that theme and people in those in those fields.
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.440
Um and that's that is very, very, very unique.
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:10.640
And it's very unique to not just stick creativity in the corner and call it the art studio and put some paintbrushes out.
00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:29.680
And that's all there's nothing wrong with that, but I think I think here we really we really really try to focus on the science behind creativity and all those little things, and and and focusing on the fact that that um you know the arts are everywhere and the arts are kind of constantly present in your life.
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.759
Whether or not you call them the arts or think about them as the arts, they are they are ever ever present in people's lives.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:47.119
Um and and and I think uh that's one of the things we wanted to show in this exhibition is no matter who you are, where you are, where you come from, um art can save you.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:48.240
I mean, that's good.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:49.680
Art art can save you, and it's true.
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.799
I mean the data the data's pretty overwhelming.
00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:21.440
I mean, having a creative practice or um you know what it does for well-being and overall stress levels and heart rate and uh I mean it it it's really quite profound and never uh never are the arts uh both formally and kind of informally in this creative space that we're talking about, um, more important than right now in a world that's like frankly um fairly divided, it's it's one of the things that that certainly can can unify us and and uh and can heal us.
00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:27.759
So we're very excited um to have that be such a critical part of of what we do at the center, what we do in the hall of ideas.
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:41.839
Yeah, and I think I think it was really something, uh if I may speak for the rest of the design team that that for us was really nice to from the very, very beginning kind of gave us a real grounding point um to build from.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:55.359
Uh it was this this this real idea of of keeping the arts sort of somehow in the forefront of our mind, and then also with me constantly pushing the the uh idea of of think about what the visitor is gonna do at every station and what they're gonna get out of it.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:55.920
Sure.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759
Um and uh and those two things really I think helped guide.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.519
The entire project and hopefully people enjoy it.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.079
Sure.
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:19.119
And as we're talking about this project, I certainly be would be remiss if I didn't mention you can find out more information on the project itself, www.midlandcenter.org, as well as ways to uh contribute as we have an exciting matching opportunity available uh right now.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:27.759
So please visit our website and check that out for more information, as well as how you can support this uh this exciting uh you heard it here, one of a kind, uh, one of a kind experience.
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:40.799
So um, Joe, you know, you mentioned kind of broadly the overall experience, some of the things that our guests will encounter as they kind of go through the um the kind of creative transformation they'll experience.
00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:47.359
Are there a few exhibits that are particularly memorable or one of a kind that you'd like to kind of speak about in a little more detail?
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.359
Yeah, I mean, there's uh there's one really big one that is very, very, very exciting.
00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:06.400
Um, and honestly, uh I have to say I'm very uh grateful that the center has given us the ability to pursue it because it's really um unique and novel and it might not work.
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.319
Um I mean it'll it'll work function, it'll work functionally, but I'll explain it.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:11.200
I'll explain it now.
00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:26.160
Um so so this is an exhibit that we call the muticle, which is um named named after a real patented object, which was patented by um Dow the the architect, Aldenby Dow, the architect who designed the building.
00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.319
And the the actual uh object is also uh there, the prototype of it is also gonna be in the space.
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:50.240
But he had written this uh really lovely patent uh letter, which um expi uh was a was a a design for an experience where one enters a space and they're able to create music through emotion and light and I think a symphony of feeling yeah, symphony of feeling, that's right.
00:23:50.319 --> 00:24:00.000
And and um as as so so we kind of had this thing in our head, and then we as we looked at the space and thought about what we could do with this this one area.
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:07.200
There's an area that we call the crow's nest where you kind of stand up and you're sort of able to oversee the entire gallery space.
00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.319
And so then the design team, we had a lot of back and forth, months and months of conversations.
00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:18.240
We decided it'd be really cool to let a visitor basically become the conductor of the entire gallery.
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:28.640
So one of the things you can do there is actually playing on a piano where you get uh feedback to yourself locally, but you're able to also play light boxes that are spread throughout the entire hall of ideas.
00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:31.680
And that's where I say maybe it won't work.
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:36.000
Um until it's well, no, no, no, it works.
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.599
It does work, it's already working.
00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:41.680
But uh does it work in the grand scheme of a museum?
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:49.920
Because I've I've really never seen a museum where you give visitors basically free reign of light control throughout a gallery.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.960
Uh, it's pretty uh it's pretty out there idea.
00:24:53.200 --> 00:25:05.119
And so yeah, hopefully it doesn't become something that's too distracting or but it but it's it's a really it's such a it's such a big and unique concept that it uh where I mean is maybe it doesn't work is because this is really a huge experiment.
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:18.319
Um yeah, I mean it was pretty pretty impactful when uh you know Axel Huttinger uh came here to the center and said, Wow, I've I've they always told me that uh we've never done anything like this and I didn't really believe it.
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.599
And then I came here and we've never done anything like this.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:29.839
You know, somebody that's had a uh you know, or partner, owner of the company, and someone that's uh been in the business for for over three decades, worked on museums all over the world.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.759
So I mean that that's the type of things that uh we're gonna have right here at Midland Center for the Arts.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:34.319
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.000
So it's it's very, very, very cool.
