research

Topic: Creativity and Innovation

Recent interest in the topic of creativity is fueled by suggestions that it is an important economic asset.  There is little agreement, however, on the sources of creativity or its personal, social, and economic impact.  For example, traditional views characterize creativity as a product of constraint (necessity is the mother of invention) but Teresa Amabile, head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, reports that creativity thrives most when workers’ needs are met.¹

Despite disagreement over purpose, process, and results, there is consensus that creativity requires special supports. This chart provides an overview of research on support systems for the arts. The public education system is the most formal means by which American communities produce creativity, but other individuals, organizations, and systems also play a role in developing creativity and putting it to use in the form of personal, social, and economic innovation.

Individual Artists
The contributions and unique needs of individual artists are the focus of many communities who seek to attract or maintain them as creative resources. For example, the Paducah Artist Relocation Program provides strong incentives to artists to relocate to this Kentucky town.

Arts Participation
Arts attendance exposes audiences to different art forms, viewpoints, and cultural contexts. The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts produced by the National Endowment for the Arts consistently reports increasing U.S. participation in the arts, though the way Americans participate is changing.

Arts Journalism
Arts criticism and feature journalism are adapting to the expanding and interdisciplinary nature of local arts scenes, while more journalists find reason to report on hard news in the arts. In April 2005, Americans for the Arts published the monograph, Growing Interest, Shrinking Space: Arts Coverage in U.S. Newspapers, which demonstrates how arts journalists are trying to keep pace with a growing appetite for and interest in local arts and culture.

Democracy & Politics
Freedom of expression, cultural competency, and civic engagement are widely discussed as ways that the arts play a role in civil society. Learn more through our Animating Democracy program.

Technology & Science
Artists collaborate with scientists through lab residencies to impact scientific innovation. Technology creates new art forms that challenge artists and communities to adapt. For example, Boston Cyberarts places new media artists with high technology companies. Artists have access to cutting-edge technologies, brainstorm with researchers, and are offered exhibition space.

Intellectual Property
The balance between rewards for creativity and the source sharing from which new creativity springs is hotly debated. Discussions at the Cultural Commons  provide many viewpoints on the issue.

¹ Fast Company, December 2004, p. 75.