to the screen up here it says blank
artists now in your minds I just want
you to fill in this blank with whatever
you feel is appropriate given the
context so hopefully some of you thought
creative artists or successful artists
but most of you probably thought of the
very famous saying the starving artist
so what is the starving artist well it’s
essentially society’s belief that
artists are less equipped for success in
comparison to their stem counterparts I
myself get asked all the time why would
choose to major an art and design next
year at the University of Michigan and
the truth is it’s because I see the
value in becoming a creator because at
this moment artists are at the forefront
of innovation in our diversifying
economy and understanding empathizing
and promoting this experience has become
integral to the success and advancement
of both our society and culture so first
I want to talk about art in the real
world and I think this is a very
important concept because most people
when they think about artists will
probably visualize something like this
which is someone in a studio patiently
painting and drawing for hours rather
than professionals in marketing and
design the techs fear and even leaders
and top name companies these are all
sectors that require a real creative
background or propensity to think beyond
what is given and find imaginative
solutions to difficult and pressing
issues in fact in a recent study
conducted by IBM which surveyed 1,500
CEOs and public sector leaders across 60
nations creativity is not the most
important leadership quality for
potential success in business and also
for potential employment outweighing
even integrity and global thinking CEOs
from the same study cited the rapid
escalation complexity as the biggest
issue challenging them and their
organizations these same CEOs stated
that creativity was the single most
important leadership competency for
enterprises seeking a path through this
complexity this is because artists and
creatives are seen as more capable to
break from the status quo of industry
enterprise and revenue models to sum up
the magnitude to which artistry is
valued by potential employers should
make it a top priority for us as
potential employees so similar to the
last study John Maeda the current
president of the Rhode Island School of
Design makes the claim that the
archetype ole business person in a role
of leadership is stuck on the bottom two
rungs of this pyramid we’re all reality
is called assuming is constrained by
reality artists and designers however
move past this realm into higher planes
of problem-solving which involve
creativity and finally boundless
creativity or imagination artisan
designers are constantly trying to
innovate beyond the status quo or as
Nancy Adler from McGill University puts
it you’d be hard-pressed to find an
artist who didn’t approach a blank
canvas wanting to produce something of
high quality but all too often people in
the commercial world end up settling for
the just good enough so this brings me
to my next point which is that we should
abolish this view that artists are
merely those who can paint a pretty
picture now don’t get me wrong this is a
very important part about our aspect of
being an artist is to create beautiful
things but even more than that I would
pride you to look at artists as creators
in the broader sense of the word because
they are truly the innovators of the
future but also more importantly of the
present so probably some of you want
some examples of artists who have broken
through the industry mold I’m about to
share one with you that has essentially
changed the technological landscape this
is an app that is probably familiar to
most of you and I know I use it on a
daily basis but this is snapchat and
this is a great example of taking artist
stream and technology and synchronizing
them into a product that is consumable
by the general public and in fact its
founder Evan Spiegel actually attended
the ODA School of Art and Design
before matriculating into Stanford
University where he studied product
design he is now estimated to be worth a
staggering 4.6 billion dollars which I
would say is not too bad for a starving
so finally I want to talk about kind of
the historical context and influence art
has had over the years when artists
driving usually our society and culture
is also at its finest some great
examples would be the Islamic Golden Age
the Renaissance and as recently as the
Harlem Renaissance in the 20th century
these are all time periods that saw
increased economic growth and prosperity
but even more importantly the
development of society where race gender
and socio-economic background were
nulled
in favor of continued economic and
artistic exploration and inquiry whether
it be calligraphy and architecture
during the Islamic Golden Age Fine Arts
during the Renaissance or a new
generation of african-american voices
during the Harlem Renaissance these eras
show the importance of having
artistically involved communities art
has truly left our society for the
better and now more than ever it’s no
longer an option to empathize with
artistic experience but in necessity as
we move towards a more technologically
based civilization similarly to art
empathy is not something you are
intrinsically born with or rather
something you learn through shared
experience and grow so next time you
think of an artist don’t see them as
starving but rather hungry harnessing an
appetite to change the world thank you [Applause]