{"id":2622,"date":"2008-10-22T19:21:34","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T23:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/?p=2622"},"modified":"2020-01-22T19:27:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T00:27:33","slug":"the-arts-strengthening-education-and-the-nations-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/2008\/10\/the-arts-strengthening-education-and-the-nations-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Arts: Strengthening Education and the Nation\u2019s Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"P<\/span>ick up any newspaper this week and you will read about the sagging U.S. economy\u2014recession, inflation, the sinking value of the dollar. You will also see hand-wringing articles about America\u2019s global competitiveness and creativity\u2014how businesses as diverse as Apple and Proctor & Gamble thrive because of it, and how we\u2019ll lose our international market share without it. In today\u2019s 21st century global economy, the competitive business edge belongs to innovators\u2014those providing creative solutions that prosper in the marketplace. Leaders in business, government, and education are getting savvy to what those in the arts have long known: To fuel creativity and innovation, you need to invest in the arts.<\/p>\n

Creativity: Integral to Innovation<\/h4>\n

New research by business scholars demonstrates a greater understanding that creativity is at the leading edge of innovation. In the 2006 report, Are They Really Ready to Work?<\/em>\u2014prepared by The Conference Board for its Fortune 1000 business constituency\u2014U.S. employers point to \u201ccreativity and innovation\u201d as one of the top skills needed by new hires to succeed in the workplace. The applied skills that support innovation, such as critical thinking, communications, and problem-solving\u2014all skills commonly acquired in a quality arts education\u2014were, in fact, considered more important than the traditional skills of basic reading, writing, and math. These business leaders further stated that the importance of creativity and innovation would only increase in the future. Putting voice to these findings, Conference Board CEO Jonathan Spector offered the following testimony to Congress: \u201cInnovation, creativity, and related skills such as entrepreneurship are clearly a top concern of senior executives….As innovation is crucial to competition, so is creativity integral to innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arts: Integral to Creativity<\/h4>\n

So crucial were these findings, The Conference Board partnered with Americans for the Arts and the Americans Association of School Administrators (representing the nation\u2019s 14,000 school superintendents) to study this issue in greater detail. Those closest to high-school graduates (public school superintendents) and those close to the workforce entrants these graduates become (employers) were surveyed to identify and compare their views surrounding creativity. The first product of this important new strategic alliance is the 2008 report, Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce?<\/em> The study makes clear that both business and school leaders are virtually unanimous in rating creativity as increasingly important in U.S. workplaces (97 percent and 99 percent, respectively). The report, however, brings to light both provocative insights and remarkable disconnects between what business and education leaders value versus their actions.<\/p>\n

Seventy-two percent of employers say creativity is of \u201cprimary concern\u201d when hiring new employees. Yet, 85 percent of this group can\u2019t find the applicants they seek. How to find such workers? Both superintendents and employers agree that an \u201carts degree\u201d is among the most important indicators of creativity when hiring. School superintendents rank the arts degree<\/em> study as the highest indicator of creativity. Employers rank an arts degree<\/em> and self-employed work<\/em> as the top two indicators of creativity, in almost identical proportions. Very few employers test for creativity in the hiring process; a noteworthy 27 percent said they use the candidate\u2019s appearance to assess creative ability.<\/p>\n

The Value-Action Disconnect<\/h4>\n

While it is heartening that most respondents feel a responsibility for instilling creativity in the workforce (83 percent of superintendents and 61 percent of employers), researchers found that this sense of duty is not matched by their current offerings: not in the schools, and not in the workplace. Fewer than 1 in 10 companies provide any kind of creativity training options to all their employees; in over half the companies, it is not offered at all. Students in the nation\u2019s high schools don\u2019t fare much better. Despite findings that the arts play a key role in developing creativity, most high schools offer arts classes on an elective basis only. Creative writing is the sole required course in more than half the districts. Less than 1 in 5 require a music class.<\/p>\n

A Role for the Arts<\/h4>\n

In sharing these data with school superintendents, we hear genuine enthusiasm about the business community\u2019s growing understanding of \u201carts-creativity-innovation\u201d connection. Yet, they express concern that it is these same business leaders who lean on them to cut the arts in order to balance their school budgets. This effect of killing the goose laying the golden eggs is not news to most in the arts community. There are, however, bright spots that provide arts advocates a foothold to make change.<\/p>\n

New jobs are being created, such as \u201cCreative Workforce Director\u201d at Big Thought, a Dallas based organization advancing arts education, or the newly created position of \u201cCreative Economy Director\u201d for the State of Massachusetts, as part of a statewide economic development strategy.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has long included arts classes among its requirements for\u2028engineering students\u2014understanding\u2028that anyone can train an engineer, but it takes a creative one to arrive at innovative solutions and to make quantum leaps in knowledge. Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable\u2014a convening of 35 national leaders in business, higher education, philanthropy, and the arts\u2014came to a similar conclusion at its Sundance Preserve convening in October 2007 when it coined the 21st century prescription to America\u2019s economic ills: Knowledge + Creativity = A Competitive Edge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin\u2019s Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton (a member of the 2007 Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable) and State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster co-chair the newly formed Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education<\/em>, established to ensure that the state has the creative workforce and entrepreneurial talent necessary to compete in the new economy. \u201cCreativity and innovation will be the cornerstone of Wisconsin competitiveness in the years ahead,\u201d Lawton said. \u201cWe must make strategic investments now to ensure Wisconsin has the bright innovators and entrepreneurs we need to drive our state forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is overwhelming agreement among business and education leaders that creativity is an applied skill necessary to succeed in the workforce\u2014the fuel that drives innovation. The task that remains for the arts community is to connect the dots for business, education, and community leaders to help them understand that an investment in arts education is an investment in our economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

Improving upon the Status Quo<\/h4>\n

Musicians are essential to making change. They are our artists, teachers, and advocates. What are the first steps to doing this?<\/p>\n

Become the \u201cMessenger.\u201d<\/em> Give your colleagues, school administrators, community leaders the information they need to make the case at school board meetings, in curriculum planning, or talking with parents.<\/p>\n

Get the factoids placed into your programs:<\/p>\n