The Creative Spectrum

12/16/2020

“As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. History has shown that periods of significant upheaval and stress inspire reinvention to overcome constraints, overthrow old assumptions and achieve new imperatives. Some of the biggest companies in the world today were created during or in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008. Instagram, WhatsApp, Uber and Airbnb were all started by ambitious entrepreneurs who might have ended up working in a comfortable job at a big corporate, bank or management consultancy if it weren’t for the difficult economic environment at the time.

This year has certainly not been like any other year. The shock unleashed to our daily lives by the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world before our eyes. Organisations, businesses, even healthcare systems and learning institutions like ours, scrambled to adjust to overcome challenges they could not have imagined and innovate new capabilities, products and services in a matter of days and weeks – rather than months and years.

Retailers and cafes launched gift and subscription services; whisky and gin distilleries became hand sanitiser and ventilator factories and the lockdowns saw many organisations across sectors suddenly embrace digital, data and analytics functionality in a way that hadn’t happened before. Some of these innovations will not stick around for the long term, but many will, as new habits are configured and old behaviours don’t return.

So, to pay tribute to the extraordinary ingenuity focused on mitigating the worst socioeconomic, business and health effects of the pandemic, we have created a new category this year as part of our annual Real Innovation Awards: the Innovation in Adversity Award. This category was open for enterprises that radically changed their business model to survive the pandemic or that mobilised to fill a new opportunity created by the crisis – as well as those which had rapidly repurposed existing assets or reconfigured their organisations to meet an urgent societal need unrelated to the pandemic. Some great examples were shortlisted, with different approaches to innovation in the face of adversity.

Life-saving innovation

A team at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals invented the Black Box to treat COVID-19 patients – a lifechanging innovation that literally saved people’s lives. Experiencing an international acute shortage of ventilators, the small team of consultants, nurses, physiotherapists and physiologists at the NHS Foundation Trust, knew they needed to try something different.

“Some of these innovations will not stick around for the long term, but many will as new habits are configured and old behaviours don’t return”

The Warrington team adapted breathing machines normally used for sleep apnoea, a disorder that stops breathing during sleep, which became known as “black boxes”. These have been so successful that Warrington hospital continues to have the lowest number of COVID-19 related deaths in the northwest of England – half that of some local hospitals. A classic example of ‘recombinant innovation’ in a time of need without delay, it also demonstrates that small innovations made locally by people just ‘doing their job’ can make a huge difference to people’s lives.

Big and small businesses quickly shifted their services and operating model this year not just to survive the pandemic but to create a beneficial impact for their local communities and society at large.

When the pandemic hit, consumer appliance firm Arçelik, which owns the Beko and Grundy brands, joined forces with some of the biggest names in technology and aviation to undertake the mass production of life-saving mechanical ventilators. In a remarkable case of cross-industry collaboration for innovation, 120 engineers, including 60 from Arçelik and others from BioSys, Baykar Technologies and Aselsan, got together to use the rapid prototyping facilities at Arçelik Garage, an open innovation centre in Istanbul, to design and test the initial prototype on a strict two week deadline.

Arçelik completed production of 5,000 life saving mechanical ventilators in June, with more than half sent to 18 countries including some of the hardest hit countries, such as Brazil, Somalia and Nigeria. The collective expertise in the design, industrialisation and localisation of the ventilator is given to the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology on a not-for-profit basis.

‘Part of the solution’

Arçelik CEO Hakan Bulgurlu says: “We’re proud to have played a role in this project, which shows what can be achieved when we come together for the greater good. We want to be part of the solution; working collectively with businesses and governments to fight COVID-19 globally and shape a more sustainable future.”

Meanwhile, on a smaller scale, San Francisco-based restaurant wholesale app Cheetah pivoted to sell to consumers after the pandemic and lockdowns cut 80% of its revenues almost overnight. Demonstrating true innovative thinking in adversity, Cheetah saw the opportunity not only to pivot to survive, but also to support its local community. By creating a consumer version of its app, it enabled customers to order from its wholesale suppliers and collect orders the next day at designated pick-up points in a completely contactless process.

The system leveraged Cheetah’s infrastructure to solve numerous pain points in a post-COVID world: it helps local grocery stores overcome possible supply shortages through access to a separate supply chain; enables more food ordering transactions with fewer employees than door-to-door delivery, and saves customers time by avoiding speculative shopping trips and queues to enter stores – and reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Cheetah is also supporting restaurants by removing its delivery fees on supplies for those that remain open; little wonder that in April this year it closed a $36 million Series B round, bringing total funding to more than $66 million since its 2015 inception.

