Culture shapes business. Artists shape culture. People shape change. Backed by science, grounded in Courageous Imagination™, we are future-proofing American innovation through creativity, workplace wellbeing and cross-cultural collaboration.
IMAGINATOR SUMMIT | October 13-14, 2022
Why don’t good ideas succeed? Most of the time, it’s not the quality of the idea. It’s the culture readiness for moving the idea forward. Register now.
What’s at stake when 65% of people are disengaged at work?
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Culture
We all seek meaning in our work. This includes connecting and creating with colleagues in workplaces where we can thrive. But toxic work culture is driving people to leave their jobs. *
*MIT Sloan Management Review | January 11, 2022
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Growth
An actively disengaged workforce costs America $450 billion every year in lost productivity.* That’s the equivalent of nearly $15,000 every second.
*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021; Gallup 2021
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Wellbeing
Most of us will spend more of our waking life at work than anywhere else. And while steady paychecks and other perks matter, the systematic neglect of culture may be the single greatest barrier to workforce health and wellbeing.
*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021. World Health Organization, 2014
Building America’s creativity infrastructure for the future of work requires deep, respectful partnerships between artists, scientists and business.
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Culture Analytics
Our data-supported approach uses scientific methods to visualize where there are hidden opportunities to improve workforce wellbeing and emerging opportunities to foster inclusive innovation.
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Creativity ID
We get it. Creativity can feel threatening to some. But, creativity is only dangerous if you don’t know how to use it. We are experts at ciphering through the noise to identify creativity that is likely to become new cultural and economic value.
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Future Casting
While nobody can predict the future, our work is evidence-based and defensible. We translate a broad range of research and creative work into customized coaching to equip diverse leaders with the skills they need to transform their lived experiences into future-focused strategies of Courageous Imagination.
Calling all entrepreneurs, artists, scholars, consumers, scientists, leaders and learners
We believe the Great Resignation is really America coming to life again as a country of Courageous Imagination. That’s what we are out to map, measure and make real.
Take 10 minutes to co-create this movement with us by taking the workforce census on creativity and belonging.
Cultures of Courageous Imagination build smart, savvy futures
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Navigation
In today’s world, movements spring up around ideas that are simultaneously social, economic, and tech-enabled. We help leaders and learners navigate these shifting cultural landscapes through actionable, evidence-based insights.
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Agility
Imaginator Academy meets people where they are. Validated through rigorous analysis, our unique data set of culture signals supports dynamic planning for responsibility, profitability, and sustainability.
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Culturally Responsive
Imaginator Academy is being co-created with cultural leadership from business, arts, media, economics, science, humanities, technology, public health, law, and even international diplomacy — an approach that’s as inclusive as the future we seek.
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Storytelling
Stories change the world. Data makes those stories investable and scalable. Our CU Denver base camp in the Rocky Mountains connects a global network of hi-tech/hi-touch professionals from human-centered design, experience economy, creative industries, media, and communications. All focused on working together to craft and spread narratives that humanize the future of work.
Don’t miss our First Annual Imaginator Summit
Coming October 13-14, 2022 experience how to Raise Up Courageous Imagination!
This future-focused summit centers on equipping leaders and learners with actionable skills for aligning culture change with innovation. Be the first to receive sponsorship and attendance details when released. This is a companion event to the inaugural Cross-Atlantic Creativity Congress in Salzburg, Austria. A book of the proceedings of both will be published together.
The imaginators behind the movement
Meet the people and networks propelling Imaginator Academy.
Founding CU Denver Imaginators
Theo Edmonds, (he/they) – Strategy & Culture Futurism
Katherine Goodman, (she/hers) – Engineering & Human-centered Design
Sarah Engel (she/hers) – Entrepreneurship & Mission-Driven Mindsets
Courageous Imagination Research Collaborators
Cameron Lister, (he/his) – Data Science & Visualization
Hannah M. Merseal, (she/hers) – Pennsylvania State University
Cultural & Industry Advisors
Kristina Newman-Scott, Media Culture & Creative Economy
Hannah L. Drake, Arts, Culture & Activism
Josh Miller, Photography & Fashion
Kathleen Schroeter, MediaTech & Business
Seda Röder, Creativity Technology & Leadership
Wendy Lea, Innovation Ecosystems
CU Denver Collaborators
Business School
Manuel Serapio, International Business
Kelly See, Management
Education & Human Development
Scott Bauer, Dean’s Office
Kent Seidel, Research & Evaluation Methods
Julia Mahfouz, Leadership
Laura Summers, Learning and Design Technology
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Troy Butler, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Lauren McKown, Anthropology. Health Science Researcher for Denver-Seattle Center of Innovation (COIN), in Department of Veterans Affairs
Engineering, Computing & Design
Monika Wittig, Inworks Innovation Initiative/Anschutz
Medicine (Anschutz)
Lauren Hughes, Family Medicine
Marc Moss, Medicine-Pulmonary Sciences & Critical Care
CU Boulder
Alicia Sepulveda, Law/Certified Academic Life Coach
Arts & Media
Michelle Carpenter, Chair, Visual Arts
Jim Phelan, Film & Television
Roma Sur, Film & Television
Storm Gloor, Music and Entertainment Industry Studies
Owen Kortz, Music and Entertainment Industry Studies
Becky Heavner, Illustration and Design
Vivian George, Art Practices
Alice Crogan, Marketing & Communications
Megan Briggs, Marketing & Communications
Sara Walpole, Dean’s Office
Sam McGuire, Music and Entertainment Industry Studies
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“Courage is the sum of those small, hard choices a person or organization makes each day in striving to live the best story they can tell. A story that may even be a little scary because it liberates the greatness within. Through the wilds of untouched life, courage calls our hearts into freedom.
All human knowledge begins as Imagination. It is a precursor to creativity and the operating system of humanity. Imagination makes possible all our thinking about the past, present, and future. Imagination is critical for expanding our human experience.”
Theo Edmonds,
Definitions inspired by many artists from Raghava KK and Maya Angelou to Walt Whitman and Dolly Parton; and researchers ranging from Tania Zittoun and Vlad Glăveanu to Margaret Ann Boden and Teresa M. Amabile.