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:44.240
And it's um yeah, it's it is somehow like a culmination of of this entire concept of of art meets science, and and then also like that.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.880
So that's the thing in the in the power of creativity.
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.640
That's that's the main exhibit up there.
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:56.160
And and I mean that's such a I I I can't wait to see kids get up there and really like understand that they're controlling the entire space.
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.680
That's it's such a cool thing.
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.079
Yeah, I mean it's unbelievably empowering that you really are at the center of it all.
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:06.960
You know, for those of you familiar with our museum space, this is that area directly above the the pendulum.
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.359
Uh and if you haven't visited, I encourage you to come and visit.
00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.799
Um that area is tiered.
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:11.839
There are multiple tiers.
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.920
Each one kind of looks like a semicircle.
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:22.240
And on top of the semicircle, there are these light boxes that are maybe, what are they, 14 inches high and yeah, 14 inches high, about three and a half feet long.
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:27.119
Yeah, and each box uh there's 48 pairs, is that right?
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.559
Or 48 pairs.
00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.680
48 pairs, yeah.
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:35.839
So each pair of boxes corresponds with a note, and each note has a color, and you can play with the colors that that you see.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:44.559
So um, you know, as you play chords or different notes, you'll kind of see this uh moving cascade of of color out in the space.
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.960
But I really can't articulate how empowering that is.
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:56.480
Um, as we're working on the design, you know, for those of you that aren't familiar with my background, I uh uh in another life uh have doctorate in conducting, so I spent a lot of time on the podium.
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:09.920
But when you stand up there in that crow's nest area where this moodle exhibit is, all the tiers, as I mentioned, are arched, and it kind of looks like um an orchestra, an orchestra uh seated around a conductor.
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:22.559
And it's designed to create that empowering feeling of what it is like to be at the center of the sound, but also at the center of um this wonderful illuminated picture that each one is truly a snowflake.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.799
You know, you could go up there and and mess around, play something completely original.
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:38.000
I could go up there and play Bach, and somebody could come up there and play a Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift or John Legend, and each one is gonna look a little bit different, not only based on the music that you play, but also based on the color palette.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:41.119
You you have uh complete and full rain.
00:27:41.279 --> 00:28:00.960
So um that particular exhibit is really thrilling, but I also see it as a really thrilling um moment for us as a center because we can create uh small, intimate concert spaces up there and um use the instrument um as as quite literally a musical but also visual palette for artists to play with.
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:03.119
So it's a really exciting uh opportunity for us.
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:04.960
Yeah, and it's very it's very fun too.
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:15.920
I mean, even to think about uh, you know, our software designers came up with a few really cool ways that the the light boxes react to sound in a in a totally unique format.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:29.440
And and we we've talked about not to tell you guys what you're gonna do in the future, but even the idea of having almost an open mic night up there where the where where community members who aren't, let's say, the most famous musicians could come and you say, well, this open mic night, we're gonna have a guitar up there.
00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:34.960
Anyone can come in and play the guitar, or anybody who plays can play it, or this this night a piano.
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.359
So uh and it reacts to voices too.
00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:40.880
So even if you get uh singers up there just singing, it's it's yeah, it's pretty cool.
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:50.559
It does, and you do I mean you don't think about it, but I when we were messing around with the microphone, uh you may not know, but when we speak, our voices are pitched, right?
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:52.640
We just kind of sit on the same two or three pitches.
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:58.000
So um, you know, I would speak in the thing and it was kind of it kind of looked for a moment like uh I was the Wizard of Oz or something.
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:04.000
Uh uh kind of pulsating uh greenish color.
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.880
Um, but it was uh you know pretty pretty interesting.
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:16.880
We're excited to have that uh really as a one-of-a-kind experience for um us to use programmatically, but also for our visitors to uh to use that as a celebration of creativity.
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:21.200
I mean, that's designed to be this culminating uh moment.
00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.480
And I I wish I could you you just have to experience it.
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:31.839
Just it it just feels so grand and so elevated uh to be there in that space and be at the center of it all.
00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:44.559
Aaron Ross Powell Well, and yeah, and I think the other thing that's really great about it, um, because you know, uh the truth of the matter it is when you get into science centers, children's museums, you'll find a lot of exhibits that are kind of repeated in different places.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.960
I mean, we do our best as developers to work on that not being the case.
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.279
But anybody who goes to five, six, seven, eight museums will find repeat elements.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:54.640
Does it mean they're not great?
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:55.440
No, not at all.
00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:10.720
But this but this is one experience that I really having been to all the museums I've been to, I can't imagine a single museum where you could repeat anything even similar because the it's really specifically designed and built for the space.
00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:18.160
So even the concept of letting a visitor control a gallery, you know, if you imagine most museums, you're gonna have these galleries are sort of designed as blocks.
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:18.640
Sure.
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:21.519
So you could give them a gallery, but it won't control.
