business committee for the arts
Second Annual
Forum for New Ideas
October 8, 2004
Steelcase Inc.
New York, NY
The Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA), in collaboration with the Corporate Design Foundation presented the second annual Forum for New Ideas to generate new ways for business and the arts to work together.
Sponsors:
Steelcase Inc., New York, NY
Moderator:
Thomas P. Putnam
Chairman
MARKEM Corporation, Keene, NH
Panelists:
John A. Byrne
Editor-in-Chief
Fast Company, New York, NY
Joseph Thompson
Director
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), North Adams, MA
Patrick Whitney
Director
Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology and Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor of Design, Chicago, IL
Excerpts:
Judith A. Jedlicka
President, Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.
The Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) presented the first Forum for New Ideas a year ago. We decided to do so because we thought business and the arts were missing the opportunity to explore new, non-traditional ways of working together in our ever-changing world. We thought if there was a dialogue - a little more formal than those taking place over cups of coffee - that both business and the arts might broaden their reach and increase market shares.
When we mentioned this to anyone in business or the arts, they agreed that a dialogue was needed. They expressed interest in hearing from those who were recognized as innovators in business and the arts - those who "stepped out of the pack" and broke the proverbial mold of "thinking inside of the box."
And so, the Forum for New Ideas was born. Those who attended the first Forum - both panelists and guests - told us the dialogue expanded their thinking, sparked their creativity and encouraged them to be more daring in how they worked individually and together.
We are here this morning with a new collaborative partner and great expectations. We hope our moderator and panelists - each of whom is a master of new ideas and a practitioner of change - will spark our creativity, inspire us to think differently, and challenge us to change the way we do business - individually and collectively.
Peter Lawrence
Chairman, Corporate Design Foundation
When I first started in business, I actually put a lot of distance between art and design. The practice of design has changed considerably in the past 10 years; understanding of design by executives has changed.
The understanding of the business of the arts is deeper, and the arts are now more integrated in the way business is run.
Creativity and innovation are essential to the success of business and the arts. Interaction with the arts strengthens a community and business. There are great opportunities for business, the arts and design to collaborate.
What we hope to do is to stimulate some discussion, some new ideas and some new ways of thinking about all of this.
Thomas P. Putnam
Chairman, MARKEM Corporation
Tom Putnam, Chairman-elect of BCA, former Chairman of the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts and a director of The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, served as Moderator of the Forum.
Creativity and innovation are key to the success of both business and the arts. The arts practice creativity. They foster innovation. Business on the other hand, is thought to talk more about creativity and innovation than practice it. I think this is changing.
It strikes me as strange that business, the arts and design have not been more aggressive about exploring collaborations to develop new market share for all.
When my great-grandfather founded MARKEM in 1911, I am certain he never dreamt that art would be hung on the walls of the office, or that we would invite musicians in for a lunchtime concert, or that we would have an employee worldwide poetry slam.
We believe creativity is critical to the success of our company. We would not be here 93 years after our founding if we had not embraced creativity and innovations.
Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About Artist at Work, by Robert Austin and Lee Devin
"Let's be clear about what we are claiming. As business becomes more dependent on knowledge to create value, work becomes more like art. In the future, managers who understand how the artist works, will have an advantage over those who don't."
Patrick Whitney
Director, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology and
Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor of Design
Patrick Whitney focused on how the organic process of examining daily life patterns can lead to design solutions that sustain both the environment and achieve business goals and better societies.
I am a great believer in the interaction among people in the arts. Design affects human aspects of our lives.
I also believe in the core capacities of the design of change and how the design world can help the business world address change and figure out what to do.
Major companies are supporting the Illinois Institute of Technology - our research, hiring our students and adopting the methods of the school within their companies. What we do - papers, workshops and solutions - is being translated back into the companies to help them do their business.
We worked with a healthcare company. We have a patent on a new system that we developed that keeps vials of blood drawn for one patient from being mislabeled with the name of another patient.
We help Carson Pirie Scott understand the value of their historical building.
Central to much of our work is understanding the user's experience - iconography. There was a time when iconography was not a core competence of design education.
Sometimes when you look at things carefully, you recognize that things are different from what they seem.
Designers understand patterns of daily life, look at things in a systematic way, and create innovations that make sense to companies that can be sustained both environmentally and from the business point of view.
We work at markets and help markets create more values.
Design people equal new skills, a new world.
