The coming years will bring vast developments and changes to our social, cultural, and technological landscapes. Well-known entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban have declared liberal arts thinking to be more valuable than computer science in the long run. Similarly, a recent internal Google employee assessment called Project Aristotle determined that employees who possess creativity and complex social skills offer the “most important and productive new ideas.”
While some predict that automation and AI will eliminate many jobs in the future, artists possess irreplaceable skills that simply can’t be coded or duplicated. Thinking along these lines, here are the eight crucial tools that artists will bring to the new economy:
Creativity
A lot has been said regarding creativity and “out of the box” thinking, but artists actually embody functional and applied creativity in their work. This means seeing things in an imaginative way, beyond conventional boundaries, in an effort to gain new perspectives. This creativity is then put into action, as artists find the means to translate this new perspective into the physical or experiential. Innovation and creativity mean not just coming up with an idea, but putting it into form or action. As said by Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Creativity that satisfies & affirms your world view is Entertainment. Creativity that challenges & disrupts your world view is Art.”
Critical Problem Solving
Directly related to creativity is using innovative thinking to critically solve problems. This can mean moving between the micro and macro view of a problem, but it also means recognizing wider contexts that may be present. A major component of contemporary art thinking is deconstruction, where artists analyze larger historical and cultural parameters and challenge overall assumptions. This approach can be used effectively in many fields and industries outside of art, including consulting, marketing, and various tech fields.