John Maeda, author of the best-selling book Redesigning Leadership, will be the featured speaker at the fifth annual Creative Edge Lecture on Wednesday, March 26 from 9-10:30 a.m. at the Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, presented by Arts Orange County, Fourth District PTA, Orange County Department of Education and Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The title sponsors of the event are The Boeing Company and Phil & Mary Lyons.

John Maeda has long been a champion of STEAM Education [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) as a way to build our students into creative thinkers.

STEAM-style education can be a powerful pathway to deliver enjoyable, meaningful and more engaging instruction as well as give our students an advantage in a workplace focused on innovation.

John Maeda is a leader who imagines and demonstrates how design can simplify technology and help us all to respond to new challenges in this era of expanding social media. His work as a graphic designer, computer scientist, artist and educator earned for him the distinction of being named one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire and one of the best Twitter feeds by Time magazine.

The Creative Edge Lecture Series was established by Arts Orange County to celebrate the role of creativity in all human endeavors and to inform how the arts and arts education contribute to maximizing our creative efforts. Previous speakers include Daniel H. Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, Randy Nelson and Tom Kelley.

More details about the lecture may be found here.

CHANCE OPENS NEW THEATRE WITH NAMING GIFT FROM THE AITKENS

The Chance Theater held the Grand Opening of its new theatre on January 25.  Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait (right, with wife Julie) cut the ribbon and also announced that it would be named the Bette Aitken Theatre Arts Center thanks to a $250,000 gift from Wylie Aitken in honor of his wife (both pictured on the left).  The Aitkens are Anaheim residents, and Mr. Aitken is the Chairman of the California Arts Council, from which he also presented a proclamation celebrating the Chance Theater's expansion.  The new theatre is located in the same building as its former home, on La Palma Blvd., but provides the company with a much larger space, including expanded stage, dressing room facilities, lobby area, restrooms and technical facilities.  More details may be found in this Los Angeles Times article.