468. Art Thinking and Innovative Business Models feat. Amy Whitaker

How important is creative thinking and the fusion of business and art in today's ever-evolving business landscape? What are the challenges of navigating uncharted futures with the role of AI?

Amy Whitaker teaches Arts Administration at New York University and is also the author of three books, including Art Thinking: How to Carve Out Creative Space in a World of Schedules, Budgets, and Bosses and Economics of Visual Art: Market Practice and Market Resistance.

Greg and Amy discuss the value of integrating artistic mindsets into business environments. Their conversation delves into blockchain, NFTs, and the democratization of art, alongside anecdotes about the resilience and resourcefulness required for creative endeavors. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Saras Sarasvathy
• Sylvain Bureau
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Nina Katchadourian
• Julia Cameron
• Jenny Odell
• Katalin Karikó
• Roger Bannister
• Donald Winnicott
• David Foster Wallace
• John Maeda
• Sol LeWitt
• Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Guest Profile:

• AmyWhitaker.net
• Faculty Profile for NYU Steinhardt
• Creative Leadership Guild Institute
• Social Profile on Instagram
• Social Profile on X
• LinkedIn

Her Work:

• Amazon Author Page
• Art Thinking: How to Carve Out Creative Space in a World of Schedules, Budgets, and Bosses
• Economics of Visual Art: Market Practice and Market Resistance
• Museum Legs: Fatigue and Hope in the Face of Art

Episode Quotes:

Can you be an artist in today's world without having to think about monetization and becoming part of the market?

11:21: I think that as a person, you have to think about being a citizen, and you have to think about being an economic actor. And I think that's true for artists. And I think it's that much more challenging for artists because artists are in a particular position of being both producers and investors, where they have to cover their day-to-day expenses, but they also have to take risks and show us things that are possible, where we are not able to perceive value until many years later, and that value is contestable. We wouldn't all agree on what it is.

Art and sustainable value creation 

10:24: We have to assume that everyone is an artist and that everyone has the potential to be an artist and think that that sort of dignity position has a lot of legs for us in terms of what our society can do. And what it means to have real sustainable value creation in our economy. I think it also is the most hopeful thing that I can come up with, with regard to the body politic as well.

The intersection of business and personal expression

45:25: I think that there's a way that people can understand business through their own ethos, as a person, and, in parallel, can relate to art and creativity without feeling like they have to be, you know, wearing a beret, the letter sort of like bringing your whole self to work and showing up in your particular way. And the envelope is doing that structurally.