From coal to code

Two of the finalists were chosen for innovation in adversity that had nothing to do with the pandemic. Bit Source is an unusual software services company located in one of the poorest areas of the US, in the Appalachian region of Eastern Kentucky. A region once powered by the coal industry, it has been in decline for many years as a result of anti-coal policies and the shutdown of the mines that employed most of the local population.

How, wondered two former coalminers in Pikeville, could they create employment and reboot the local economy in this bleak scenario? Having considered “just about everything – wind farms, solar farms, hog farms – you name it” – Rusty Justice and Lynn Parrish set up Bit Source, a software services company that turns former miners into coders and sells software products to companies. Along the way they had to overcome challenges seemingly the size of the surrounding mountains themselves: a scarcity of IT skills, poor high-speed internet access and difficulty in accessing funds and projects.

“Small innovations made locally by people just ‘doing their job’ can make a huge difference to people’s lives”

But the founders had seen how miners employed logic to solve life-or-death problems underground and had a hunch that the same skills could be successfully redeployed in programming. They began by hiring 11 former miners who scored highest on a coding aptitude test, trained them to be highly competent programmers and secured software development contracts with several companies. Bit Source is still small but, five years on, most of the original team still code in the company’s old Coca-Cola factory by the Big Sandy river, diligently applying Appalachian ingenuity to move mountains.

The innovation story of Barcelona-based Batec Mobility, meanwhile, is equally inspiring – with its founder forced to think differently and create a new mobility solution to overcome his personal adversity challenge.

At 18-years-old, founder Pau Bach was passionate about motorbikes and cycling. In his first year of studying industrial design, and someone who led an extremely active life, a traffic accident left him quadriplegic and struggling to cope with a profoundly life-changing injury. He found that the mobility aids available then simply did not allow him to do what he wanted to do, in terms of mobility and lifestyle.

The solution? Pau decided to start manufacturing by hand his own mobility solutions: ‘add-on’ handbikes that incorporated technology from cycling and electric vehicles that could be connected to his wheelchair. Thanks to his inventions, he was able to practice sports, travel and get around autonomously. In 2006, at the age of 27, he decided to improve the life of others in his situation by developing products to sell. In 2008, he launched his own product line in Spain and they are available today in more than 20 countries worldwide, reaching more than 6.000 wheelchairs users in total.

He has since gone from strength to strength, winning numerous awards for social responsibility and entrepreneurship along the way. If ever there was a case of necessity being mother to invention, this is it.“

Crisis spurs innovation. Discover the innovators who have created lifechanging solutions at the worst of times

09/25/2020

09/16/2020

OPPORTUNITY ALERT!

Sony Corporation announced [in July] the launch of "Sony Talent League by THU", a global challenge to empower aspiring creators co-hosted by Sony and "Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU) ", a networking platform for creators. The challenge is looking for the best cross-border talent on a worldwide scale, to discover the next generation of creative minds in the digital entertainment industry.

"Sony Talent League by THU" accepts submissions of creative work globally under the theme of "Break the Creative Distance", and the aim of the challenge is to inspire participants to create something that offers a fresh perspective to the new normal brought about by the pandemic.

The entries will be judged by a panel of world's leading creative talent. The three finalists (team or individual) will gain access to funding as well as weekly mentorships online with renowned creators and industry legends from the jury team for ten weeks, to take their ideas to the next level and nurture their talent. In addition, the winner will be invited to the global creative event "THU Japan" scheduled to be held in Japan in 2021, as well as awarded prize money.

■Sony Talent League by THU

・ Theme：
"Break the Creative Distance"

・ Submissions：
July 30, 2020- October 19, 2020 (Portuguese Local Time)

・ Participants:
Can apply individually or as part of a group (maximum of three members)

・ Eligibility:
Creators aged between 18 and 30 years old from all areas of the digital entertainment industry: film, animation, games, music, VR, and more.
・Official website:
https://bit.ly/SONYTALENTLEAGUE

"As a Creative Entertainment Company, Sony seeks to empower the dreams of creators all over the world. Together with THU, we would like to offer aspiring talent an opportunity to create something the world has never seen before, seeking inspiration and creativity, that drives positive impact in this challenging era," said Midori Tomita, VP in charge of Brand Communication, Sony Corporation.

