Last week, arts educator and author Lisa Phillips wrote about the top 10 skills young people can learn from arts education. Here is a new piece about the seeming contradiction between America’s love of artists and its penchant to undervalue arts education. Phillips is an author, blog journalist, arts and leadership educator, speaker and business owner. Her book is called, “The Artistic Edge: 7 Skills Children Need to Succeed in an Increasingly Right Brain World.” This appeared on the ARTSblog, a program of Americans for the Arts.Lisa Phillips with Michael Eisner
By Lisa Phillips
There seems to be a major disconnect between how creativity is valued in society and the career advice we give our children. We all know that the arts are a valuable means of expression, a means to share stories across cultures and an uplifting and moving source of entertainment.
We revere our cultural icons, whether they are movie stars, literary authors or artists, but we seem to limit the possibility of careers in the arts to only a talented few.
How many of us arts professionals have heard from family and friends, “When are you going to get a real job?”
So, why do we put our cultural icons on a pedestal but undervalue arts education? I think one of the reasons is that as a society we are preoccupied with the idea that the arts are reserved only for those with talent. However, in the reality of today’s job market, we need to change this idea.
There is a significant gap between what children are told is important for their future career success and what business leaders actually want from the emerging workforce. Creative individuals are actually in demand. Not just for arts careers, but for careers in business as well.
For example, Disney and Apple are two of the most successful companies of our time, largely because of the creativity, innovation, and the leadership they have demonstrated in their respective industries.
In an era when businesses are constantly struggling to find creative ways to stay at the top of their market, arts education can be a powerful tool to nurture the creative abilities of our young people, ensuring they are ready for the skills that are in demand.
Lisa Phillips with Steve WozniakI have had the pleasure of learning from some of the top business and marketing experts in the world, including Jay Abraham, Eric Trump, Steve Wozniak (Co-Founder of Apple), Stedman Graham (expert in identity development and branding), and Michael Eisner (former CEO of Disney) to name a few. One of the consistent messages I hear from all of these successful business leaders is the importance of creativity in business.
Top CEO’s around the world are seeking out new employees who can think creatively, be innovative in business development and marketing strategies and show outstanding leadership qualities that will “wow” clients. This is what businesses need to compete in the global marketplace. In a 2010 study by IBM, interviews with CEO’s representing 33 industries and 60 countries identified creativity as the most important leadership skill for the future.
