arts & business council

MetLife Foundation National Arts Forums Series

Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston
Boston, Massachusetts

The Seven Musical Ages of Mankind: The influence of music on creativity, innovation, and science
03/28/2007

Moderator: Rob Austin, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School

Presentation by Professor Paul Robertson, Visiting Professor in Art and Leadership to the Copenhagen Business School; Visiting Professor in Music and Medicine to the Peninsula Medical School, Associate Research Fellow to Templeton College, Oxford

Professor Robertson began his talk by stating that the theories to be presented are based upon Pythagorean views that the world can be understood through music. He introduced the concept of music as not purely an aesthetic, superficial pleasure, but one of the most basic and critical elements of human development and understanding of meaning. The scientific principles presented here make way for the empowerment of artists and musicians of Greater Boston. This elevates the local arts sector to play a much deeper role in community development and creativity training. The talk illustrated that music is a powerful force in all facets of life:

• Music acts as a healing medium and an anesthetic in the medical world for a range of medical issues that includes autism, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and pain management.
• Music is a positive factor in a fetus’ development in the womb, in a mother’s connection to her child, and in child development overall.
• Music is not only an aesthetic medium, but is a basic human need.
• Sound precedes language and is the vehicle by which humans derive meaning.

Rob Austin, associate professor at Harvard Business School, then took the stage and explained that his own interest in Professor Robertson’s work stemmed from the use of music and sound to understand the creative process, and to thereby manage and enhance creativity and innovation within the business world. He also talked about the experiential and physical properties of music and sound, and how those properties relate to the knowledge economy and creativity therein.

Professor Austin then moderated questions from the audience. One member of the audience asked why, in light of the rise in the creativity economy, there is also a decline in the market for art teachers in schools. Professor Robertson spoke of the need for a shift in values, lest we lose our connection with our innate systems. Bereft of artistic sensibilities, we are unable to tap into our complex problem-solving capabilities. He also noted that the human spirit is such that it will find creative energy, no matter what its environment. Professor Austin further stressed the need for a shift in values in regards to artistic sensibilities and creativity, noting that new product development produced via human creativity is the true way to create new revenue in the business world. He added that outside the United States, a considerably higher level of value is placed on creativity. 

The Greater Boston area has a proliferating arts community. In the past, this community has positioned itself as a cultural asset to community life, to be appreciated for purely aesthetic reasons. More recently, arts groups have started to collect data that measure their economic contribution to their communities through tourism, job creation, and revenue-generation for local businesses. The next step is for the arts community to link the importance of arts and culture programming and education to the future strength of the region’s workforce.

The arts community needs quantitative data that clearly establishes arts programming and education as an essential part of learning and skills development, and therefore a driver of innovation in the knowledge-based economy. Solid data would be a powerful force in changing current funding policies, especially on a public level. 

Two educational institutions have started doing interesting work on this issue. First, Bentley College, in collaboration with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of MA, has established a two-week seminar for artists entitled “The Creativity Continuum.”  In this workshop, artists are taught basic business skills and frameworks and then work with corporate clients on current business challenges. The clients who participated in this pilot program were astonished at the relevance and creativity of their artist consultants’ recommendations and found the program to be very useful for their business initiatives.

Harvard Business School (HBS) has recently added a course to its elective curriculum entitled “Managing in the Creative Economy.”  In this course, students are taught to recognize successful systems for generating creative work by studying artists and their processes. The faculty at HBS recognizes that future success in the knowledge-based economy will be found in those organizations that can successfully stimulate and manage creative processes.  Through this course, HBS is hoping to familiarize their students with successful models from the arts world so that they are equipped to replicate these systems and become leaders of innovation during their careers.

Finally, the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities are currently working on creating a creativity index to measure the effectiveness of public schools in educating students to become creative, innovative thinkers. This index, once completed and administered throughout the state, could provide some much needed data to make the case for arts and culture programming in schools and communities throughout Massachusetts.

The data discovered through the creativity index and other national measures should give the arts community a strong case for linking the importance of arts and culture programming and education to the future strength of the region’s workforce, a concern of both public and private sectors.