business committee for the arts
Sixth Annual
Forum for New Ideas
Thursday, November 20, 2008 from 8:00am - 11:00am
Morgan Stanley, 1585 Broadway, New York, NY
| National Sponsor: | New York Sponsor: |
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The annual Forum for New Ideas brings together innovative thinkers from across the country to explore new, non-traditional ways for business and the arts to work together.
Speakers:
Lisa Dennison
Chairman, Sotheby’s North and South America
Global Design Officer, Procter & Gamble
Anne Pasternak
President and Artistic Director,Creative Time
Moderators:
Larry R. Thompson
President, Ringling College of Art and Design
Lisa Dennison
Well I think one thing is to be realistic, to understand that there is a business purpose to funding arts organizations for Sotheby’s and I think you have to understand the motivation. And once you understand the motivation you can tailor your ask to the specific motivation and you have a bigger chance of winning some of the funds that we give out. What our company wants is access to your constituents if they are also our customers. And we want access in a way that can be meaningful. So what we don’t care about is our brand, its not about having our name on the wall necessarily at your museum or in your brochures but rather getting to know in meaningful ways your board members and being at your events. Seeing Sotheby’s name in a catalogue will not create the interaction we want.
Anne Pasternak
The truth is that you can think very negatively about what’s going on, and there is a lot of good reason to do that or you can meet the challenges of our time and use this as an opportunity to really position your organization and your business and think much more opportunistically so in 3 or 5 years when we start to get out of this fog your business is incredibly well positioned for extraordinary growth… I think, I hope, that it’s going to help my business seize new opportunities, see areas for growth and be more creative as we move forward.
Phil Duncan
(How did employees respond to the changes in the design of the Procter & Gamble headquarters?)
Ultimately I think any kind of change at first is quite shocking and quite challenging for many people to take in. It was a major installation of art for many of our employees walking into that lobby. This was about saying that the consumer needs to be at the heart of this, we are an innovative company. I love the metaphor of saying that when you walk through that lobby and then continued onto your desk, you are left with an amazing impression to say ‘what can I now do different as a result of walking through this experience?’ …We see that the connection between design and art is the reason we have stayed innovative and stayed competitive.