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Arts World Weight-Sharing Techniques
  
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Seeds Of Hope
By Andrea K. Hammer, For The Bulletin
To dig each other out of the current economic morass, a fundamental integration of the arts and business worlds is urgently needed. Instead of segregating each into right- and left-brain domains relegated to work versus leisure time, these two equally important elements must finally be united into one forceful whole.
Artists know how to look at the world — and problem solve — with fresh eyes. If businesses regularly invited photographers, crafters and writers to participate in brainstorming sessions and hold employee workshops, some new solutions and strategies might arise.
For example, an “artist-in-residence” program — featuring rotating artists — could provide businesses with unexplored alternatives for deeply entrenched and ineffective practices. In exchange, business employees could share their technical expertise — from bookkeeping to technology — with artists who often prefer to focus on the creative process. Through advice about ingredients for a sound business, artists might discover ways to improve the nuts-and-bolts of their operations.
A couple of examples provide inspiring models for local organizations.
Pilobolus, the Connecticut-based company of choreographers and dancer-athletes who loop themselves into interwoven body sculptures, reveals a structural understanding of effective weight sharing. Without the assistance of each dancer in maintaining balanced placement within the larger configuration, the unified entities created during each dance performance would simply collapse — an important point for business employees to observe visually.
Based on the company’s collaborative method, the Pilobolus Institute offers workshops and interactive lecture demonstrations to train others in effective group creativity. These educational programs for schools, colleges and public arts organizations, as well as leadership workshops for corporate executives, employees and business schools, are designed to stimulate a group’s understanding of its own creative potential. The sessions help free desk-chained workers from habitual and traditional expectations as they learn group-partnering techniques.
In addition, the master photographer Art Wolfe provides encouragement for discovering new angles on his public television show “Travels to the Edge.” During a behind-the-scenes episode, one of his production assistants describes the way Mr. Wolfe consistently finds riveting shots that others cannot see, even though crew members are all looking at the same landscape. With an eye for compelling detail, this gifted photographer makes artistic images from cliffs in Madagascar or an older woman’s wizened face in a Mongolian yurt — reminders of a truly simple life compared with the relative abundance in many other parts of the world even today.
Mr. Wolfe also looks at remote corners of the globe to educate viewers about endangered wildlife and the need to preserve majestic landscapes, which rightfully restore proper scale to the last months of rising panic. His talent for revealing the vast size of the world along with minute observations offers instruction in sharpening one’s focus while developing more complete vision.
Based in Seattle, Mr. Wolfe also holds photography workshops and lectures widely. For example, he delivered a series of inspirational presentations to IBM’s top salespeople during a retreat in Puerto Rico.
In an ideal world, many local companies would benefit from these master crafters. But right here in Philadelphia, a multitude of arts organizations and businesses could follow these models by collaborating in several creative ways.
Here are some other ideas for those hitting the wall:
Artists are already experts, with tips to share, about living frugally. To write, paint or dance, we are accustomed to making sacrifices and living on meager salaries so we can immerse ourselves in our work. Invite an artist to give a workshop on ways to trim expenses and stay focused on fulfilling a passion.
Ask a professional photographer to teach employees how to take effective, but creative, digital photographs. This skill may translate into new ways of seeing other organizational issues and reduce photography costs for promotional materials. At the very least, the session will refresh exhausted and stressed employees, which will pump some renewed energy and hope back into the organization.
Like photographers hunting for an unconventional view, swap positions for a day to gain a better understanding of each other’s pressures. Company presidents will better grasp the unrelenting demands on administrative assistants and vice versa.
Hold an employee-wide problem-solving session with several artists in attendance. Challenge participants to assume the role of CEO and offer solutions — rather than complaints — about imminent demands. At a minimum, the negative water-cooler gossip might diminish.
Hire a writer to teach effective ways of communicating an organization’s mission along with basic grammar skills — a critical need sorely lacking. Without crystal-clear and targeted messages, sputtering boats are doomed to sink.
Follow the lead of Art4Barter, coordinating regional exhibits for artists interested in exchanging their work for specified products and services from cameras to dental work. Although many of us still prefer cash, this model — intended to inspire those in other fields — offers a way to stay in the game until the storm passes.
Accommodate employers, clients, and customers dealing with a strapped budget. But don’t take advantage of each other, and hold onto your integrity as a good-faith player.
Offer a creative solution rather than contribute to the frenzy of fear, which is feeding on itself and taking on a life of its own. Contagion will spread on the side selected.
Most of all, remain focused on the true essentials of a contented life. We all need money to pay basic bills and live, but what else do we need besides our loved ones, good health and a passion? If you’re an artist, you simply need to create.
By sharing our inherent talents as we navigate this financial tsunami together, we can all hang onto our true worth in gold.
Learn more about upcoming performances and workshops with Pilobolus at www.pilobolus.com. For details about exhibits and keynote presentations by Art Wolfe, see www.art
wolfe.com.
