Art and Business
PROF. VALERIA CANTONI; PROF. ROBERTA CRESPI
COURSE AIMS
The economic situation in Italy means that a degree is no longer a safe
steppingstone towards a permanent job. In the world of culture, it is now clear that
the State can no longer look after and fully exploit the public historical-artistic
heritage and cultural assets in general. For their part, private enterprises and
businesses are constantly being asked to provide financial resources that very often
do not fit in with their own strategic planning. Lots of companies are interested in
being fully involved in financing projects, both from a communications and
organisational viewpoint, but often the timing of organisational plans does not
allow this to happen, and so investments tend to drop rather than increase and,
eventually, fade away.
This means there are less and less jobs available in museums, orchestras,
archaeological sites and now even art galleries. In order to cope with the various
recessions currently hitting our country. It is now vitally important to teach the upand-coming generations to be culturally innovative, even in how they plan their
own professional careers. And so creativity, open-mindedness to everything new
and unfamiliar, communicative and storytelling capacities, curiosity and courage
have become the necessary ingredients for becoming key players in the world of
culture.
Culture and art are, therefore, becoming not just objects of study in order to
become well-qualified experts, but, above all, an approach and spirit to be
respected and incorporated in one's own business relationships and approach to
work in general, whatever it might be. Starting from this premise, the course aims
to provide the students with the tools needed for understanding the dynamics, rules
and strategies that govern harmonious relationships between the arts, culture and
business.
COURSE CONTENT
The course has three parts. The first part, which is preliminary to the rest of the
course, examines the possible types of relationships between art and business,
starting from an understanding of the main professional figures who govern these
relationships.
During the second part of the course, the accent is placed on the relationship
between art and industrial production, namely design, in order to understand how
objects impact the way in which one experiences space in the workplace. The
relationship with objects conditions our existence and also our way of thinking and
working. Knowing how to make the most of this relationship means entering and
making use of a work space with greater awareness.
The third part of the course tackles the issue of integrated (external and internal)
communications. How is it possible to manage and make the most of relationships
within organisations? How is it possible to describe the history of one's
organisation to external stakeholders? The arts can be a very effective strategic
lever. The course looks at different forms of communication, with a focus on
storytelling.
READING LIST
The reading list will be provided at the start of the course.
The materials used in class along with other instructional materials will be posted to the
professor's web page at the end of each part of the course.
TEACHING METHOD
Classroom lectures, labs and workshops held by the lecturer. There will also trips in the
city to visit places of relevance for the course.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Exam program for attending students who sit the exam before December 2015:
1. Written exam with one question on one of the course reading list options.
2. The oral exam, to be taken at the end of the written part, will test the student’s
knowledge of the assigned reading list and the contents of the lectures.
The exam results will be communicated by e-mail within ten days of the written exam
and registered at the next exam session.
Students who need to register their results in time for their thesis or because they are
going abroad will be informed of their results on the same day as the exam.
The exam for attending students who plan to take the exam in or after January 2016 is
exclusively written and consists of four questions:
– two questions on the course content;
– two questions on the texts assigned during the course (one on the compulsory text,
the other on the student’s chosen text).
Non-attending students:
Must prepare four texts (three compulsory and one from the options list).
The written exam consists of four questions:
– three questions on the compulsory texts;
– one question on the student’s chosen text.
NOTES
Further information can be found on the lecturer's webpage at
http://docenti.unicatt.it/web/searchByName.do?language=ENG, or on the Faculty notice
board.