Collaboration: The power of the arts through an arts-based initiative (ABI)
"The arts can aid a child's holistic development, especially empathy, which is defined as the ability to identify and express one's own emotions and to read another's emotions correctly and comprehensively. The arts stimulate a problem-finding attitude that can be used in non-arts areas, including conflict resolution"
Ashfaq Ishag
Director of the International Child Art Foundation
In January 2011, inspired by Professor Giovanni Schiuma's essay 'The Value of Arts-Based Initiatives' (see below or download the document below) and his supporting lecture (see 'The Power of Arts for Business' video below) I decided to implement an ABI at The British International School of Moscow based on Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland. I wanted students and staff to collaborate together to produce an exciting and professional school production. Cross-curricular schemes of work (a full term) explored in Drama, Music, Art, English and ICT lessons gave the ABI a greater status because students learned new skills and utilised them in the school production. My fundamental premise was that a whole-school ABI would ultimately raise the value of the arts and gain a greater respect from students and staff alike. Informal discussions and surveys completed by staff and students, filmed interviews with colleagues who worked on the ABI and a testimonial video (see 'Testimonial' on the Alice Project tab above) confirm how valuable and successful the ABI was.
Please take the time to look at the photo galleries and HD video performances of the play which can be found above on the Alice Project tab.
An engagement with the arts is very important for us as human beings otherwise we would lead boring bureaucratic lives without emotion or energy. In schools, the power of the arts is that it conditions students to self-reflect and self-assess. Through the arts students can understand themselves better and reflect on a process that can transform their attitudes and behaviour (see Amber Sainsbury's article 'Painting a different picture: the power of the arts in education, health and conflict-resolution' below. Sainsbury discusses the necessity of arts-led initiatives and calls on governments to place a greater emphasis on the role of arts in development agendas). In this way the arts become a way to inspire students. I feel very strongly that Drama, Music and Art lessons and extra-curricular activities are valuable assets for schools. However, in the current global economic crisis, it is possible that schools will take the arts less seriously and investment, appreciation and involvement will decline. As a result, I encourage all teachers and facilitators of the arts to give serious consideration to the implementation of an arts-based initiative in the school, workplace or business they happen to be in. In my opinion the rewards of implementing an ABI in a school are limitless. For my students and colleagues it was an experience that has given them treasured memories for years to come (see the Alice photo galleries for evidence of this). The most remarkable thing about the ABI I implemented was that there was no budget or financial aid. Everything was achieved with goodwill, passion, hard work and enthusiasm.
Candid footage of preparations for the performance of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
A call for the Arts-Based Initiative
In his book 'The Value of Arts for Business' (2011) Giovanni Schiuma seeks to raise the status of the arts by explaining it's important role in business. I believe that arts and business should be inextricably linked because ultimately my job as an educator is to prepare students for employment in a business world. Schiuma illustrates how it is possible to use the arts to stimulate innovation and creativity, as well as engagement and passion. The book is a must-read for arts teachers as well as for business leaders who seek to enhance their management skills to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century business landscape. Schiuma highlights in great detail how engagement in the arts encourages creativity, new thinking patterns, and different angles to complex problems.
ABI's incorporate a variety of arts forms and art activities. These could include painting, poetry, literature, film, dance, theatre, photography, sculpture, story-telling, drawing, graffiti, comics, writing, cartoons, circus and pottery (Darso, 2004). Gallos (2009); Seifter and Buswick (2005) mention that traditional ABI's have been workshops and training courses that have taken a different approach and included content that focused on chorus singing, cooking, drums, storytelling and forum theatre. Through the use of team-building exercises, the courses and workshops were implemented with the aim of developing people's attitudes and skills.
