30 de October de 2008 | Escrito por: Disonancias
How fine arts graduates contribute to innovation
NESTA has published in September 2008 a very interesting research report called The Art of innovation, How fine arts graduates contribute to innovation (by Kate Oakley, Brooke Sperry and Andy Pratt, and edited by Hasan Bakhshi). The research is an inquiry into how fine arts graduates contribute to innovation through their working lives, based on a cohort study of 500 fine arts students who have graduated since the 1950s from the University of the Arts in London.
The starting point is that almost 60% of the graduates work in the wider cultural and creative industries (a further 20% work in education, 4% in health care, and the remainder in “other sectors”), and that the number of fine arts graduates working in the cultural industries is increasing since the 50’s. The research establishes 3 main ways in which artistic labour is linked into innovation:
1. The fine arts graduates have attitudes and skills that are conducive to innovation (although the term “innovation” is itself rarely used by them), mainly because they “interpret” more than “analyse”, which is interesting when the possible outcomes are unknown, and because it is a process of mutual understanding arrived at through exploratory conversations with a variety of collaborators. Furthermore:
a. they are brokers across disciplines
b. they are lifelong learners, including frequent use of informal and formal training throughout their working lives;
c. their owns consumption of art is a stimulus for their own work, which make them closer to consumers.
2. Artistic labour impacts on innovation in the way that it is organized (project work and portfolio working), and because the very high rates of multi-jobbing (including in non-cultural sectors) brings opportunities for learning new skills.
3. Artistic labour impacts on innovation through the widespread “culturalisation” of activities, although the fine arts graduates remain keen to stress the distinction between cultural and non-cultural pursuits.
Let’s hope that the future fine arts graduates will increasingly consider that their role is equally important being involved in cultural projects or in any other project that has a social, cultural or economical impact in the society, and that policy makers and managers will increasingly consider the necessity of supporting them and integrating them in any research team.
The complete report: http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/Uploads/pdf/Research-Report/the_art_of_innovation_report_NESTA.pdf
The policy briefing: http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/Uploads/pdf/Policy-Briefing/fine_arts_graduates_and_innovation_policy_briefing_NESTA.pdf
