NESTA PROJECT: FINE ARTSITS AND INNOVATION

The argument here is that tacit knowledge matters because,
as Maskell and Malmberg (1999:172) argue, when everyone
has relatively easy access to codified knowledge, value lies
in the use of tacit knowledge:
“The fundamental exchange-inability of this type of
knowledge increases its importance as the
internationalisation of markets proceeds.”
As increasing numbers of people study arts and design, we
therefore ask:
• What – if anything – is useful about the knowledge and
skills that they are acquiring?
• What can we learn about how ideas move within the
‘creative arts’ (Throsby, 2001) and into the wider
economy?
• What are the policy implications, if we are seeking to
promote knowledge transfer 'without widgets' (Crossick,
2006)?
Methodology
Using a realist model, our study combines quantitative
(extensive) and qualitative (intensive) methods. It consists of
a literature review, an online survey completed by over 500
members of the University of the Arts alumni association, and
40 face-to-face life biography interviews.
Alumni are selected on the basis that they have studied fine
arts, either at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Fine arts
are chosen both as a ‘core’ educational qualification for
practising artists and in some ways the most ‘abstract’ part of
the art school syllabus. While one might reasonably expect
those who study design to pursue careers in design, or those
who study fashion to seek to enter the fashion industry (or
related areas like retailing), the less obviously ‘vocational’
nature of a fine arts education means that it is easier to focus
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