The second edition of “Innovation, Creativity and Arts” gathered together students, guests, teachers, and partners for ArtIST Summer School on August 23 – 27, 2021 at the University of Miskolc, Hungary.
Summer School was held under the strong and well-organized leadership of Dr. Csaba Deák (University of Miskolc, Hungary), permanent academic director and artist project pilots leader Yvonne Kirkels (Fontys University of Applied Science), artist project coordinator Daria Podmetina (LUT University) as well as Hungarian team represented by Kumar Baibhaw and Nagy Gábor.
The ICA course attracted multinational students from a variety of countries such as Iran, Hungary, India, Finland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Russia, Pakistan, Vietnam.
The second edition of “Innovation, Creativity and Arts: the sound of innovation” was focused on the art of music. The basic and traditional aims of the course are:
- Getting familiar with the complexity and variety of innovation management in modern industry with approaches and techniques from creativity and arts domains
- Development of the students’ mindset on imagination, perseverance, observation and risk-taking through the use of specific music-based approaches
- improvement both employability and student engagement, creativity, innovation, divergent thinking, and transdisciplinary problem-solving skills
In addition, the Summer School program touched upon the topics of steps, processes, and risks involved in different music-driven innovation projects and up-to-date music-based tools and methods facilitating the effective management of innovation and creativity for sustainable product development.
Students were able to study from about 10 professors, lecturers, practitioners and artists from European universities and companies. Following the best ArtIST project traditions, ICA course includes workshops and interactive classes both with university professors and practitioners from creative industries to discuss creative approaches to technology and innovation management. Our honorable guests both from companies and academia presented their projects, shared knowledge, life experience and recommendations to students.
Guest lecturer John Bessant is Emeritus Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the author of over 30 books and monographs and many articles on the topic, and has lectured and consulted widely around the world. Originally a chemical engineer, he has been active in the field of research and consultancy in technology and innovation management for over 40 years. He introduced the main concept of innovation management through songs that made students involved and amused.
Meet the Artist speakers involved students in the interview-based conversation. Guest speaker Bartók Béla from Music Institute presented the topic of instruments and innovation based on local examples and experiences. Gábor Orosz shared his experience of setting up and managing innovative company Radiomonitor Magyarország Kft. Philippe de Chalendar took students to a tour of his musical career experiences. He conducts more than ten orchestras in Budapest and throughout Hungary, and he organizes and conducts tours in France with the Savaria orchestra (Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Dvorak’s Cello Concerto) and in the United States with the orchestra of Pecs. He was Music Director of the National Theaters of Miskolc and Debrecen, Hungary. His interpretation of Adriana Lecouvreur in 2008 for the Mezzo TV Festival with the Szeged Opera was unanimously acclaimed by critics and the audience.
The ICA course consisted of three main workshops and arts directions: music, fine art and theatre. Here are the quotes of students about conducted workshops:
- Introduced about the innovation and creativity which was totally based on the music
- The way of teaching was awesome and after long time I got to learn something new
- I was curious to know the relationship between theater and innovation. I have never thought that actors and musicians are professional inventors.
- Creating a story based on music innovation is not quite easy at first. Still, after consulting with our groupmates, we gradually develop our story and think of the topic in a broader picture (based on stakeholder perspectives). We joined in a creative activity (telling a story based on the collage). It seems that creativity has no boundary as we can think out of box with any idea that comes to mind.However, it’s more difficult and more creative since we must link each member’s story with others and combine all of our stories into one.
And a cherry to a pie of ArtIST Summer School were evening cultural programs. Students had an opportunity to visit the oldest theater in Miskolc, go behind the stage and even perform a little together. The classic live concert on the first day helped to get into focus of the course. Visit to museum introduced the local area of Summer School to the participants
The ICA course and Summer/Winter schools are parts of the ArtIST ERASMUS+ project that aims to design and implement innovative Master-level modules integrating Arts in the education of innovation, entrepreneurship and science. We are in full preparation mode for the next Winter School. Stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter!
By Marco Bonaglia and Yulduz Khairullina
