Article by ALLISON RIGGIO | Contributing Writer | Chicago Journal
It may be years since most white-collar businesspeople went to art class, but a new corporate training philosophy might change the way Chicago does business.
The West Loop’s Catalyst Ranch teamed up with the Art Institute to develop an arts-based corporate training philosophy unlike any other.
Aptly named Art-Work, the program utilizes the museum’s artwork as a medium for teaching communication and other business-related skills.
Catalyst Ranch, which specializes in hosting eccentric off-site meetings and events for various companies, developed Art-Work in conjunction with the Art Institute as an alternative means to the typical corporate teambuilding activities. The day-long sessions use the museum’s vast collections to illustrate and teach business concepts, and also utilize the creative working environment inside Catalyst Ranch to further develop ideas, according to Bobbie Soeder, explorer/matchmaker (aka vice president of sales and marketing) at Catalyst Ranch.
“Arts-based learning isn’t a new concept,” Soeder said. “But we feel that it’s so timely right now with today’s business climate and the push for creativity and innovation.”
The first
half of the session takes place at the Art Institute, where co-workers
view hand-selected artworks and discuss how some of the various
elements can be related to the business world. Art-Work sessions are
co-taught by Sarah Alvarez, the assistant director of Adult Programs in
Museum Education at the Art Institute, and a corporate facilitator
contracted by Catalyst Ranch. Alvarez brings her knowledge of art
history and visual learning to each session while a corporate
facilitator is chosen based on their specialized knowledge in one of
four categories: communication, creativity and innovation, diversity
and inclusion and team and leadership development.
The “Art-Work” training program combines art and corporate business.
“I’ll
get a group of people in front of a work of art and I’ll ask every one
of them to say the first thing they see,” Alvarez said. “Nine times out
of 10 you’ve got almost everybody saying something different. It’s
this reminder that we all see the world slightly differently and art is
a really great way to have those kinds of discussions about how we see
it.”
The second half of the session takes place back at Catalyst
Ranch where the group reviews the concepts discussed at the museum and
works with Alvarez and the corporate facilitator to make solid
connections between the art and their particular business issues.
Facilitators
are contracted based on their area of specialization, and Catalyst
Ranch chooses from a handful of those known as experts in corporate
training. If the staff is having difficulty with communication, Alvarez
and the corporate facilitator will choose artwork they feel will help
the team fine-tune their communication skills, she said. If
cooperation, diversity or other sensitive issues are plaguing the
group, the co-facilitators can select works from the museum that will
create an environment conducive for healthy discussion about the topic.
“The
art is beautiful and it’s incredible but there are skills to be
refined, discovered [and] honed that apply back to the daily way that
group will work with each other,” Soeder said. “It causes people to
feel safer because they’re directing their conflict to the art rather
than to each other.”
Aside from simply being a means for
learning age-old corporate lessons, Art-Work is designed to help
employers keep their staffs thinking in creative, innovative ways. By
having both an art expert and a corporate guru on-hand, clients are
exposed to a dichotomy they might not otherwise have thought to
explore, Alvarez said.
“Our driving goal is to engage audiences
that think they don’t have time ... for a museum, to realize that,
maybe, they do,” she said. “It’s not about coming in with a degree in
art history or being able to paint something or other. It goes beyond
that.”
Though no Art-Work sessions have been scheduled yet, both
the Art Institute and Catalyst Ranch are hopeful based on the history
of satisfied clients they’ve each seen in the past. The Art Institute
has worked with other businesses, teachers and medical professionals in
arts-related programs, and Catalyst Ranch has hosted a slue of
creative meetings and events for corporations across the country.
Amy
Shannon said she was one of the first to bring her staff to an off-site
meeting at Catalyst Ranch when it opened five years ago. Though it may
take corporate-types a bit of time to feel comfortable in an arts
environment, Shannon believes the Art-Work program has great potential
for teambuilding.
“In some ways it puts people on a level
playing field because I suspect there’s not too many [people] out there
that are in fact themselves experts in the arts,” Shannon said. “It
enables people to come at a conversation from a bit of a different
slant than what they might normally.”
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