Taylor and Larkin (2009) comment on how an arts based initiative can be thought provoking, encourage reflection, self-‐assessment and help people to develop new and different perspectives on any issue that may occur in life. It is important to remember that our aims as teachers is to empower our students with skills so that they can be successful in whatever field of employment they find themselves in. Economies are not stable and predictable. Changing one’s occupation is the rule, not the exception, and the labour market rewards general skills. Whether students are employed in finance, PR, advertising or marketing or become doctors, teachers, journalists, entrepreneurs, or hoteliers – to name but a few – they are essentially employed in a business that has a managerial face and has to ensure its survival. The business world is changing ‐ it has to change. A feature of the new millennium is the pace of change. This is making the competitive employment arena more and more complex and unpredictable. Organisations are being encouraged to move from the modern management paradigm to a postmodern paradigm (Hamel, 2009). Education needs to wake up and realise that the arts has value for business and should therefore have value in education. Schiuma (2009) comments that in “today’s global economy, organisations are searching for new and innovative strategic and managerial approaches in order to compete and create value. The complexity of today’s competition requires organisations to build up new competencies capable of driving business growth and new business solutions. The successful 21st century organisations will be those able to develop competencies to manage their energy and emotional states in order to govern the value creation dynamics . Dimensions such as passion, emotions, hope, moral, imagination, aspirations, and creativity are now being established as the new strategic organisational value drivers”.
The modern business corporate mindset is analytical, statistically lead, linear, and rational thinking – skills students acquire through the study of Maths, Science, Geography and Business Studies. These robotic skills are what are required in the modern management paradigm of business. Recognised as the ‘father’ of modern management, Fredrick Winslow Taylor is perhaps a reason why the arts is not valued more in the employment world – thus schools. In his book, The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), Taylor believed that in order for workers to be more productive they have to be controlled in order to enable transparency. What this means is that workers must behave and think in a rational manner in order to be understood by management and ultimately controlled in order to increase productivity. This is quite an astonishing thing to learn. The modern management paradigm actually exemplifies communist ideals in a western society that claims to operate in a free market and holds the ‘American dream’ close to its heart. I believe that in today’s complex economic climate organisations have to look for new 'territories’ to inspire their executives to think out of the box in order to deliver innovative products that deliver value to stakeholders. The business world needs to allow their employees to get in touch with their emotions and feelings. The irony is robotic workers need to become human. Without any doubt, the creative arts are a domain for the expression of human feelings, emotions and values. Drama, Music and Art are products of human civilisations and have shaped cultures and societies. According to Guss (1989) the arts play a fundamental role in shaping and conveying human emotions and a community’s values and culture. Students and senior management in schools need to recognise that today’s business management discipline and practice is starting to draw its inspiration from the arts.
According to Adler (2006); Darso (2004) and Taylor and Ladkin (2009), the arts supports and drives the development of organisational ‘value-creation’. The arts embody a knowledge ‘mine’, which is rich in ideas, techniques, artistic know-how and products and processes. This knowledge mine is the value-creation that can be used to delineate new business practices in the 21st century. As a result, the importance of the arts in schools; and ensuring that students get as much exposure to arts based initiatives is imperative. The 21st century business landscape will increasingly desire employees who have artistic experience, are in-tune with their emotions and have creative energy to shape and influence the quality and performance of organisations (Austin and Devin, 2003; Nissley, 2010). This is the value-creation students’ need. Organisations will hire employees who they believe can add value-creation. Value-creation improves business performance.
In his book 'The Value of Arts for Business' (2011) Giovanni Schiuma seeks to raise the status of the arts by explaining it's important role in business. I believe that arts and business should be inextricably linked because ultimately my job as an educator is to prepare students for employment in a business world. Schiuma illustrates how it is possible to use the arts to stimulate innovation and creativity, as well as engagement and passion. The book is a must-read for arts teachers as well as for business leaders who seek to enhance their management skills to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century business landscape. Schiuma highlights in great detail how engagement in the arts encourages creativity, new thinking patterns, and different angles to complex problems.
