Astounding Mixture Of Art And Business
Dalí Museum Rolls Out New Innovation Labs Training Program

October 5, 2015

Customized Workshops, Master Classes & Retreats

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (October 5, 2015) – The Dalí Museum, located on the waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, FL, announces Innovation Labs, one-of-a-kind innovation-training experiences based in business and art. The programs combine more than 60 years of psychology and management research on creativity, creative problem solving, and innovation; infused with Dalí’s methods to unlock every team’s untapped creative potential.

After two years in “beta mode” and increasing demand from the business community, the program has been renamed (originally called The Edge) and augmented to include three unique offerings:

Solutions Labs – Ideation Workshops
The design and facilitation of applied creativity workshops that address a client’s specific goal or challenge.

Skills Labs – Skill building for creativity, innovation, and change leadership.
The design and delivery of proprietary creativity and innovation classes to train the specific skills, and provide the learnable mindsets, of creative thinking and problem solving that drive organizational innovation.

Leader Labs – Team building and offsite leadership retreats.
The design and facilitation of group retreats for senior leadership.

The Dalí provided dynamic proof that new ideas advance rapidly in imaginative architectural spaces. As well, the creativity of Salvador Dalí could be utilized in other pursuits beyond art. Executive Director Hank Hine noted, “Dalí was a master at seeing the world in new ways. His capacity to imagine new ways of doing things was remarkable. This quality is essential to organizations that rely on its people’s creativity. Innovation Labs blends Salvador Dalí’s imaginative thinking with rich and proven methodology. All in The Dalí’s inspiring environment.”

Nationally known innovation engineer, Nathan Schwagler, then a professor at neighboring University of South Florida St. Petersburg, shaped the program with Hine. Schwagler now works as Lead Program Designer and Executive Facilitator of The Dalí Museum Innovation Labs. Together with Hine, they create and deliver exercises that foster original thinking and imaginative problem solving.

“We’re excited to extend the reach of art in this direction. We know art’s power to satisfy the soul and stir the mind, but reaching into business problems and organizational changes is something new and very rewarding,” said Hine.

Uniquely suited for the roll, Schwagler comes to The Dalí with expert-level facilitation skills across a portfolio of Creative Problem Solving methodologies including Design Thinking, TRIZ, Synectics, Lateral Thinking, Bio-Mimicry and Osborn-Parnes CPS. Schwagler is a certified administrator of both the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile and the creative problem solving preference measure, FourSight, which has been utilized by organizations including Nike, Google, IBM, Kraft, and L’oreal, and academic institutions including MIT, Stanford, and Harvard.

Schwagler is also a certified practitioner of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, and The Dalí is proud to be the only museum in the US to offer a specialist with this designation. What’s more, from Nov 2-4, The Dalí is partnering with the StrategicPlay Group Ltd. to offer a special 3-day immersive workshop to train people to become LEGO SERIOUS PLAY facilitators.

About The Dalí Museum
The Dalí Museum, located in the heart of beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, is home to an unparalleled collection of Salvador Dalí art, featuring more than 2,000 works comprising nearly 100 oil paintings; over 100 watercolors and drawings; and 1,300 prints, photographs, sculptures and objects d’art.

The building is itself a work of art, featuring 1,062 triangular-shaped glass panels – the only structure of its kind in North America. Nicknamed The Enigma, it provides an unprecedented view of St. Petersburg’s picturesque waterfront. The Museum has attracted the world’s attention, and among the other distinguished awards it has received, it was listed by AOL Travel News as “one of the top buildings to see in your lifetime.”

The Dalí Museum is located at One Dalí Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701. For additional information contact 727.823.3767.

MEDIA CONTACT
Lorin Konchak, lkonchak@paradiseadv.com, 954.815.2156
Tara Tufo, ttufo@paradiseadv.com, 727.821.5155 x 126