Considering the Creative Ecology

Considering the Creative Ecology Andrew Taylor | ataylor@bus.wisc.edu | www.artfulmanager.com Austin, Texas | June 24, 2009

But first... about my yard...

The persistent visitor

Tending the garden ✤ Demands a (malleable) vision. ✤ Has a boundary (stated or implied). ✤ Already in progress (for thousands of years). ✤ Moves and grows in cycles. ✤ Subject to larger (and smaller) cycles. ✤ Interconnected...you can’t just change one thing.

The creative ecology...

Creative... ✤ expression ✤ experience ✤ insight ✤ innovation ✤ spark ✤ connection ✤ catalyst SOURCE: Flickr user Martino!

...Ecology ✤ living system ✤ environment ✤ complex ✤ interconnected ✤ interdependent ✤ balanced ✤ evolving

Tending your garden ✤ Demands a (malleable) vision. ✤ Has a boundary (stated or implied). ✤ Already in progress (for hundreds of years). ✤ Moves and grows in cycles. ✤ Subject to larger (and smaller) cycles. ✤ Interconnected...you can’t just change one thing.

SOURCE: Flickr user Cesar R. A (malleable) vision...

Connecting, advancing, and celebrating Austin’s creative life.

SOURCE: Flickr user Liv... A boundary (stated or implied)...

“Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame.” G.K. Chesterton

Who’s in? Who’s out? ✤ Industry Lens ✤ For-proﬁt / Nonproﬁt ✤ Organized / Informal ✤ Industry / Job Function SOURCE: Creative Columbus report, June 2009

SOURCE: Creative Columbus report, June 2009

Who’s in? Who’s out? ✤ Human Lens ✤ Amateur / Professional (or “Pro-Am”) ✤ Creator / Observer ✤ Self-Description / Observed Behavior SOURCE: Flickr user garryknight

What I heard: “All In” (Jo Anne said so with some conviction.)

SOURCE: Flickr user MR+G Already in progress...

SOURCE: Flickr user mandus Moves and grows in cycles...

Adaptive Cycle

SOURCE: Flickr user j u l i a n o Subject to larger (and smaller) cycles...

Cycles ✤ Larger (STEEP) ✤ Sociological ✤ Technological ✤ Economic ✤ Environmental ✤ Political ✤ Smaller ✤ Local news cycle ✤ Trends, fads, etc.

SOURCE: Flickr user Toby Maloy Interconnected... (you can’t just change one thing)

“Side” effects ✤ Unintended consequence ✤ Frequent “surprises” ✤ Changing the players by changing the game

Tending your garden ✤ Demands a (malleable) vision. ✤ Has a boundary (stated or implied). ✤ Already in progress (for hundreds of years). ✤ Moves and grows in cycles. ✤ Subject to larger (and smaller) cycles. ✤ Interconnected...you can’t just change one thing.

Back to “creator / observer”

...so that means we can’t do anything?

No, that means you must bring your complex creativity to the task... (And who better than a “creative alliance” to do just that?)

Four questions, four metaphors

“But doesn’t collaborating threaten our individual impact and ideals?”

Meaning is always co-created.

How can we find common ground, when we’re all so different in our creative work?

SOURCE: Flickr user Cayusa “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.” Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School Marketing Professor

“I’m already overclocked. How can I take time out to connect beyond my immediate need?”

The Honey Mushroom Armillaria ostoyae

“Seems huge. Where can we begin?”

SOURCE: Flickr user Rodrigo Campos Button by button, thread by thread

You’ve already begun, keep going...

With thanks to my hosts: Andrew Taylor Director, Bolz Center for Arts Administration | www.bolzcenter.org Wisconsin School of Business Author, “The Artful Manager”| www.artfulmanager.com email: ataylor@bus.wisc.edu twitter: www.twitter.com/artfulmanager

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

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Considering the Creative Ecology

by Bolz Center for Arts Administration on Jun 26, 2009

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Considering the Creative Ecology — Webinar Transcript