I have been coming across a lot of interesting information lately. It’s just that very little of it is pertinent to arts management. At least, not in a way that my brain has been able to perceive connections.

As a believer in the need to expose ones mind to myriad ideas in order to stop thinking about work and day to day concerns all the time, I will step out of the usual theme of this blog and suggest some thought stimulating material.

In this case, I would like to point you to the TED website. They hold an annual conference where they invite thinkers and performers who have something interesting to share. Every week they post need video of sessions that were conducted during the conferences.

I have been checking a couple out each week for a month or so now and can attest to the quality of thought being presented. I hate to admit it, but I haven’t watched any of the performances yet because so many other topics are so compelling.

The videos are only about 20 minutes long so they fit a lunch break or short quiet moments you might be able to grab at home.

Among some of my favorites of the ones I have watched thus far-

Charles Leadbetter talking about creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson discussing the problems inherent to removing creativity from education (very funny guy)

Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell talking about marketing and answering unrealized needs.

Now granted, some of the above talks will cover areas of interest to people in the arts. But I was also intrigued by-

Barry Schwartz talking about being overwhelmed by choices. An interesting supplement to Gladwell’s praise of offering more choices and Godin’s discussion of how people are so bombarded with advertising, they tune out.

Steven Levitt talking about why crack dealers still live with their mothers.

Peter Donnelly discussing how, when even mathematicians are mistaken about statistics, the layperson can make enormous errors in believing them. (A caution to us, perhaps, about the validity of survey data.)

Hope you find something that fires your imagination and interest.