arts & business council

MetLife Foundation National Arts Forums Series

Arts & Business Council of Chicago and Chicago
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
Chicago, Illinois

Performing on the Corporate Stage: How Artistic Training Enhances Professional Performance
11/08/2006

Moderator: Rob Chambers, President, The Second City Training Centers & Education Programs, International

Introductions:

• Harvey Seifter, Director of Creativity Connection
• Sarah Finch, The Second City Communications

Panelists:

• Cecilia J. Blue, Attorney and Seminarian
• Ben Cirillo, Guitar and Accessories Sales. The Guitar Center
• Anna Crilly, Tech Recruiter, Falkor Group
• Alan S. Dalinka, Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney, Trademarks, Copyrights & Media Group, DLA Piper US LLP, and Treasurer, Member of Executive Committee & Board of Directors, Lawyers for the Creative Arts
• Alice Jordan, Captain of the Service Team, Lettuce Entertain You
• Aaron Paterson, Freshman Housing Coordinator, Concordia University Chicago
• Carl Seidman, Associate, Dispute Analysis & Investigations, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Americans for the Arts' Director of Creativity Connection, Harvey Seifter, kicked off the Forum with a brief address citing the corporate world’s increasing demand for an imaginative, innovate, and adaptable workforce, and the promise of arts-based training as a means to help employers develop these attributes in their employees.  Corporations all over the world strive to unleash the hidden creativity and teach their employees leadership and communication skills, creative thinking, and high-performance teamwork.  Second City is one of the pioneers, having developed arts-based corporate training programs that are considered the gold-standard in the field.

Rob Chambers, President of The Second City Training Centers & Education Programs, International and Sarah Finch of The Second City Communications briefly presented the history, mission, and an explanation of The Second City's individual and corporate training programs. While the individual training featuring improv techniques can be used  to prepare for careers in entertainment, most students work in the corporate sector and use the training to improve presentation, creativity and team-building skills in a fun and safe environment.

Panelists gave some specific examples of how they were able to apply the training to their work:

• Allen Delinka, an attorney, recounted how he had integrated an improvisational exercise into the opening of a meeting. He wanted to loosen people up and make them more comfortable sharing new ideas. Allen reported that the exercise worked in helping his colleagues think in a more creative manner.
• Aaron Peterson, a housing coordinator at Concordia University, shared a similar story.  He brought his staff together and played a series of games designed to encourage team-building.  He hopes to continue using the exercise and gauge its effect.

Speakers Rob and Sarah also acknowledged that many students experience personal benefits from participating in Second City’s classes. In fact, they stressed that many students are primarily motivated to take improv classes by the possibility of learning skills that will benefit them at home.

Second City is the best known, most established organization in Chicago offering arts-based corporate training programs. Unlike our arts clients, however, they are a for-profit entity. Among non-profit arts organizations in Chicago, there are very few who deliver arts-based training in corporate settings.

The real driver for non-profit arts organizations in developing arts-based corporate training is their interest in finding new and additional sources of earned income as other funding streams wane. Arts-based corporate training holds an allure for many arts organizations who aspire to pursue this avenue, and Chicago, with its robust corporate community, is a relatively untapped market with huge potential. 

The hurdles/roadblocks that exist regarding arts-based corporate training aren’t confined to arts organizations in Chicago...the same obstacles exist everywhere:

• Many arts organizations do not “speak” the language of business and do not necessarily know how to translate what they do and their creative process to workplace problems/needs.  They need to be educated as to their value-proposition to business to help develop and market/sell programs, and secondly they need to train their staff to competently and consistently deliver high quality programs.  Being creative and teaching creativity, are not the same skill.
• Arts organizations have limited people and financial resources, and may not have the ability to competently create, sell and deliver arts-based corporate training.  Therefore, it would be helpful to educate arts organizations as to the evaluation criteria they should use when determining if they should develop arts-based training programs for business.
• The other major hurdle is that many companies do not see the value in arts-based training, and there is a lack of solid research that makes a convincing argument about its value in terms that corporations care about. Chicago companies, for the most part are conservative, no-nonsense environments --- business people here want quantitative evidence of the value of arts-based training in the workplace.

A&BC/Chicago is currently in discussion with Creativity Connection at Americans for the Arts to participate in a “Train the Trainer” program for arts organizations interested in developing arts-based training programs for business.  A&BC/Chicago is also convening a market research project to help understand the needs of business as they relate to the arts, and develop a core value proposition for business.

In addition, A&BC/Chicago will be inviting their corporate members and other contacts to attend a demonstration on arts-based training for the second MetLife Foundation National Arts Forum. In this forum, Creativity Connection artist Michael Gold and Jazz Impact will deliver a 50-minute sample of his program, allowing audience members to witness first-hand how this kind of training can benefit their businesses’ bottom-lines.

Replicating the Second City model, given Second City’s size and scale is not within reach of most arts organizations.  What is possible, however, is for arts organizations, especially theater and improv companies who already provide training and workshops for individuals and children, to explore the possibility of offering on-site training to local companies.