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:26.880
I mean, in your case, it's basically that gallery is 70% of the entire museum.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:27.359
Yep.
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:30.240
So so you're really giving them control of everything.
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:32.160
Um that's really cool too.
00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:32.960
Really, really unique.
00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:42.400
And just to kind of put this into comparison quantitatively, uh, how many museums have you projects have you worked on, and how many museums do you think you've visited all over the world?
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.680
Oh, geez.
00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:46.640
Uh how many museums have I worked on?
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:51.200
Um, so I've been at the company at Hootinger now for almost eight years.
00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:52.640
It'll be eight years in January.
00:30:52.799 --> 00:31:02.799
And I guess cumulatively probably worked on 40 or so different museums in some in some fashion or another.
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:07.200
And then visited that's probably in the hundreds world at this point.
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:08.400
So you heard it here.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:10.880
Worked on 40, visited hundreds.
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.519
First time ever experience at Center for the Arts.
00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:13.759
Yeah.
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:14.079
Yeah.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:22.400
I mean, how does that how does it make you feel as in a design as a designer to be a part of something that's uh truly one of a kind and not really been done before?
00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:24.720
It's very, very, very cool.
00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:40.960
You know, it's kind of funny because because for my for my family, they hear me talk about stuff and they hear about so much stuff and they they know what's kind of going on in my life with work and everything else, but they don't really have a way to kind of quantify it.
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:46.640
And and the best way I could do it is to bring to bring them and show them what I've been talking about, and then they see it in person.
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:49.440
They go, Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:32:00.079
Um so I'm really I'm really hopeful that I can do that, do that for this, for this project, because yeah, that would be a that would be a really nice way to quantify all that.
00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:01.920
But that's not really what you asked me.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:02.960
No, it's okay.
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:03.680
It's okay.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:04.960
What'd you ask me?
00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:06.720
I don't even remember anymore.
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:07.279
Okay.
00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:08.960
No, it's good.
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:15.519
So, Joe, um, it is a tradition uh for all of our guests who come on this show that we leave them with a gift.
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:17.920
So you might notice we have uh Jasmine over there.
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.559
We had Ariel Jacobs, who is Jasmine on Broadway.
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:25.119
We have uh a stopwatch, uh pocket watch, rather, over there.
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:29.359
That's from Scott Sylvan, who's an illusionist, and that was a part of his uh tradition.
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:36.559
We have a mid-century modern book to pay homage to our um our uh mid-century modern uh architecture here in Midland.
00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:42.880
Uh what else we have Beethoven, uh, of course, uh we had a wonderful pianist, Amiri Harewood, uh, come here.
00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.559
And so this is hot off the press uh with our new brand.
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.160
This is a uh Prism Kaleidoscope says Hall of Ideas.
00:32:50.240 --> 00:33:00.880
I think this might be the first one ever gifted, but uh, this is for you to take back to Germany as a as a memory of uh your time in the podcast today and a small memento of your work on the project.
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:02.079
That is fantastic.
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:02.720
Yeah.
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:03.680
Love these things.
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:04.319
Super cool.
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:04.799
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:05.279
Thank you very much.
00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:06.079
Give it to your family.
00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:06.319
Yeah.
00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:06.480
Yeah.
00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:10.000
So uh one last question for you before we go.
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:19.200
Um, so outside of your work, which is highly creative by nature, you know, what's one thing uh that you're doing to awaken your creativity right now?
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:24.160
Uh I think the thing I do mostly to awaken my creativity is spend time in nature.
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.240
So the nice thing is my commute to work is usually by bicycle.
00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:29.359
There you go.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:33.839
And uh so my my bike ride to and from work is usually somewhat in nature.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:34.880
I try to keep it in there.
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:43.440
So um, yeah, spending time in nature, letting my brain kind of calm down and relax a little bit, that that tends to really help awaken it when I need it.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:44.079
Cool.
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:44.480
Yeah.
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.599
Well, Joe, thank you so much for for being on Awakening Creativity.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:48.559
Always good to be with you.
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:50.559
And uh we appreciate you taking time to be on the show today.
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:51.759
Yeah, my pleasure, Matt.
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:52.799
Thank you very much.
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.359
What a great conversation we had today with Joe Cook.
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:10.000
He's got me thinking deeply about that idea of awe, trying to use awe as a device to consider in our daily actions.
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:18.320
Try to inspire awe in others in the way that we treat one another, trying to use awe as a motivator uh in all that we do.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:22.159
It's something that I'll consider this week, and I hope that you'll think about it too.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:25.679
I'd like to thank JNC Media for helping us record this show.
00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:29.840
I'd like to thank our producer, Alex Woody, certainly our guest, Joe Cook.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.760
I'd also like to thank our official sponsor, Hub International.
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.079
Thank you for all that you do to make this podcast happen and for supporting the center.
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:43.760
For more information about Midland Center for the Arts, please visit our website, www.midlandcenter.org.
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:46.960
And in the meantime, be good to one another and we'll see you soon.
