An artful workplace of the future: The role of art-based interventions in fostering levers for creativity amongst a diverse workforce

Abstract

The relationship between diversity and creativity is equivocal, and so attention has turned to traditional factors that might foster this relationship. Yet the creativity needed for today's challenges requires a radically different set of skills and mindsets than what has driven business in the past. The workforce of the future requires interventions that ignite diverse employees' emotion, intuition and imagination. Art-based interventions may be one such method, and furthermore, they may be particularly suitable to maximise the conditions needed to foster diversity for creativity, or what we call and examine, ‘levers for creativity’. We look deeply into an organisation that promotes the arts to ask: How do art-based interventions support workplace diversity to increase levers for employee creativity? Analysis of interview data (n = 21) from one case study finds that art-based interventions: (1) level the playing field; (2) encourage courage; (3) broaden perspective taking; (4) offer moments to breathe; and (5) cultivate a sense of we-ness.