At a time of exceptional change and crisis, developing and utilising entrepreneurial as well as critical and creative thinking is vital. Of course, so many of us are feeling so anxious and upset, the ability to find space to think differently is so hard to find.
Yet, there seems to have never been a greater need to be thoughtfully innovative by facilitating ‘new value creation’ and taking a lead in promoting, encouraging, assisting the potential for new collaboration within the creative, cultural and social innovation sectors. Initiatives that model strong collaboration within the academy as well as with communities and industry that aim to priorities issues of innovation, inclusivity, diversity, professional and financial sustainability, globalisation as well as employability are of huge value to students, industry as well as policy makers and much needed.
In the week before “lockdown” we worked with colleagues from the creative sector to bring together and share the best advice possible for self-employed and began to connect with the broader ecology to support the lobbying to Treasury, DCMS and Arts Council England. We continue to do this.
We know that many will have to wait until June if self-employed or the results of an application to the Arts Council England or other funders as we are all settling in to a difficult “new now”. Waiting or maybe on furlough, or working out how to financially survive. Hard times for all, and difficult to maintain optimism and creativity or problem solving skills.
We have reached out and offered support to our alumni and to Lewisham based creative and social enterprises. Our Enterprise colleagues are also developing an offer.
While we are developing and delivering immediate advice, we are also working with others to analyse financial and business models to see what trends we can observe to support cultural, creative and social enterprises and advise funders on areas of the ecosystem that may need greater or different support.
One thing that is clear is that new ways of engaging with audiences, beneficiaries, users, funders will be necessary, some are already emerging. We congratulate those practitioners and their generosity and One of the strengths that our base at Goldsmiths gives us is our ability to use social science, design and creative as well as critical theory and tools. Developing scenarios, understanding patterns of behaviour as well as being able to engage with futures and finance have always been key skills that we have developed at ICCE.
In our work at ICCE and beyond we are encouraging people, funders and organisations to think about how they can prepare for re-engaging, rather than just focusing on the immediate worries. Giving tools for survival now as well as evolving.
Through this we have already created techniques to develop fresh strategies and ways of working. Acknowledging that original forms of service delivery, finance, new collaborations and perhaps even closure or reinvention will be required. We hope our approaches will help support individuals and organisations to move from the immediate anxiety, to creative potential and through that we will be ready to find new survival technique.
What seems clear though: to get through the immediate, communities of support will be vital and new networks of collaboration must be developed as we support one another and share ideas. We’re keen to be part of that process.