Andrea K. Hammer, the founder and director of Artsphoria: Celebrating Arts Euphoria (www.artsphoria.com), specializes in writing, editing and desktop-publishing services.
Artists know how to look at the world — and problem solve — with fresh eyes. If businesses regularly invited photographers, crafters and writers to participate in brainstorming sessions and hold employee workshops, some new solutions and strategies might arise.
For example, an “artist-in-residence” program — featuring rotating artists — could provide businesses with unexplored alternatives for deeply entrenched and ineffective practices. In exchange, business employees could share their technical expertise — from bookkeeping to technology — with artists who often prefer to focus on the creative process. Through advice about ingredients for a sound business, artists might discover ways to improve the nuts-and-bolts of their operations.
A couple of examples provide inspiring models for local organizations.
Pilobolus, the Connecticut-based company of choreographers and dancer-athletes who loop themselves into interwoven body sculptures, reveals a structural understanding of effective weight sharing. Without the assistance of each dancer in maintaining balanced placement within the larger configuration, the unified entities created during each dance performance would simply collapse — an important point for business employees to observe visually.
Based on the company’s collaborative method, the Pilobolus Institute offers workshops and interactive lecture demonstrations to train others in effective group creativity. These educational programs for schools, colleges and public arts organizations, as well as leadership workshops for corporate executives, employees and business schools, are designed to stimulate a group’s understanding of its own creative potential. The sessions help free desk-chained workers from habitual and traditional expectations as they learn group-partnering techniques.
In addition, the master photographer Art Wolfe provides encouragement for discovering new angles on his public television show “Travels to the Edge.” During a behind-the-scenes episode, one of his production assistants describes the way Mr. Wolfe consistently finds riveting shots that others cannot see, even though crew members are all looking at the same landscape. With an eye for compelling detail, this gifted photographer makes artistic images from cliffs in Madagascar or an older woman’s wizened face in a Mongolian yurt — reminders of a truly simple life compared with the relative abundance in many other parts of the world even today.
Mr. Wolfe also looks at remote corners of the globe to educate viewers about endangered wildlife and the need to preserve majestic landscapes, which rightfully restore proper scale to the last months of rising panic. His talent for revealing the vast size of the world along with minute observations offers instruction in sharpening one’s focus while developing more complete vision.
Based in Seattle, Mr. Wolfe also holds photography workshops and lectures widely. For example, he delivered a series of inspirational presentations to IBM’s top salespeople during a retreat in Puerto Rico.
In an ideal world, many local companies would benefit from these master crafters. But right here in Philadelphia, a multitude of arts organizations and businesses could follow these models by collaborating in several creative ways.
Here are some other ideas for those hitting the wall:
Artists are already experts, with tips to share, about living frugally. To write, paint or dance, we are accustomed to making sacrifices and living on meager salaries so we can immerse ourselves in our work. Invite an artist to give a workshop on ways to trim expenses and stay focused on fulfilling a passion.
Ask a professional photographer to teach employees how to take effective, but creative, digital photographs. This skill may translate into new ways of seeing other organizational issues and reduce photography costs for promotional materials. At the very least, the session will refresh exhausted and stressed employees, which will pump some renewed energy and hope back into the organization.
Like photographers hunting for an unconventional view, swap positions for a day to gain a better understanding of each other’s pressures. Company presidents will better grasp the unrelenting demands on administrative assistants and vice versa.
Hold an employee-wide problem-solving session with several artists in attendance. Challenge participants to assume the role of CEO and offer solutions — rather than complaints — about imminent demands. At a minimum, the negative water-cooler gossip might diminish.
Hire a writer to teach effective ways of communicating an organization’s mission along with basic grammar skills — a critical need sorely lacking. Without crystal-clear and targeted messages, sputtering boats are doomed to sink.
Follow the lead of Art4Barter, coordinating regional exhibits for artists interested in exchanging their work for specified products and services from cameras to dental work. Although many of us still prefer cash, this model — intended to inspire those in other fields — offers a way to stay in the game until the storm passes.
Accommodate employers, clients, and customers dealing with a strapped budget. But don’t take advantage of each other, and hold onto your integrity as a good-faith player.
Offer a creative solution rather than contribute to the frenzy of fear, which is feeding on itself and taking on a life of its own. Contagion will spread on the side selected.
Most of all, remain focused on the true essentials of a contented life. We all need money to pay basic bills and live, but what else do we need besides our loved ones, good health and a passion? If you’re an artist, you simply need to create.
By sharing our inherent talents as we navigate this financial tsunami together, we can all hang onto our true worth in gold.
Learn more about upcoming performances and workshops with Pilobolus at www.pilobolus.com. For details about exhibits and keynote presentations by Art Wolfe, see www.art
wolfe.com.
Andrea K. Hammer, the founder and director of Artsphoria: Celebrating Arts Euphoria (www.artsphoria.com), specializes in writing, editing and desktop-publishing services.
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