Art and aesthetics in management and organizational life

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FAQ’s

Introduction

Frequently asked questions:

Who is Aesthesis?

Who is Arts & Business?

What is Aesthesis//CREATE?

What are the aims of Aesthesis//CREATE?

Who is this call aimed at?

If I have a proposal what should I do?  

Where should I send my proposal?

When is the closing date for proposals?

How will I know if I am successful?

What kind of support might I receive should I be successful?

What is the global tour and how might my successful proposal be included?

What happens at the end of the global tour?

Who are the international research team and how are they involved in Aesthesis//CREATE?

What if I have more questions?



Who is Aesthesis?

The Aesthesis Project was founded in the same year as the journal and is a research project investigating art and creativity in management and organizational contexts. The journal looks at art and aesthetics in organisational life. The Aesthesis journal is published three times a year.

The project has its roots in the first Art of Management and Organization conference which was held in London in 2002, with successive conferences held in Paris and Krakow. From these events emerged an international network of academics, writers, artists, consultants and managers, all involved in exploring artistic experimentation and intellectual exploration in the context of management and organizational research. The Aesthesis Project will be developing extensive research and artistic projects internationally, with academic research fellows and associate creative practitioners, publications and consultancy.

The editors of the journal are academics and are based at the Universities of Essex and Warwick in the UK.


Who is Arts & Business?

Arts & Business is a Prince of Wales’ charity founded thirty one years ago and funded by the Arts Council England. It helps businesses and individuals channel resources into culture. It does this in different ways, depending on the unique needs of the commercial and cultural organisation. Examples include:

- Researching the space in which the cultural and creative sectors interact with businesses.  Considered to be a leading authority on trends concerning cultural-commercial collaborations.

- Providing a tailor-made service for individuals, guiding them through philanthropic giving

- Developing people through arts-based interventions

- Creating culture-based strategies for communication activities, including marketing and profile raising  

Arts & Business nurtures and manages cultural ideas, talents and organisations, providing training, investments and networking for over 1,500 UK cultural organizations including: Royal Opera House, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Edinburgh Festival. In addition, the businesses it works with include: PricewaterhouseCoopers, McGraw Hill, Jaguar, Quest International, Unilever, BT, Microsoft, HSBC, United Business Media and Linklaters.

Arts & Business oversees a global network of international affiliates in over 30 countries.

Further information on the huge range of services and facilities offered by Arts and Business can be found at www.AandB.org.uk


What is Aesthesis//CREATE?

Aesthesis//CREATE is an ambitious project with global reach which combines practice-led research and the active development of cultural ideas.

We are convinced that Art and/or Aesthetics have the potential to change and inform organizational life* and is looking to establish this through live examples.

(*Organizational life encompasses a broad range of activities – not just those that take place in traditional organizations, but others, including churches, hospitals, schools, charities, societies, one-person businesses, co-operatives etc.)


What are the aims of Aesthesis//CREATE?

Art and/or Aesthetics has made very little impact on our traditional understandings of organizations. We want to rectify this omission! Organizational life is a term that encompasses the changing nature of organizations, of management and of work itself.  Aesthesis//Create seeks to appreciate these cultural changes, in particular the relationship between work, leisure and home life, and our expectations.

Our aim is to change the perception of the contribution of art/aesthetics to organizational life.

Aesthesis//CREATE aims to provide the opportunity for anyone – individual, group, society or organization - to make a major contribution to our understanding of global organizational life in the 21st century.


Who is this call aimed at?

Aesthesis//CREATE is are looking to support new or novel ideas from individuals, groups, societies or organizations that use or want to use the power of art and aesthetics to change organisations. Unfortunately, we cannot support every proposal and after the closing date (31st March 2008) we will select the proposals that best meet the aims of this project.


If I have a proposal what should I do?

We are looking for ideas, proposals, schemes that employ Art and/or Aesthetics to change or inform organizational life.  

If you have an idea, then please submit it now. We are interested in seeing any idea, whatever the scope.  When we receive your proposal we will log your submission. We subscribe to an ethical code safe-guarding the rights of you and your proposal.

Please ensure that you provide your full contact details with your proposal.


Where should I send my proposal?

We would prefer you to please submit your proposal online.

Alternatively, if you are unable to submit your proposal electronically, then please send it to:

Aesthesis//CREATE
Essex Management Centre
School of Accounting, Finance and Management
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
England, CO4 3SQ
UK

Remember that your proposal needs to be understood by us – so please make your proposal clear.


When is the closing date for proposals?

