Nurturing the Creative Spark

The quest to increase our creative reservoir has always been central to the human experience. While we recognize how important creativity is in our lives, we might be uncertain about how to nurture it in the minds of young people, whether at home, in school, or at a museum. Does exposure to the visual and performing arts foster creativity? Join us for an exciting conversation as we explore key questions about the interconnection between creativity, the arts, and education. Drawing on decades of experience and success in their own fields, Anthony Brandt, Francesca Fuchs and Vehishta Kaikobad will delve into the topic from the vantage point of a visual artist, a composer, and an arts educator, offering testimonies about their own creative process and techniques used to spark creativity in their students.

Anthony Brandt is Professor of Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and serves as Artistic Director of the music ensemble Musiqa which presents inter-disciplinary public concerts and free educational programming for public school students. Professor Brandt and neuroscientist David Eagleman have co-authored The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World (Catapult, 2017) which has been published in fourteen countries. He is currently a co-investigator in several studies involving music, health, and creativity and has also pioneered a collaboration with the University of Houston BRAIN Center.

Francesca Fuchs has taught at the Glassell School of Art since 1997, where she is head of the 2-D department. She completed her BFA at London’s Wimbledon School of Art (now Wimbledon College of Arts) and her MFA at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. Her work has been shown at institutions including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has taught at Rice University, the University of Houston and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

Vehishta Kaikobad holds a diploma in Montessori education and has over 30 years of experience in the field of early childhood, middle school, and high school education. In 2024, Ms. Kaikobad was the recipient
of two prestigious awards reflecting her dedication and passion for education and art, the Y. Ping Sun Educator Award by Asia Society Texas Center and the Dinshaw Framroze Joshi Excellence in Performing Arts, Painting or Literature Award. As a teaching artist at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Glassell Junior School, Ms. Kaikobad conducts innovative workshops and offers outreach programs to citywide schools.