NESTA PROJECT: FINE ARTSITS AND INNOVATION

• Skills, aptitudes and ways of working – the value of the
‘artistic mentality’ to other economic activities.
The focus of this study is on the absorption and use of
artistically trained labour, particularly whether there is any
evidence that the importance of ‘creativity’ in innovation
has led to an increase in the demand for that labour, or a
change in how that labour is deployed.
The first part of the review thus considers the relationship
between the fine arts and notions of innovation:
• Are artists natural innovators or do the demands of
cultural form and heritage also constrain innovation?
• Where do the arts fit within the creative economy?
• And how do the arts, particularly the fine arts,
contribute to innovation – through ideas and images,
through the particular skills of artists, or through their
attitudes and ways of working?
The second part of the review briefly considers the literature
on the cultural and creative sectors – a much wider
category than the fine arts – but useful particularly for its
discussion of tacit knowledge exchange and work
organisation.
The final part of the literature review returns to the study of
artists in particular – looking at what the existing literature tells
us about their education, skills and career paths as well as
their attitudes towards issues like reward and risk.
Section 2: Art and innovation
2.1 Are artists innovators?
Every arts work creates a world in some respects unique, a
combination of vast amounts of conventional materials with
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