Interrogating Innovation: What does innovation mean for Arts and Humanities?

Introducing the discussion held at the Trinity Long Room Hub, Dr Ciaran O’Neill, Historian and Deputy Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub said that Arts and Humanities can often feel left out of the conversation around “innovation”, a term which he said has become “one of the global buzzwords of our time.”

He encouraged a panel of arts and humanities researchers, arts practitioners, and those working with industry and enterprise to be “provocative” in addressing a number of questions around this theme, including what innovation means and if it’s only relevant for the “hard sciences”?  

Defining Innovation

“I would like us to all stop using the word innovation”, said Jess Majekodunmi, Managing Director of Accenture’s Human Sciences Studio. Describing the term as “overused”, and “imprecise”, she spoke of the importance of being “more granular”, and asking “innovation for what?”

Michelle Olmstead, Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer for Trinity College Dublin, said that she was wary of putting innovation “in a box” although she cited “courage, creativity and collaboration” as elements that it might include.

Professor Philip Coleman, of Trinity’s School of English argued that the word “innovation” should be reclaimed from “corporate driven discourse” by the literature scholars, because, as he showed, “innovation has a fundamental importance in the development and production of art in general and of literature in particular. And this has been the case for thousands of years.”

Referring to the works of John Milton and Ezra Pound, Professor Coleman said that “literary greatness depends on innovation”. Without it, he said “a work of literature may be interesting, may be enjoyable, it may be engaging, it may be good in all kinds of ways, but it cannot be great.”

Dr Rebecca Usherwood, a historian at Trinity College Dublin, spoke about the often defensive and negative reaction that the word innovation can spark among Arts and Humanities researchers, particularly when it is used as to plaster over the cracks of underfunding in higher education.

Funding and value were also key themes in Lynne Parker’s talk as she spoke of her work as artistic director of Rough Magic Theatre Company and its genesis in Trinity College Dublin in the early 1980s. “We need to rethink the way theatre is funded in this country”, she said, highlighting how much of her “inventive thinking” is directed towards finding ways to raise money and keep the company going.

On “innovativeness” in the theatre, she spoke about the pioneering work of Irish playwrights with their use of language on stage. She also referred to the importance of “reinvention” and “a new twist on how you use the information”.

What’s the value of the Arts and Humanities for innovative thinking?

Innovativeness in the creative and art world is all about “sense-making” Jess Majekodunmi said, concluding that “for me art is one way we can make sense of the world we’re in at the moment.”

According to Professor Coleman, through the study of literature and poetry scholars are constantly being prompted to consider how a writer is innovative, through their use of language and form. These literary works change “how we think about ourselves and the world we live in.”

Dr Rebecca Usherwood said that as a historian, “everything we do is in fact new and innovative”; from the changes in teaching with the use of technology and a focus on access and inclusion, to the new ways researchers are engaging with industry. She described Dublin’s  “vibrant broadcasting scene” and the way she has been engaging with programmes around historical topics, including her work as a historical advisor on Domina, a TV drama set in ancient Rome. 

Lynne Parker concluded by suggesting that industry can learn about innovation from the arts, pointing out that artists are more equipped to deal with uncertainty and the world as it is.

 “You’re always having to think of new ways of dealing with the unforeseen.”