Creative Work questions for the the HE curriculum in Art & Design

Angela PartingtonUWE

Art & Design

• The UK is a large provider of art & design education• There has been significant growth in the creative industries• There has been investment in resources• The subject is established within large HE institutions

• Change, uncertainty, constraints - demand for specialisms and different types of courses - competitive marketplace - managing more with less

The Future of Creative Work

• Graduates of A&D disciplines tend to have ‘portfolio’ career patterns, associated with ‘personal and work satisfaction at the expense of some disadvantage in terms of financial reward’ (CGCF report 2010),

• ‘their tolerance of uncertainty and ability to adapt …fits them for contemporary life and work….(they are) trail-blazers for other disciplines in engaging with contract and freelance working (ibid)

The Future of Creative Work

• BUT A&D graduates do not perform particularly well in finding employment either in the creative industries or as creative workers, in comparison with graduates of other disciplines

• Graduates from other disciplines earn more than they do even in creative jobs, (see Abreau et al ‘Life is Short, Art is Long: from bohemian graduates to the creative class’), suggesting that the ‘creative’ competences they develop at university are not as highly-valued.

Creativity • C20th creativity - ‘innate talent’ - ‘craft’ - individual and/or free ‘self-expression’ - ‘originality’ - ‘cultural leadership’ - indifferent to commerce or the demands of the marketplace

• C21st creativity - context-dependent - social/collective practice - cross-disciplinary - ‘cultural intermediary’ - market-driven

Creativity and Commerce‘Half a century of marketing science has had no impact on the 95%failure rate of new products’ (Brown, S., ‘Postmodern Marketing’, 1995)

‘Guitar music is on the way out’ Sony Walkman (1980) Alexander McQueen

(Decca Records 1962) Bumsters (1994)

The C21st creative professional is a collaborator and mediator, a ‘hybrid manager’ who can ‘operate across disciplines’ (Cox Review 2005)

Hella Jongerius Dominic Anciano

M/M

Damien Hirst

Art is Industry

Duchamp 1917 Loewy 1929 Apple 2009

• ‘design is the means by which companies can apply creativity strategically to their business purpose. .. leaders understand that truth and embrace the power of creativity and innovation as they drive their organizations toward a more prosperous and sustainable future’. (Hartmut Esslinger, Apple)

• ‘(design) turns ideas into business propositions’ (Cox Review))• (design is) the process of innovation through the collaboration of specialists from a

wide range of disciplines, manufacturers and consumers’ (Harold Ambrose, CEO Electronic Ink)

Innovation‘the deliberate and organised combination of contributions from a

mass of independent and distributed participants’ Charles Leadbeater, We-Think: mass innovation, not mass production

(p87)

• participatory/inclusive

• goal/problem-driven

• social/collaborative

• structured/organised

• incremental/cumulative

participatory

Benson & Hedges ads 1977

problem-driven

(cross-disciplinary) collaborative (production)

• nousvous collective

• Peepshow

Digital Kitchen

organised

incremental

Robert Longo

Neville Brody

Quentin Tarantino

what is HE for?

• participatory/inclusive • goal/problem-driven • social/collaborative• structured/organised• incremental/cumulative

a creative Art & Design HE curriculum

• equip graduates for professional (not vocational) careers,

• recognise/value diversity not ‘good taste’,• promote cross-disciplinary teamwork,• deliver post-critical research skills.