ABI's incorporate a variety of arts forms and art activities. These could include painting, poetry, literature, film, dance, theatre, photography, sculpture, story-telling, drawing, graffiti, comics, writing, cartoons, circus and pottery (Darso, 2004). Gallos (2009); Seifter and Buswick (2005) mention that traditional ABI's have been workshops and training courses that have taken a different approach and included content that focused on chorus singing, cooking, drums, storytelling and forum theatre. Through the use of team-building exercises, the courses and workshops were implemented with the aim of developing people's attitudes and skills.
Taylor and Larkin (2009) comment on how an arts based initiative can be thought provoking, encourage reflection, self-‐assessment and help people to develop new and different perspectives on any issue that may occur in life. It is important to remember that our aims as teachers is to empower our students with skills so that they can be successful in whatever field of employment they find themselves in. Economies are not stable and predictable. Changing one’s occupation is the rule, not the exception, and the labour market rewards general skills. Whether students are employed in finance, PR, advertising or marketing or become doctors, teachers, journalists, entrepreneurs, or hoteliers – to name but a few – they are essentially employed in a business that has a managerial face and has to ensure its survival. The business world is changing ‐ it has to change. A feature of the new millennium is the pace of change. This is making the competitive employment arena more and more complex and unpredictable. Organisations are being encouraged to move from the modern management paradigm to a postmodern paradigm (Hamel, 2009). Education needs to wake up and realise that the arts has value for business and should therefore have value in education. Schiuma (2009) comments that in “today’s global economy, organisations are searching for new and innovative strategic and managerial approaches in order to compete and create value. The complexity of today’s competition requires organisations to build up new competencies capable of driving business growth and new business solutions. The successful 21st century organisations will be those able to develop competencies to manage their energy and emotional states in order to govern the value creation dynamics . Dimensions such as passion, emotions, hope, moral, imagination, aspirations, and creativity are now being established as the new strategic organisational value drivers”.
The modern business corporate mindset is analytical, statistically lead, linear, and rational thinking – skills students acquire through the study of Maths, Science, Geography and Business Studies. These robotic skills are what are required in the modern management paradigm of business. Recognised as the ‘father’ of modern management, Fredrick Winslow Taylor is perhaps a reason why the arts is not valued more in the employment world – thus schools. In his book, The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), Taylor believed that in order for workers to be more productive they have to be controlled in order to enable transparency. What this means is that workers must behave and think in a rational manner in order to be understood by management and ultimately controlled in order to increase productivity. This is quite an astonishing thing to learn. The modern management paradigm actually exemplifies communist ideals in a western society that claims to operate in a free market and holds the ‘American dream’ close to its heart. I believe that in today’s complex economic climate organisations have to look for new 'territories’ to inspire their executives to think out of the box in order to deliver innovative products that deliver value to stakeholders. The business world needs to allow their employees to get in touch with their emotions and feelings. The irony is robotic workers need to become human. Without any doubt, the creative arts are a domain for the expression of human feelings, emotions and values. Drama, Music and Art are products of human civilisations and have shaped cultures and societies. According to Guss (1989) the arts play a fundamental role in shaping and conveying human emotions and a community’s values and culture. Students and senior management in schools need to recognise that today’s business management discipline and practice is starting to draw its inspiration from the arts.
According to Adler (2006); Darso (2004) and Taylor and Ladkin (2009), the arts supports and drives the development of organisational ‘value-creation’. The arts embody a knowledge ‘mine’, which is rich in ideas, techniques, artistic know-how and products and processes. This knowledge mine is the value-creation that can be used to delineate new business practices in the 21st century. As a result, the importance of the arts in schools; and ensuring that students get as much exposure to arts based initiatives is imperative. The 21st century business landscape will increasingly desire employees who have artistic experience, are in-tune with their emotions and have creative energy to shape and influence the quality and performance of organisations (Austin and Devin, 2003; Nissley, 2010). This is the value-creation students’ need. Organisations will hire employees who they believe can add value-creation. Value-creation improves business performance.
The Power of the Arts for Business - lecture by Professor Giovanni Schiuma
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