Joseph C. Thompson
Director, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)
Joe Thompson explained how his vision, shared with collaborative partners, and his willingness to think differently enabled him to repurpose abandoned mill buildings in North Adams, MA. He lead the effort to develop the once-derelict complex into a major visual and performing arts center and laboratory. This has reversed the economic depression of North Adams and transformed it into a vibrant community.
MASS MoCA stands for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, but it also stands for the capacity of art and creativity to uproot expectations and turn things on their heads.
MASS MoCA brings complex nuances together and puts them where history and tradition had very few connections.
MASS MoCA is located in North Adams, MA - a mill town. It has been a mill town for 140 years. It was the kind of place you would expect to see upside down trees.
[This refers to a work of art that is prominently installed at MASS MoCA.] In the 1980s, North Adams was at the top of every wrong list - unemployment and teen pregnancy were high and it was one of the worst areas in the state in which to live. Now because of MASS MoCA, it has some of the finest inns and privileged neighborhoods.
Between 1987 and 1993 - when we were in the development and construction stages - there were 189 negative news stories about MASS MoCA in the press. The project had lots of failures along the way. Our idea was to take these buildings, which were unsuitable for business and clean them up. Take the exterior courtyards and insert stages and performing arts spaces. We agreed that if we did this - people would come. We sold the concept of the museum by suggesting that it would change the area. Only about 30,000 people live in a 20-mile radius of MASS MoCA. 125,000 persons visit North Adams a year. We opened, and people came. We attract people from all over.
We had some wonderful things - 20+ buildings and 14 acres. We have one of the largest galleries of this kind in the United States. What we offer to the world of art is space and time. We tell our artists we are not cash rich, we're space rich. What we present keeps MASS MoCA in the news.
We build relationships with businesses all the time. We teamed up with The Fitzpatrick Family Companies, Stockbridge, MA, to buy run-down buildings and turn them into The Porches Inn - one of the best inns in the country.
It was an unusual partnership. MASS MoCA was the contractor for the project. We had the experience and personnel to handle complicated rehabilitated projects. We had just finished renovating our complex. The Fitzpatrick Family had the experience of running the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge - and other facilities. And Jack Wadworth, an individual from Morgan Stanley, applied his checkbook. Together we built the Inn. The Inn uses our name for marketing and in exchange gives us rooms for artists. It's a wonderful relationship. It generates good returns for both of us.
We are beginning to make a difference. 850 new jobs have been created in North Adams during the past six years. In a town of 13,000 this makes a whopping difference. Lots of money is being spent in North Adams. 85% of all the storefronts are occupied now and economic activity is growing, and things are hopeful.
Business and the arts - creator of jobs, opportunities and tax revenues. The social wealth of our community is fundamental to what we do. It's in our mission statement.
John A. Byrne
Editor-in-Chief, FastCompany
John Byrne stressed the idea that individuals have to strive to think differently and be willing to take risks and collaborate. He suggested that arts inspires individuals to reach their potential and design is key to innovation and success.
Work is personal. It is the ultimate expression of who you are. If you pour yourself into your work, you realize who you are. Computing is social. Knowledge is power, and finally, break the rules. It's what all great design and all great art is about. Design is a differentiator. This is the manifesto of FastCompany.
Design is inclusive. It is a means to solve problems.
Design, frankly, is the best leverage point for any business to gain easy and fast innovation with the most assured return on investment. It's going to become so much more crucial and so much more woven into the fabric of business as we move ahead.
Design is the source of a lot of creative advantage, in companies like Steelcase, Target and Ikea. Design is a core part of their competitive advantage. We are going to see more of this.
Originality is the essence of great design, but it's also the essence of great strategy. Playing it safe is not playing it smart. It pays to be different.
Organizations that encourage people to play differently will have tremendous advantages.
In order to get better, you have to be different. If we don't open up and embrace risk-takers, we have no future.
Freedom is a much bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash.
Most organizations today still believe in the power game. It's not the way we are going to have a creative economy and society in the future.
People are the organization. It's the people that count, not the strategy, not the operations - it's the people.
Cheaper is better, but values are priceless.
The most precious commodity in business is the emotional connection. It is also the essence of great design.
New rules of competition...Collaboration is everything. As we increasingly design our workplaces and our work processes and the achievement of our existence, art becomes more important in everything we do. Art becomes inspiration and motivation.
Art inspires people to fulfill a true prophecy. Success equals creativity. Everyone is involved in a daily struggle, often against their own organization, to make a contribution. Art motivates us to get beyond the daily struggle, the daily grind, and to reach for something special, something unique, something that allows us to make meaningful contributions. That's why greater collaboration between the arts and people in business can make magical things happen.