Growing through experience
The House of Beautiful Business and the Arts as a Transversal Conduit to Growth and Learning.
As part of my investigation into how the arts functions within transversal projects, enabling multidisciplinary approaches to complex issues, I recently sat down and talked with Monika Jiang, the Head of Curation and Community at the House of Beautiful Business.
I was keen to talk with someone from the House partially because I am a huge fan of the way they integrate the arts and humanities into their multidisciplinary process. But I was also determined to include them in my research because, whereas I knew that I would be able to find plenty of instances of transversal arts practice within academia, social innovation, and the arts, I didn’t know of any in the business world apart from the work of the House.
The House of… what?
The House of Beautiful Business is a unique platform and global community that has the goal of creating a progressive “new framework for business and life”.
In doing so – in enlarging the worldviews of their members (‘residents’) and supporting them in transforming business practice and culture – the House equips these residents with the skills to deal with complexity, find meaning, and build resilience and adaptability in our ever-changing world:
“Through projects, content, and experiences, we inspire and equip organizations and individuals to shape more purposeful, inclusive, sustainable futures.” - House of Beautiful Business website
The House’s core team does this, in a large part, by designing and delivering events, ranging from intimate conversations and dinners to more elaborate activities or presentations to a yearly festival (an event that is in no way, shape, or form a conference). These events feature a range of creators, thinkers, activists, facilitators, and provocateurs from many different disciplines. Glancing over the program from this year’s upcoming festival The_Dream I can see an eclectic mix of job titles of various contributors including lawyer, astrologer, CEO, activist, banker, tarot reader, entrepreneur, philosopher, policy advisor, psychologist, martial artist, and scientist.
And, of course, included in this program, as in all of the House’s events, are artists: dancers, singers, actors, installation artists, filmmakers, digital artists, musicians, writers, dramaturgs. The House even has its own musical director. These people do not function as entertainment or light relief, but instead are integral to the building of an overall experience that shifts the minds and hearts of attendees.
Examples of this can be found in an earlier blog I wrote about the House’s use of the arts here. Far from being tokenistic, the inclusion of the arts in the House’s work is interwoven into the process of designing, curating, and advancing the work and the mission of the House, adding layers of nuance and moments of challenge in a way that prevents The House from being just another stale, pale, male business think-tank.
John Michael Schert and Brett Perry use dance to explore the themes of leadership, creativity, and collaboration at ‘Concrete Love’, the House’s annual festival in 2022.
So… why?
During my conversation with Monika, I asked her why and how the arts came to be such a central part of the House’s approach.
Monika: “I think this idea of involving the arts and humanities and kind of broadening that playing field is very integral to why the House exists in the first place.
There's a need to learn, to grow, and to do that through experiences. So, I think the fundamental belief of the House is that we learn and and grow, do all of these things through experiencing, through feeling and embodiment. And that's something that the arts do best.”
Participation in the arts does require us to draw on a mixture of intellect, imagination, emotion, and intuition, in varying degrees depending on the type of art-form being experienced. Experiencing the arts requires you to holistically journey between heart-space to headspace to gut and back again, and in this transformation is possible. The shifts in attitude, or opinion, or feeling that are so important in enabling change, growth, and learning can happen.
Monika: “There's this desire, I think from, from our end to make people feel more, not only feel good and positive, but feel more in general. And the arts can do that in the broadest scale of shocking you and making you feel devastated: You know, through a performance or something that you just feel so uncomfortable, and you almost can't bear it. However, that then can unlock something in you, like, ‘maybe I do feel different now, going into the conversation about climate or whatever…’ So, I think that’s, if you will, our tool or our method of how we go about anything that we do and bring out in our events and experiences.”
“Visually representing it or creating a space, a certain mood, and all of these involving senses and how people feel in a certain space are also part of that… create some nice sensory experiences and moments and think about the light and think about the purpose of the spaces and how people will feel and respond and interact with each other, and if they're willing to speak up or not… you have to think about all of these things more holistically rather than just nice words on a board.”
At one stage during our conversation, Monika talked about how the House of Beautiful Business presented a “pop-up version” of itself in Davos (coinciding with the World Economic Forum): The Art of Business forum – a series of conversations between cultural workers, creatives, and corporate denizens. The ‘artfulness’ of these conversations was embedded in the thinking and intention behind the curation of the participants and topics of discussion. As with the House’s larger and more elaborate events, these conversations were carefully crafted, with a view to providing the right balance of surprise, challenge, and inspiration.
Monika: “And that's also what drives us in our work, is that, okay, even if it's just one moment - it might be very small - but that says something.”
During my conversation with Monika, I made the comment:
“So, the House of Beautiful Business we know does beautiful big spectacles, but it also can host these wonderful conversations. And I guess there's a flow through of the same sensibility (of) looking for that space of exploration for this imagination.”
Monika offered many interesting insights during our long convresation. Among other things, we talked about values, engaging stakeholders and clients, and the benefits but also challenges of including arts-workers in multidisciplinary work. I’m looking forward to unpacking those in a longer article due to come out later this year. But in this shorter blog I wanted to highlight the importance to the House of building transformative events to support the learning and growth of their clients and residents, of creating spaces of exploration for imagination and hope.
Their deep understanding of how artists and their practices can be used in delivering their mission, and their skill in doing so, is a driving force behind the impact the House of Beautiful Business makes on those who experience its work.
Curious? Then come along to the free online event I am facilitating to talk about what I heard during my research. It’s on at 6pm, 28 February 2024 AEDT. I’d love to see you there.
And, of course, I would also love it if you bought the book! You can do so HERE!
