Artistic Sensibilities vs Being an Artist
Context on "The Arts in Business" Podcast
Two weeks ago, I launched my podcast The Arts in Business. If you are interested to discover more about how artistic sensibilities can positively impact businesses, then please take a listen 😊 For those of you who already are doing so – Thank you!
In the podcast, I always ask my guests: What do artistic sensibilities mean to you? In the conversations I have had so far (both released and yet to be published) the difference between being an artist and artistic sensibilities had to be established. Given how this series of articles is all about finding my voice and embracing process, I wanted to share this discovery with you.
This article is really born out of my conversation with Brian Patrick Murphy (his episode will come out on November 24) who turned the question around on me. I discovered that when I conceptualized the podcast, I subconsciously focused on sensibilities rather than artists in business. Also, Nir Hindi, founder of The Artian, already explores the impact of art on business in his amazing podcast. My conversation with Brian crystallized the importance to distinguish between an artist and artistic sensibilities.
So, what is the difference?
I articulated my personal definitions in Being an Artist and Discovering Artistic Sensibilities. The important distinction for me is that the idea or persona of an artist can seem very intimidating or far removed from reality. There are so many people I have encountered who would never call themselves artists, but they love the arts and practice a discipline. A great friend of mine is an incredible boss, entrepreneur, and mother with a great voice and piano skills. She doesn’t call herself an artist, but definitely has an approach toward her professional work that is partially rooted in her musical practice. This is a very important distinction. While I believe that truly anyone can be an artist, perhaps the idea of sensibilities through engaging with art is a bit more accessible. We all engage with some type of art to balance the stress of our lives. It might be watching television, going to pottery classes, or singing our hearts out at karaoke. Taking the step to artistic sensibilities from that point is a very tiny one. All it requires is a conscious engagement with the activity and connecting it to the other parts of our lives.
Let’s take the example of dance classes: Marla (a fictional person) has a stressful job that keeps her at a desk most of the time with some occasional client calls and the responsibilities of a parent which include childcare and shared household duties. She attends two evening dance classes in which she can release some of her stress and anxiety by dropping into her body and connecting with her fellow students. Most of the time, Marla feels relaxed and energized after her classes. If one day, she realizes that in opposition to her boss she makes herself physically smaller by bringing her shoulders forward and her head down a little bit and adjusts herself (chin up and shoulders back), I would argue that she used the physical awareness gained through dance. In other words, she is using her artistic sensibilities in the workplace to her benefit. Marla doesn’t have to be aware that this type of impulse is born out of the dance classes, nevertheless, she activated the sensibility in a new context.
If we engage consciously with our daily activities and relate them to the arts practices we engage in, we are activating artistic sensibilities. This is what the podcast is all about – discovering those artistic sensibilities and shedding some light on when and how we can benefit from them in the context of business and corporations.
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