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I approach every article with a question: “What can business leaders learn from the arts?” With major changes to our economy and society coming from globalization, automation and artificial intelligence, there is a timeless wisdom to be found in the process and practice of creativity. My column celebrates ingenious creators in the arts and the business leaders who have the insight to find value where those worlds come together.
Ernest Hemingway learned to write by studying the paintings of Paul Cézanne. It was unconventional, but effective. What might we lose as AI optimizes our creativity?
Will robots take our work? Are we competing with them? A new time and motion performance called “Breathless: Catie and the Robot” explores the dignity of human labor and the beauty of dancing with machines.
The intersecting trends of talent scarcity and the rise of AI means that traditional hiring metrics no longer work. The smartest companies are looking past the resume for employees who bring an unusual background to their job.
In 1993 Xerox PARC, the Silicon Valley research powerhouse, launched an artist-in-residence program to encourage a different kind of innovation. As we look to an AI-mediated future, the lessons from that experiment in transdisciplinary creativity are more important than ever.
Hiring is risky. But in an era of exponentially rapid change, the real danger is playing it safe. Those with a background in the arts represent a valuable and untapped source of talent.
Movies and television usually depict embodied AI as malevolent robots. Terror sells. But without access to the physical world and a tactile curiosity, AI will never be fully creative.
Artistry and craft are the foundation of MycoWorks, a biomaterials company partnering with some of today’s leading fashion brands. According to its artist-founders, Phil Ross and Sophia Wang, these core values lend them a competitive edge in a high-tech industry.
For the creative professions, the rise of generative A.I. feels like an existential threat. But a familiar technology, invented 184 years ago, can show us how to adapt and thrive in a new reality.
On November 8, California voters passed Proposition 28, an act that guarantees 1% of the K-12 budget go towards arts and music education. With almost no opposition, the success of this effort shows that the public is ahead of its leaders when it comes to valuing the arts.
The next generation of virtual worlds must focus on our shared humanity. That’s why EY’s Cognitive Human Enterprise and the New Museum’s NEW INC are bringing together artists and engineers to imagine a different kind of metaverse.
With an innovative residency program at Ginkgo Bioworks, artists are helping to shape the future of synthetic biology.
Recent data and analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the first year of the pandemic caused the most severe economic setback for the arts and culture sector in the last 22 years. But there are also reasons for hope.
A nearly ten year commitment to bringing the arts in-house is giving Thoughtworks a unique perspective on the value of pairing artists with engineers.
From robotics to AI, the careers of tomorrow will require creative, interdisciplinary, and humanist thinking. Liberal arts graduates are poised to succeed in this new and transfigured world.
What arts and culture policies will the Biden/Harris administration pursue in 2021 and beyond? The arts have taken a beating this year, but fresh thinking in government and the private sector reveal opportunities for a new beginning.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Like a beloved object that falls to the floor and shatters, the pandemic battered our health, jobs, and sense of security. But just six months later the first hints of gold are now coming into view.
The French painter Henri Matisse created his most joyful images while incapacitated and bedridden for the last decade of his life. In a time of pandemic, he can teach us how flights of imagination overcome deprivation, and how we can find strength in solitude.
The Art Students League is now offering a full roster of online classes because of the current pandemic. For an institution that prizes the tactile experience and person-to-person interaction, this rapid shift to online learning has revealed challenges and opportunities.
Bolt-of-lightning ideas are a stereotype of creativity, but in reality, they are exceptionally rare. Masters of their art, like Chef Bruno Bertin, know that inspiration only happens when years of discipline have made their instincts as certain as trial and error.
“I wanted to start a network that showed the world, but especially corporate America, the value of studying the arts and the power of having an arts background.”
Making use of diversity within a team to generate new ideas and solve problems is called creative friction. Two companies in very different industries are turning that to their advantage.
Co-working has transformed the landscape of work. Will it do the same for art? A new model where artists exhibit and sell at co-working spaces is challenging the primacy of galleries in reaching art-lovers and buyers.
An evolving media landscape of connected communications requires a new model for creative teams.
A new report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis contradicts a common belief that the arts are of peripheral importance to American abundance.
In an age of digital media saturation, make a statement and change someone's life with a gift they can hold in their hands and treasure for years to come.
Looking up and observing the world is a habit that the most successful innovators take very seriously. It should be at the top of our New Year's resolution lists.
Leaders in the arts and business communities are developing partnerships and new opportunities for mutually beneficial relationships.
The most valuable thing you can offer to those around you is your attention. It's a skill that's worth learning.
Japanese billionaire and entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa has purchased all the seats on the first flight of SpaceX's BFR rocket around the moon in 2023. And he has decided to make the journey with artists, who will be our eyes.
What can ballet dancers do with the artistry and discipline acquired over years performing when they retire? Lead organizations that share their passion.