Friday, March 13, 2009

Hobble the arts and you hobble innovation

"The creative scientist needs an artistic imagination." From Psychology Today http://blogs.psychologytoday.com:80/blog/imagine-that/200902/a-missing-piece-in-the-economic-stimulus-hobbling-arts-hobbles-innovation As the economy stumbles, the first things to get cut at the national, state, and local levels are the arts. The first thing that goes in our school curricula are the arts. Arts, common wisdom tells us, are luxuries we can do without in times of crisis. Or can we? Let's see what happens when we start throwing out all the science and technology that the arts have made possible. You may be shocked to find that you'll have to do without your cell phone or PDA…. …The fact is that the arts foster innovation. We've just published a study that shows that almost all Nobel laureates in the sciences actively engage in arts as adults. They are twenty-five times as likely as the average scientist to sing, dance, or act; seventeen times as likely to be a visual artist; twelve times more likely to write poetry and literature; eight times more likely to do woodworking or some other craft; four times as likely to be a musician; and twice as likely to be a photographer. Many connect their art to their scientific ability with some riff on Nobel prizewinning physicist Max Planck words: "The creative scientist needs an artistic imagination." Bottom line: Successful scientists and inventors are artistic people. Hobble the arts and you hobble innovation. It's a lesson our legislators need to learn. So feel free to cut and paste this column into a letter to your senators and congressmen, as well as your school representatives, or simply send them a link to this column. One way or another, if we as a society wish to cultivate creativity, the arts MUST be part of the equation!
I first found this great article by reading Alyson B Stanfield’s great Art Biz Blog
All the Best,
Michael Orwick
Orwick Arts LLC
http://michaelorwick.blogspot.com/ And if you're into social networking, I'd love for you to follow me on Twitter and friend me on Facebook.Follow me on Twitter --> http://twitter.com/mikeorwick Friend me on Facebook --> http://www.facebook.com/srch.php#/profile.php?id=519196660&hiq=michael%2CorwickConnect with me on LinkedIn --> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/3/9b7/74bBe sure to leave a comment and let me knowyou stopped in

2 comments:

Steve (My Dog Ate Art) said...
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Anonymous said...

Glad you liked the article, Michael. We can't continue to allow our politicians to be so short sighted. And be sure to invite your peeps to the Artist 2 Artist conference in Hood River on 3/28. http://columbiaarts.org (hope it's okay to leave that here)