All proposals must be submitted by 31 March 2008.


How will I know if I am successful?

Successful proposers will be contacted shortly after the closing date, when we will provide information regarding our perceptions of how the successful proposal might be developed, together with an explanation of the level of support being offered by Aesthesis//CREATE.

Proposers should expect to agree to a contract shortly after this point, after which support for development can commence.


What kind of support might I receive should I be successful?

Successful proposals, following the agreement of a contract, will receive an agreed level of support.    

The support might range from skills training for projects to financial sponsorship for development of prototypes or to ‘mock-up’ designs.  Large proposals or proposals from organizations with proven experience might be eligible for exceptional support.  

The rationale for this range of support is very simple. It means that Aesthesis//CREATE will be able to respond appropriately depending upon the nature of each selected submission.  

Each selected submission will have access to a mentor to support them in the development of their proposal.  In addition, each proposal will have access to the project management team and also be visited by members of the international research team to talk, listen to and observe the process and development of their projects.

We are looking to develop the successful proposals to a stage where they will be invited to join our global touring gallery (Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery). It should be understood that only those projects successfully developed can be considered for inclusion in this Gallery.  

The Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery will present each of the developed proposals to a broad audience, ranging from academics and business people to the general public. We will be working closely with our media partners to generate local, national and international coverage.  

It is expected [subject to funding] that the touring gallery will visit at least six countries across Europe, in addition to North America, Australasia, China and India.  

To accompany the development of the project and the global touring gallery will be an academic study and series of workshops at each of the locations of the touring gallery.

The touring gallery is likely to last in excess of twelve months.  Successful proposers will be invited to visit the gallery over the course of the tour.

All agreed costs will be met by Aesthesis//CREATE.


What is the global tour and how might my successful proposal be included?

The global tour (Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery) provides the opportunity for each developed proposal to join with other successful projects in displaying their potential to a broad international audience.   

Each developed project will be professionally presented.   This will include a description of the expected potential and contribution of each submission to organizational life.  

The Aesthesis//CREATE gallery will be open to local academics, business people and the public.    

Supporting the Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery will be an accompanying series of academic workshops that will present the aims and purpose of Aesthesis//CREATE.  

We expect local, national and international media interest for this project and the touring gallery, and will be working closely with our media partners.

Proposers should note that they will have the opportunity to visit some of the locations of the touring gallery and be able to speak about their vision for their proposals to local audiences [subject to funding]


What happens at the end of the global tour?

At the end of the global tour it is our intention to focus upon selected proposals and encourage their implementation in a variety of real organizational settings.  

We hope [subject to the guise of the proposals] that some of the projects will be implemented at the end of the global gallery tour.  This is an important stage of the Aesthesis//CREATE project.  However, we also realise that this will be subject to each organization’s own circumstance and the practicality of implementation.

The research teams will talk, listen to and observe this vital stage of the process.  The information gathered at this stage and the evaluation of the implementation and the effect this produces on the different organizational settings will generate significant information that will be important for our future understandings.   


Who are the International research team and how are they involved in Aesthesis//CREATE?

Ultimately, Aesthesis//CREATE is a research study designed by academics to understand more about the potential contribution of Art and/or Aesthetics to organizational life.

The International Research team consists of a number of experienced researchers/academics from a number of universities across the world.  Further details of their identities and the relationships to each of the projects will be provided soon.

The research teams will closely follow each of the successful proposals.  In particular they will talk, listen to and observe each of the successful proposals in order to understand more about their process of development.

This process of talking, listening and observing will continue throughout the life of the Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery. Here their attention will broaden beyond the specifics of the proposal, to include the perceptions and views of other communities, including academics, business people and the general public at each of the locations of the touring gallery.  

The aim of the research teams is to gain greater understanding of the process from inception of the idea, through its development, the life of the gallery and sharing some of these initial understandings at the accompanying workshops.  It is likely that at each different location we will focus on a different project – so that all are featured over the period of the Aesthesis//CREATE Gallery. It is likely that each of the research teams will lead one [preferably their own local] workshop.

The last part of the talking, listening and observation will take place in selected organizational settings when the projects will be introduced. Here attention will be extended again to include the reactions of the different people once the project is implemented and evaluated.

Finally, the results and details of this project will be published in an edited text and other forms of media.  Please note that the progress of the project will be frequently reported in the Aesthesis journal.   


What if I have more questions?

If you have any further questions or you require more information please contact Jane Malabar at aesthesiscreate@essex.ac.uk


Good luck!


Aesthesis//CREATE, October 2007