André Luis, THU's founder, said, "Sony Talent League is not a competition, it's a collaboration opportunity and a new approach for creative work through boundless digital innovation. Right now, because of COVID-19, there is a strong need for connection and we want to inspire participants to create something meaningful. We know there are many people out there with groundbreaking ideas, but are not sure how to take them further, or are too shy to share them, but now is the time to make them real"

"Sony Talent League by THU" is the latest program of "Sony Creators Gate," Sony's branding initiative to empower the next generation of creators by offering exciting growth opportunities. Other programs to date include "U24 CO-CHALLENGE 2020", "ENTERTAINMENT CAMP", "STEAM Studio", and "Short Shorts Film Festival".
For more information about Sony Creators Gate：
https://www.sony.net/brand/creatorsgate/

Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced the launch of "Sony Talent League by THU", a global challenge to empower aspiring creators co-hosted by Sony and "Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU) ", a...

07/24/2020

06/17/2020

"While the Annual Impact Investing Survey compiled by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) reveals that investors seeking environmental and social impact in addition to financial return are finding opportunities in micro-finance, housing, and many other areas - it’s what was missing that caught Callanan’s attention.

Arts and culture received 0.1% of GIIN member assets in 2019, with only 7% of respondents saying they allocate any assets to the sector. This is despite the creative economy accounting for 4.5% of US GDP and 3% of global GDP.

Callanan noticed this impact investment-shaped hole in arts funding while working in the Obama Administration as Senior Deputy Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). “From my perch at the NEA I saw both a gap and an opportunity,” she said.

“Government funding for the arts in the United States is quite small. The annual budget of the federal arts agency is about $155 million a year. Philanthropy makes up for some of this, with around $20 billion a year directed to arts and culture. But there is $12 trillion of socially responsible capital in the US. The question was how to get some of this socially responsible or impact investment capital focused on the creative sector.”

Artists as social entrepreneurs

Callanan, whose late husband is renowned playwright and novelist Romulus Linney, had long recognized people working in the arts as social entrepreneurs.

There is a whole set of creative entrepreneurs who have been over-looked and under-estimated.

During a career where she worked on Wall Street, led the Rockefeller Foundation’s first impact investment efforts, and advised the largest global foundations and NGOs on social entrepreneurship and social impact bonds as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, Callanan spent time with some of the top writers, actors, composers and painters in the United States.

“I had a eureka moment in 2010 after lunch with a friend, the founding artistic director of a theatre company in New York,” she says. “He was describing his vision for the theatre lobby as a community green in the middle of Manhattan, open to everyone whether or not they’d bought a ticket to see the show. Keeping ticket prices to $25 for every seat at every show, so that going to the theater would be accessible and the audiences diverse. I realized he was a social entrepreneur, but no one was calling him that because he worked in the arts, and he wasn’t calling himself that because he worked in the arts. There is a whole set of creative entrepreneurs who have been over-looked and under-estimated.”

The issue, then, was how to connect the dots.

In 2015, along with an advisory board of global leaders in the impact investing space, Callanan founded Upstart Co-Lab, a pioneering organization connecting impact investors with funds, businesses and real estate projects that are driving environmental and social change through the creative economy. Upstart’s mission is to create opportunities for artist innovators to deliver social impact at scale.

“Inherently we’re trying to connect two worlds that haven’t yet found each other,” says Callanan, describing Upstart’s role as a catalyst and connector building the ecosystem for impact investing in the creative economy.

“We knew that entrepreneurs working in the creative sector were driving the same impacts as other social entrepreneurs – impacts related to the environment, quality jobs, inclusion and social justice. And we wanted to show impact investors that all the impacts they were looking for could be achieved by investing in a segment of the economy they had overlooked.”

Viewing investment opportunities through a creativity lens

Paving the way for impact fund managers and impact wealth advisors to focus on the creative sector, Upstart has learned from gender lens investing – the practice of investing in projects which benefit women.

We wanted to show impact investors that all the impacts they were looking for could be achieved by investing in a segment of the economy they had overlooked.

“We realized we were introducing a ‘creativity lens’ to the impact investing conversation,” says Laura. “I turned to my friends who are leaders of the gender lens investing movement and asked, can we borrow from your experience? They shared a three-part recipe: Make the case. Build the coalition. Bring investable products to market.”

It’s a recipe that Upstart, which is part of a larger non-profit, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, has followed. It’s been ‘making the case’, promoting the benefits of investing in the creative economy, by conducting original research, writing opinion pieces, and courting earned media. Upstart has published deep dives on creative industries such as fashion, food and media, and a look back on how low-income communities have historically benefitted from investment in creative spaces and businesses.

To ‘build the coalition’, Upstart recently launched a member community. A set of pioneers who are well-regarded in the arts and culture community, the group is a mix of experienced impact investors who want to actively target the creative sector, and art lovers, endowed arts organizations and foundations focused on the arts who want to begin their impact investing journey.

