How the cultural sector can assist businesses in the midst of chaos

• Between artists, designers, and the corporate world, there is no organised cross-sector collaboration practise.
  
• In a world of rising volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, artists and designers can teach the skills required.
• To participate in meaningful cross-sector collaboration, business and culture must first acknowledge their differences.

The business ecosystem and the culture and creative sectors (CCS), right down to individual artists and designers, are fundamentally disconnected. Cross-sector collaboration, on the other hand, can give a method for creatives to provide novel commercial skills and tactics, which can be quite valuable in today's tumultuous environment. As we progress toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution, next-generation industries, and a more connected society, the current disconnect risks wasting high-value human capital that could be employed to develop such a future.

In a world of rising volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), businesses face problems that must be solved in order to survive and thrive. They must be equipped and prepared with the necessary skills and capabilities. They must pursue differentiation strategies and production techniques that will enable them to produce visually appealing innovative products and services, to innovate and transform in a cost-effective manner, and to engage in experimental innovation that yields novel outcomes. The processes required are identical to those demonstrated in the CCS.

The CCS had been expanding rapidly, but the COVID-19 pandemic's shockwaves have wreaked havoc on these industries. They were among the hardest hit, with a recent UNESCO assessment estimating that these industries will lose 10 million jobs globally by 2020. The shock has been felt most acutely in the performing arts (a 90 percent loss in turnover), music (a 76 percent reduction in turnover), and the visual arts (a 76 percent reduction in turnover) (38 percent reduction in turnover). It is consequently critical to rebuild better and cooperatively through business model innovation.

Cross-sector collaboration between artists, designers, and the corporate world, formalised, professionalised, and choreographed, would address the issues and requirements of both the corporate and cultural sectors. It would encourage business model innovation and serve as a foundation for developing new skills that would enable businesses to survive in the VUCA world.

Due to the insecurity of self-employment arrangements in these industries, as well as the inherent risk-taking aspect of the creative process, the artistic professions are pervaded by VUCA. They can teach cross-cutting abilities like experimentation, systems thinking, complicated problem solving, and a creative process attitude. These aid in dealing with VUCA-like situations by allowing for more multi-dimensional creative solutions to emerge. Our research found a surprising overlap between the workforce capabilities that businesses need to stay relevant in the future and the skills and competences that artists and designers can provide.

The potential for cross-sector business model innovation to unlock the power of creative thought is enormous. However, in order for it to be successful, the disparities in beliefs, values, drives, language, and ways of thinking and acting amongst different sectors must be properly recognised and harmonised (though such differences can be experienced as a strength rather than discomfort). This is a prerequisite for developing a cross-sector collaboration-based innovation culture. Efforts have been made in the past, but it appears that there is a substantial lack of good practise orchestration that develops common ground. We identified 15 themes that are key for this congruence in our upcoming report on cross-sector collaboration:

These themes serve as a foundation for the CCS and the business sector to build a framework and innovation ecosystem for cross-sector collaboration and workforce skill development at all levels.

To allow efficient interaction between artists and designers, professional competency development is critical in the corporate sector and among artists and designers. This includes basic skills such as recognising points of intersection between sectors, identifying relevant contacts and roles, comprehending the nature of dialogue at various stages of the interfacing process, employing effective methods to engage in dialogue, and determining the best times to interface and interact with artists and designers. When these parts of professional competency development are addressed, the value of interaction is likely to rise, and engagement will move beyond rhetoric and talk.

Obstacles that cut across sectors

Existing belief systems and attitudes are currently preventing successful cross-sector collaboration in both the CCS and the corporate sector.

Role models that have understood and successfully handled the whys and hows of collaboration are needed by artists who are open to employing their talents and aptitude in various situations. There is now a dearth of exposure of these individuals within the community of practise and beyond. Meanwhile, there appears to be a paucity of well-defined and simply accessible information for collaborating with artists and designers on the business and industry side.

Better policy instruments at the federal level would aid cross-sector coordination. It is critical that cross-sector collaboration be orchestrated at the policy level and through macro-level programmes that support practise at sectoral levels for it to work effectively. In this regard, we provide 17 suggestions:

Most people are unaware of the full potential of cross-sector collaboration, despite the fact that the possibility is enormous and the practise can result in systemic change. A deliberate effort and attention on this would assist to valorize the field of work as well as reinforce the CCS in economic and other ways, such as by generating new alternative labour markets for artists and designers who want to take a hybrid approach to their career. It would also assist businesses in responding to VUCA challenges by providing them with the appropriate human capital.