Oct 15: Innovative
Written by Geraldine M Ysselstein
I have been hesitating and resisting writing this blog posting because being innovative brings up so many emotions - possibility, disappointment, eagerness, connection, frustration, confusion, and delight. Additionally, being innovative has multiple purposes, but that purpose often becomes redirected to support greed, control, ego, and violence.
“And that is weighing heavily on me within the society we live in. ”
So where do I situate myself as an innovative? Where do I situate myself in innovation within the arts, non-profit, local community, and greater society?
Let’s take a little trip back to when I decided to study (non-profit) arts and cultural managements at MacEwan University. I had been working as an arts administrator in the Music & Sound department at the Banff Centre and I wanted to learn more about the non-profit system and working within it without getting burned out.
I learned about the non-profit system. I also learned about how to maintain the working of that system in marketing, audience development, fund development, volunteer management, accounting, media & public relations, Human Resources, board governance, cultural policy, etc. After completing the program online (while living in Thunder Bay) and moving to Calgary, I was asked by the Rozsa Foundation to develop micro-programs to share similar training.
But, there was another layer or intertwining to this non-profit system that I was missing. And so I started listening to the artists in my community. Through the artists in my community, I began to (un/re)learn about the systems of white body supremacy culture, toxic patriarchy, hierarchy, racism, ableism, colonization, environmental destruction, and capitalism.
I was beginning to see a bigger picture, but how would I connect these systems within the non-profit system and within myself? I have been trying to navigate that question for many years now and have been expressing it throughout all of these art and blog postings.
Maybe it is time to define innovation. I like this definition from Jerrold McGrath who writes in his book, In Praise of Disorder:
“Innovation starts with ideas. Sometimes, it’s several ideas bumping up against each other. Often, it’s the application of an idea from one place or problem to another. Rarely do we come up with something completely new. We draw solutions and generate new ones from the accumulated experiences and examples of our culture (pg. 15)”
As an innovative person, I can come up with connections between two seemingly disparate ideas, bump them up against each other, and see something new. But, it doesn’t feel like something new - it feels that I am stating the obvious between and about what already exists. And then I get into trouble. I don’t realize that a thought I express is so way out there.
The problem isn’t that it isn’t understood by others, the problem is that there is great possibility in it and that possibility requires change. Change that can shake us up to what is true. Change to how things have always been done. Change into having a different understanding of ourselves.
And that’s scary!
The truth is, it is challenging to be in the innovative space because of this resistance to change, not because of the change itself. Artists are so often in this place of resistance. And I feel for them, I feel for myself, and I feel for all the generations who have come before us and are coming after us.
There are so many gifts that those who are innovative have to offer, but how do we cultivate a space for them? How do we cultivate a space for them in the non-profit arts and culture sector? How do we cultivate a space for them in the local community and general society?
Cultivating a space for the innovative and creative was something that I unexpectedly started exploring in greater depth a couple of years ago in Elaine Alec’s “Cultivating Safe Space” program and in the creative programs that Shauna Kaendo offers.
I’m still learning. I’m still healing my wounds. I’m still healing the wounds I feel for others who are innovative - those who have lived in the past, in the present, and who will live in the future. I truly believe that possibilities for change exist if we become open to the innovative.
Geraldine M Ysselstein, “Innovative”, 2023. Made with sticks and yarn.
In this piece, I wrapped yarn around little pieces of sticks to spell out the word “Innovative”. I wanted to wrap these pieces of sticks as a way of wrapping all those who are innovative with intention, love, and care. In all the places where ideas meet and a new idea is shared.
Questions:
How is the system of the non-profit arts and culture sector doing in terms of innovation?
Does the non-profit arts and culture sector reflect the innovation of artists? Why or why not?
How is space being made for artists who are innovative? And not just in their skill and technique, but in influencing systemic change?