Upstart is also ‘bringing investable products to market’, making it easier for stakeholders to put their money to work. It launched an impact fund for the inclusive creative economy with community development finance institution the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in 2018. The fund financed affordable workspace for New York City creative industries, and generated jobs for middle- and low-income workers. Upstart is now working with LISC to make the fund national. It’s also working with Community Investment Management and Nest on a global working capital fund for artisan businesses.

As with anything new, the work requires time, repetition and profound patience. Bringing together the creative sector and impact investors means translating jargon, demonstrating common interests and building bridges. “When I talk with impact investors, I’m the person who knows a lot about the arts. When I talk to people in the creative space, I’m the person who knows a lot about finance,” says Callanan.

Right now Upstart is focused on persuading arts leaders and art lovers to get up to speed on impact investing. “I start the conversation with a bad joke,” Callanan says. “Why should people who care about the arts, care about impact investing? Because, in the words of the great American bank robber Willie Sutton, that’s where the money is.”

Why we should be investing with a creativity lens • Curated by Alexandra Court exploring social and environmental impact investment.

06/13/2020

05/05/2020

64% of artists have become fully unemployed because of COVID-19. According to the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, co-launched by Artist Relief and Americans for the Arts, to better identify and address the needs of artists moving forward.
To APPLY, DONATE, or LEARN MORE, visit artistrelief.org.

64% of artists have become fully unemployed because of COVID-19. According to the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, co-launched by Artist Relief and Americans for the Arts, to better identify and address the needs of artists moving forward.

To APPLY, DONATE, or LEARN MORE, visit artistrelief.org.

03/21/2020

“A Teenage Cork author hopes buyers for her first work will both enjoy and learn from it.

Jessica Griffin’s comic, One Piece Missing: On the Road, has been out since the start of the year and is proving popular both with people on the autism spectrum and others who want to learn more about the condition.

Jessica, who is currently in sixth year at Cork Life Centre, has Asperger syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum. She t ells me she wrote and drew the comic in part because she would have loved to have something like it available when she was first diagnosed.

“When I was younger there wasn’t a lot of people, role models, for me to look up to when it came to having autism,” she explains.

“I wanted to help people who have it and we thought a comic could be a good way to do it.

“I want to help people who have autism, to know they’re not alone.”

Jessica feels it is very important for people who have autism to see people like themselves in books and other media.

She likens it to the current drive to ensure films and TV shows offer confident and inspirational female role models and how beneficial that is for young girls, to have women’s success in various fields highlighted.

“I want people to know that, yeah, autism has its weird moments, where you’re not sure what to do. But it is better to accept it instead of trying to hide it or suppress it.”

The reaction she has received so far from young people with autism has shown she was right that there was a gap in the media available.

“Recently a 14-year old got the book and he is on the spectrum,” Jessica says.

“He said it felt like I was inside his head, that he could relate a lot to the character and what I was talking about in the book.”

Her hope is that the comic, which is just the first in a planned series, offers people on the spectrum the feeling of ‘Oh, I’m not the only one’.

But it is not only people with autism who are reading it, which was something Jessica also had in mind from the start.

“When I got older I got frustrated that I kept having to explain autism, really every day I was explaining it,” she says.

“Eventually I said to dad that I wanted to teach people about it.”

The feedback from this audience has also been excellent.

“We have had a couple of teachers pick up the book because they want to see what a students point of view is and see if they can potentially help,” Jessica says.

“A few people have said they are delighted and parents have said they are happy with the book because it helps them understand what might be going on in their child’s mind.

“My mum and dad had to try very hard to get information when I was diagnosed. They had to go a long way to get some of the information they need. Parents will always appreciate a little spotlight they can turn to to get more information on everyday aspects [of life with autism].”

Jessica is currently combining her study with work on the second in the series, which she hopes to complete in the summer. She plans to continue her art through further study in animation and says Asperger’s brings its own challenges when it comes to work and art.

“Drawing the book was a really funny ordeal on my part,” she laughs.

“I really love art, so its not like I don’t like drawing. I love drawing all the time anyway, it was more about trying to focus on that project instead of doing 15 other projects at the same time!”

For Jessica, this is the main driver behind her work, to showcase how autism can be embraced and accepted for what it offers to people, rather than be seen as something to be suppressed or managed.

She says that, following a difficult period after her diagnosis, her experience of life with autism changed the ‘moment I started accepting the autism, using it as an advantage, rather than seeing it as a weakness’.

