Over five years ago, the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) was, like many other Midwestern and regional museums across the country, at a crossroads. The great recession, coupled with the general public’s shrinking interest in art museums, had complicated plans for a capital campaign and expansion and cast doubt onto the museum’s future. Unlike the “art museum as tourist destination” model (as one example, 60 percent of MoMA’s attendance is international visitors), CMA’s value, attendance, and survival is dependent on its local and regional community. Our mission is to create great experiences with great art for everyone. But what keeps community members returning to a museum again and again instead of checking it off a “to-do” list? How can a museum reimagine itself so that it is relevant and integral to the community while maintaining its strengths, mission, and vision? As many studies and authors have shown, twentieth-century models relying on passive engagement, outstanding collections, and blockbuster exhibitions would not suffice. In short, if staff and the board did not develop creative solutions for new twenty-first-century challenges, the museum would not survive — a threat that was unimaginable a decade ago but is now a reality for many museums. CMA decided to tackle this challenge by embarking on a physical and philosophical journey that was risky — we were calling into question the museum’s purpose and existence— yet ironically even more in alignment with its mission: fostering community learning through the lens of creativity. We define creativity as “the process of applying imagination and critical thinking in order to generate new ideas that have value.” Creativity is foundational to arts and learning. The museum holds incredible examples of creativity in its galleries, but it is also a capacity that all citizens and communities must cultivate and grow to succeed. Everyone needs creativity, whether scientists, retail workers, politicians, waste management specialists, entrepreneurs, educators, or students. Creativity has become the museum’s social mission, its purpose that rallies