The pace of change has left organisations with complex challenges from organisational to social and environmental challenges. While companies are used to hiring engineers and business managers, Luova Lämpiö seeks novel ways of bringing creative professionals and their expertise into collaboration with companies. This aim of creative sector contributing to the growth and vitality of companies and vice versa is driving the project’s goals in creating an ethical and sustainable collaboration model between creative professionals and businesses.
Coming from an engineering background, Dr. Ricardo Dutra Gonçalves, a social designer and lecturer at Aalto University didn’t think his career would intersect with the arts. This narrow perspective emphasises his belief that the value of arts and creative skills in society is incredibly underrated. As one the of project researchers in Luova Lämpiö, Ricardo is interested in social innovation and the impact of arts-based practices on society and how they contribute towards societal transformation. With his expertise, Ricardo is keenly aware of the role that art can play for companies and society, and hopes to articulate the value and importance of artistic practices and knowledge and ways of doing that come from an arts-based approach.
In his research, Dr. Juuso Tervo, an Assistant Professor of arts-based research and pedagogy, has always been interested in the societal role of arts. He works closely with art-based cross-sectional collaborations and finds value in being a bit rogue: “By rogue, I mean that we don’t stick with one field of knowledge or one field of practice but that we move across different frame of reference.” This interdisciplinary approach forms the cornerstone of Luova Lämpiö project enabling the emergence of new perspectives and insights.
Ricardo and Juuso both envision this co-research process with companies as an opportunity to embrace practices and knowledges that might be unknown to organisations, thereby cultivating a culture of openness and adaptability.
“Openness is something that a project like this not only can facilitate, but also can make a seat”, notes Juuso suggesting that initiatives such as Luova Lämpiö have a capacity to not only facilitate dialogue, but also to carve out a distinct space for novel forms of knowledge and ways of doing.
Olga Tasanko, whose doctoral research is on Luova Lämpiö, comes from a new media and musicology background. The experimental sound designer sees business acumen as a useful tool for any creative person because “you need to think, how are you going to make a living from your work and craft”. Due to her background, she sees the importance of the research project in creating pathways for creative professionals to access lasting, sustainable and diverse opportunities, and for Luova Lämpiö to “find the core, the basic form of a collaboration model from which can be built further".
The value that Luova Lämpiö brings to organisations is new knowledge - creating new ways of thinking and doing in cross sector collaborations. While there is a lot of learning taking place throughout the process, there’s even more unlearning in the task of bridging the gap between creative professionals and companies.
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© Luova Lämpiö 2024
