This study intended to develop a theoretical framework for understanding children's collaborative creativity in music. The focus was on creative interactions and on how early primary children interact when they engage in creative group music making. Related questions were on: 1) the different communicative media employed, 2) the component aspects of group work influencing children's creative endeavours, 3) the meanings that children attribute to their creative experience, and 4) the educational and ethical values of creative interactions. The study was carried out in a private music school in Rome, Italy. A group of eight 5-7-year-old children participated over eight months in 30 weekly sessions of group creative activities in music and movement. I was the teacher researcher and worked with a co-teacher. This exploratory, interpretive inquiry was framed by sociocultural perspectives on learning and creativity. A qualitative research methodology was adopted, which combined methodological elements derived from case study research, ethnographic approaches, and practitioner research. Data collection methods included participant observation, video-recording of sessions, documentation, and strategies for eliciting children's meanings. Thematic analysis, both theory-driven and data-driven, was conducted in order to identify relevant issues. The findings of the study suggest that in creative collaborative work in music bodily interactions and musical interactions have a stronger significance than verbal interactions. A conceptual distinction was made between 'cooperative' vs 'collaborative' which helped to characterise the different degrees of interactivity in the group's creative work. The study identified a range of component aspects which influenced the quality and productivity of children's collaborative interactions. These included: children's characteristics, context and setting, pedagogical approach, task design, collaboratively emergent processes, underlying tensions in creative learning, reflection on and evaluation of creative work, and time. Children actively gave meaning to their group creative music making mostly in terms of imagery and narrative, though they were gradually shifting towards more purely musical conceptualisations. Creating music in groups had the potential to enhance their sense of competence, ownership and belonging, and supported ethical values such as promoting the person, freedom, responsibility, a multiplicity of perspectives, and democracy. Three meta-themes run throughout the findings of the study, which are in line with sociocultural perspectives: i) a systems perspective as necessary to gain a more comprehensive view of collaborative creativity; ii) creativity as an inherently social phenomenon, and iii) creativity as processual and emergent. The implications for pedagogical practice highlight the importance of including creative collaborative activities in the music curriculum.

The focus of this study is on creativity and how place can affect it. Previous research on the subject has provided many answers to how and why places affect creativity, much because of the fact that a place can be such many things: a work place, a university, a city, a country – the list is endless. Studies have as such provided different answers in regards to the impact place can have on creativity, because they have investigated the impact of different sorts of places. However, what these studies have failed to clarify or acknowledge is that places exist within the boundaries of other places, and are as such inseparable if one are to ultimately understand the impact place has had on a creative outcome. In order to address this problem I have divided the concept of place into three abstract and physical levels: macro, meso, and micro. By applying this perspective on the historical example of the emergence of the Impressionists in Paris, France during the latter half of the 19th century I was able to distinguish how France as a nation, Paris as a city, and buildings such as cafés, artistic studios, and museums all contributed in different, but equally important, ways to the formation, cohesion and creative output of the Impressionists. As such, this study serves as an example that shows how collaborative creativity emerges within the boundaries of several places positioned on different abstract and physical levels; thus, it is only when we combine the different ways that each of these places contribute to creative collaboration that we are able to make any conclusions in regards to the impact place has had on its formation and creative output.

This dissertation identifies the diluting effects that network society has had on the avant-garde subcultures, by first building a framework through which to understand the social structure and spatial production of the historical avant-garde, and then comparing this with contemporary avant-garde movements. The avant-garde is a cultural tradition that originated in modern 18th century Europe and North America, that critically responds to hegemonic power structures and mainstream cultural assumptions. I use the term “avant-garde subcultures” because my research focuses on the entire social group of the avant-garde. Most scholarship on the avant-garde has overlooked the importance that social relations, in particular supportive actors, and collaborative spaces have served in the creativity of the avant-garde. During the past twenty years, as society has shifted into a dependence on networked interactive technologies, the boundaries which protect these avant-garde spaces and social relations were diluted. As a result, avant-garde subcultures have entered a phase of recursively repeating themselves and culturally stagnating. I begin by reviewing the historical avant-garde and subcultures, building an overarching theory that explains that avant-garde is a type of subculture. Using past scholarship that maps the conceptual lineage from early bohemians to 1970s punk rock, I synthesize a set of traits which all avant-garde subcultures exhibit, and which can be used to build their genealogy. I then extend this genealogy to contemporary art practitioners, to prove that the avant-garde tradition continues to this day. Next, I develop a philosophical understanding of the importance of space for hegemonic power structures, based largely on the work of Henri Lefebvre. I explain how avant-garde subcultures produce spaces of representation in the cafes, bars and night clubs they inhabit, which challenge hegemony by being different from normal values and aesthetics. I reference first-hand accounts of these spaces of representation, to show how they enable the collaboration and creative thinking that is most often associated with the avant-garde. The avant-garde protect these spaces through a set of cultural boundaries: fashion, slang, esoteric knowledge, accumulation, and physical space. Manuel Castell's concept of network society depicts how hegemonic power structures have become pervasive, and thus can overcome the boundaries of avant-garde subcultures. As a result, avant-garde subcultures have increasingly become retrogressive and fluid. Some avant-garde practitioners, such as tactical media, have evolved methods for addressing these problems. While these are effective in continuing the avant-garde tradition of introducing difference, there are no adequate methods for producing new spaces of representation. I examine Eyebeam, an arts and technology center, which has since 1997 provided a space for many contemporary practitioners. While unique in its circumstances, Eyebeam has adopted several processes which have enabled it to overcome the diluting effects of network society, thereby providing a potential model for building future spaces of representation.

The increasingly virtualized work life, brought on by increased demand on flexibility and work- life balance as well as technological development, has changed the way we work. At the same time the need for organizations to be creative in order to compete on the expanding market has grown. This is a fact that increases the need for groups to be creative through collaboration. Hence, this study investigates how collaborative creativity can be created in Mobile Multi-Locational Work Systems, from a managerial point of view. The existing theoretical body of knowledge on collaborative creativity and virtual structures, such as Mobile Multi-Locational Work Systems, points to communication as an area of key importance. When further investigating the factor of communication, two sub-areas were identified; Social Factors and Coordination. Moreover the role of leadership in collaborative creativity implies that managers have an important role in creating conditions for collaborative creativity. In order to investigate how collaborative creativity can be stimulated in Mobile Multi-Locational Work Systems, managerial perceptions of work within such a system were collected through interviews at our case company, Microsoft AB. The organization had implemented a Mobile Multi- Locational Work Systems called the New World of Work, allowing employees to work flexibly. Results imply that Mobile Multi-Locational Work Systems affect conditions for collaborative creativity in both stimulating and inhibiting manners. The system implementation appears to increase group external communication across organizational boundaries. It likely increases the amount of ideas and knowledge available, which is positive for collaborative creativity. However, handling factors related to communication, social factors and work coordination within work groups appears to be critical in facilitating collaborative creativity as they appear to be affected by the Mobile Multi-Locational Work System implementation. Results indicate that if managers allows freedom with responsibility, provides a clear framework, creates forums for social and work interaction, coaches their employees and acts as role models it is likely that they will stimulate collaborative creativity in their team.

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