Can Creativity Save the Business World?

Creativity became THE buzzword in the business world. CEOs, business leaders, government representatives all are dealing with the question – how to navigate our societies in a constantly changing world? Many of these leaders claim that the key answer to this question is creativity. While this is the common answer, we have another basic challenge: our history created a clear distinction between the creative industries (artists, designers, architectures, etc.) and the business industries…How do we bridge between these two “so-called” different worlds?

There are different organizations, companies, universities, and other resources such as this blog that are dealing with this question. Through TheArtian Community, we try to engage more young professionals with the art through art events. The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE) from the UK tries to bring cultural and creative entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics, and artists to a conference in which they debate whether these sectors could become more fertile by working together – and how.

Sally Taylor who was the executive director of TCCE wrote recently an article in the Guardian that stated “The creative industries know that it takes fresh thinking and innovation to stay ahead of the game in an international market place and increasingly, the government seems to be looking to the creative industries to drive the UK economy out of recession. How then creativity is best managed, and what does creativity in leadership look like?” In her articles, she brings examples and suggestions for the question of creativity in business. You can read her article in the following post.

It is encouraging to learn about this attempt in the UK and it reminds me of a different attempt that been made by Lincoln Chafee, the Governor of Rhode Island. Chafee announced a new initiative called Funding the Arts, which aims to change the State’s economy through the arts. His target is to put the art at the center of the