“The things that come with my autism, like being obsessive, they can be really good quirks to use as an advantage and to help develop,” she says.

“If you work with it, you will be surprised what it can help you do.”

Teenage author shows those with autism they are not alone by penning a comic

02/12/2020

“Jennifer Dahlquist is an artist who paints, makes mixed-media collages, and pursues photography with the eye of a professional, with more than 3,000 images on her laptop computer. She also writes poetry, sings second soprano in the Festival Choir of Madison, and is proud of having what she describes as a very vivid imagination.

“Up through middle school I really believed that dragons existed,” says Dahlquist, who is now 24. “Sometimes I still do.”

Dahlquist has autism spectrum disorder, a term that refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by repetitive activity, speech and nonverbal behaviors, and challenges with social skills, among other issues. Autism has no single blueprint, and Dahlquist describes herself as “high functioning.” “I come to art to express my feelings, but I still have trouble controlling my anxiety,” she says.

Dahlquist is one of 15 adult artists who has contributed works to Creative Life on the Spectrum, a new exhibit in Overture Center’s Playhouse Gallery. Nine children on the autism spectrum have also contributed additional works to the show.

“Portrait,” Dahlquist’s contribution, is an image of a woman built of shapes — triangles and half-circles — in a style reminiscent of the work of artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn, whose collage works were exhibited at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in December 2018.

The art in the show ranges from line drawings to illustrations and paintings, both simple and complex. Heather Sarabia’s two free-flowing abstract works pulse with life and color, and are part of a 2020 calendar of her work that she produced and sold over the holidays. Digital artist Matt Ward created a poster of 24 complex fractals, each captioned with the computer code formula he used to create them.

In addition to the adults, nine children with autism contributed works to the show, courtesy of CI Pediatric Therapy Center and Achieving Collaborative Treament, a Verona-based provider.

The adult portion of the exhibit, which closes March 1, was curated by Laura Falkenberg, assistant director of ArtWorking, a Madison nonprofit that provides career development and support for artists and entrepreneurs with autism, Down syndrome and traumatic brain injuries. Dahlquist is an ArtWorking client who spends six hours a week using its studio facilities.

“This isn’t art therapy or recreational art,” says Falkenberg, who previously worked with adults with disabilities as a student at the former College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. “We’re about careers and vocational support, and 70 percent of our clients own their own small businesses.”

Dr. Tina Iyama-Kurtycz, emeritus professor of pediatrics with the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, who spent 40 years treating children with autism, says art is an essential part of treatment.“Art as a means of self-expression is important for everyone, and everyone deserves access to it,” says Iyama-Kurtycz, whose clinical resource book Diagnosing and Caring for the Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder was published last fall. “Some children on the spectrum develop passions for different types of artistic expression, and if parents can support those passions the children will perform at an overall higher level with access to art than they would without it.”

According to the Autism Society of America, an estimated 3.5 million Americans — one in every 59 people — have some level of autism spectrum disorder. The cost of providing autism services runs $236-$262 billion annually. Early intervention and treatment, including involvement in the arts, can significantly reduce those costs.

The exhibit is designed to support Children’s Theater of Madison’s production of Mockingbird, which opens Feb. 22 in Overture’s Playhouse. The play is based on Kathryn Erskine’s book about a young girl with autism who must cope with a family member’s sudden death.

Mockingbird director Erica Berman chose Mattie Olson, a local 11-year-old girl with autism, to play Caitlin, the play’s 11-year-old protagonist. Berman says Olson was an excellent choice for the role. “Every child brings something special, and in Mattie’s case it was humor, authenticity, fearlessness and a lot of heart,” says Berman, who is the company’s director of engagement and community involvement. “She’s also whip-smart and can pick up on the small things.”

The casting call for actors with autism brought two candidates with autism to Berman’s attention. In addition to Olson, Gavin Lorenz has been cast in the play, but in a neurotypical — or non-autistic — role.

Berman worked with Olson initially in private rehearsals, keeping a strong line of communication open with the young actor’s mother, Melissa Olson, and her therapists. Berman also cast Amelie LaBarre as “Caitlin Cover,” an understudy for Olson for times when Olson may find the onstage experience overwhelming. LaBarre also is guaranteed a few chances to play the role herself during the play’s run.

Olson is excited about her role. “I love acting, and I knew how Caitlin felt,” Olson says. “I wanted a role where I could actually show how autism works.

“I also would like audience members to think of autism as a similarity, not a difference,” Olson says. “Even if we’re on the autism spectrum, we’re not that different from you.”

A visual art exhibit and play highlight the contributions of people with autism