The Creative Economy: A New 'Voice' for the Arts

What voice do the arts have in today's economy? For much of our recent history, the arts have been considered a ‘nice to have’, a quality of life amenity that certainly helps make a difference in the community, but expendable when there are tough budget or resource choices. We are painfully aware of being excluded as serious priority from the public funding and the arts education conversations. But, there is a new table that we can join with a strong and purposeful voice – and that is the ‘economic development’ table. 

I’m not just talking about economic impact (which many economic development specialists dismiss), or community/quality of life, but measured, quantifiable economic development in the same manner as biotech, healthcare, or construction industries. While many in the arts community believe that anything connecting us with the same tools to business somehow ‘taints’ our value or impact or role, the truth is – if you are not at the economic development table these days, you are just not part of the conversation – period – like it or not. But the reality today is that we can demonstrate the value of being seated at that table, perhaps for the very first time.

Measuring our ‘creative economy/industries’ is a relatively new endeavor in our country (since about 1999) but it has been around much longer in Europe and Australasia. Even the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has put out two reports on the value and impact of our ‘creative economy’, with the latest being Creative Economy Report 2010: A Feasible Development Option. Creative economy connects the nonprofit arts, for profit creative businesses (such as advertising, web digital design, printing, media, etc) and independent creatives (musicians, graphic artists) under one umbrella  - because they all produce products or services which originate with aesthetic, creative or cultural content. Once the net is cast around these industries, we can measure them the same way any other industry sector is measured. Generally, this is done with NAICS (industry codes) and SOC (occupation codes) to count and determine wage value of industry sector jobs. And measuring the growth of jobs in a sector is a critical component of community development policy. For an example of how this is compiled and analyzed, check out Creative Alliance Milwaukee’s recent creative industries profile.

While you might not like being in the same sandbox as manufacturing, biotech, healthcare, etc, the ability to speak about the arts as a measurable industry cluster that is making a serious economic contribution to the success of our communities gives you an important voice at the table. Now, here’s the real opportunity – once you are seated at the table, you can help shape the conversation. It’s up to you to speak to the arts’ intrinsic value, its contribution to education, why quality of life and creative placemaking are crticial to the health of your community.

The relatively new profiling of our ‘creative industries’ is one of the best opportunities we have right now for a voice at the table. The NEA’s investment in developing and measuring ‘creative placemaking’ has equal potential at the community table. How we speak at the table will determine our future. So, what will you say when you have the opportunity to speak?

Arts and the Private Sector Blog Salon

This pas week, Americans for the Arts hosted an Arts and Business blog salon. You can see all of the postings  here.  There is an amazing array of writers and reflections. Some of my favorites are:

"Arts and Culture Can Help Solve the Creativity Crisis in Business" by Neil McKenzie  He references the IBM study of its global CEO's identifying creativity as the critical ingredient for navigating a complex world, and offers ideas on harnessing creativity in the workplace.

"The Arts for Arts Sake Conundrum" by John Eger. John talks about the relationship between bringing the arts into the corporate world and the intrinsic value of the arts.

As someone who has spent my career in arts administration, a great deal of which meant asking for corporate contributions, I really liked "Ask Not What the Company Can Do For You...." by Krista Lang Blackwood. She gives a very clear assessment on what makes the most sense when arts organizations approach corporate donors - a must read for arts organizations.

The link between business school training and the arts is an intriguing one, explored by Tom Tresser in "Time for New Thinking and Being in Our Business Schools".

And, I was fortunate to have two postings on the site as well. "The Creative Economy: A New Opportunity for the Arts" and  "Linking Creative Education and Talent Development".

I encourage you to explore the range of blogs in this arts and private sector blog salon. There are many fascinating tidbits of research and information, as well as a host of insightful and thought-provoking perceptions.

Why Creativity and Innovation are Not Interchangeable

It has been interesting to me how interchangeable the words 'creativity' and 'innovation' have become - particularly in the business community. The truth is that while they are clearly connected and intertwined, they are not interchangeable. The National Creativity Network and the Lincoln Center Institute have both adopted the ICI Framework: Imagination is the capacity to conceive of what is not (spark); Creativity is imagination applied (process); and Innovation is unique or novel creativity (product). I think this framework is critically important to those of us dedicated to advancing the creativity of our communities and anyone interested in widening the capacity to be innovative.

I have been interviewing human resource executives to understand if they look for and develop creativity skills in their talent - and what skills gaps they may be finding linked to their school preparation. The executives in manufacturing say "we don't talk about creativity because it is too squishy, too artsy; we have to talk about innovation because that is about product development and ROI". So, where does he think the capacity to innovate comes from - breathing the air in his business environment? The business community is generally interested in what drives to the bottom line and they want to get there as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Understandable, and yet, I fear they are missing a huge opportunity for an authentic competitive edge by looking for and fostering the creative skill set of their talent. They are missing the key differentiator - the capacity of their talent to be creative so that they contribute to innovation.

Everyone can be creative and the creative process is open to be nurtured by anyone. And yet, by the time we are adults we rarely describe ourselves as 'creative' - it is just not on our radar screen. And so, when our career track is calling on us to think more creatively about our options, and our workplace is screaming for more innovation, why is it we don't look at how we are developing our own and the collective creative capacity - our ability to express our best potential and resonate with the potential of everyone around us.

Innovation will absolutely not happen without a strongly developed creative skill set. If we are serious about optimizing our innovative abilities then we need to maximize our creative capital. And we need to recognize that creativity and innovation are two parts of the Imagination/Creativity/Innovation framework.

2011 Creativity Forum in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has followed on from its wildly successful 2010 World Creativity Forum with a one-day creativity forum this past November 1, 2011 in Norman, Oklahoma. Over 1200 participants attended, dominantly from Oklahoma (great turnout from lots of students) but good representation from around North America. Thank Creative Oklahoma for their membership in the International Districts of Creativity, uniting 14 creative and innovative regions around the world, and their dedication to fostering creativity in education, commerce and culture.

This forum was very well designed by Creative Oklahoma, committed to cutting edge discussions, very diverse in its offerings and attendees, and unashamed to just keep putting 'creativity' front and center.

Plenary speakers included Gregg Fraley on Driving 21st Century Innovation; John Mackey, CEO and Founder of Whole Foods on creativity and conscious capitalism; Kevin Carroll of The Red Rubber Ball fame. All of these men (okay, the Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, gave some brilliant welcoming remarks, including announcing the new Innovative Challenge Index for the state, which is akin to Massachusetts' Creativity Challenge Index) were both inspirational and motivational. An opportunity to reflect and walk away thinking carpe diem.

Panel sessions that I enjoyed included:
Tamara Christensen and Cynthia Rolfe on Big Ideas.Focused Action. Problem Solved. My takeaway was understanding that the divergent/convergent creative thinking process can be very deliberate and lead quite quickly from problem exploration to identifying the big idea to focusing on criteria-based action.

Robert Sternberg's Creativity is a Decision was truly inspirational, and he is a funny guy. My takeaway was how much creativity is a decision to 'defy the crowd'; and how much it can be developed and nurtured in anyone. I also liked his phrase that 'creative people are value investors in the realm of ideas'.

My colleague, John Cimino, did a breakout session, The Creative Mind:Self-Knowledge and Directions of Growth. I liked his comment, "the interplay of perception and inspiration guides discovery and creativity, not logic"; and that we will in the spaces to make meaning in our lives.

Great kudos to Creative Oklahoma (and check out their website for session tapes) for continuing to advance the conversation on the role of creativity in commerce, education and culture in such a professional, inclusive manner.