E-Straordinario: can art be a tool for in-company training?

data: 
25 Juin 2013

E-STRAORDINARIO is a training programme that brings contemporary art into the world of industry: it involves internationally renowned artists working together with company employees through a sequence of theoretical and workshop meetings to accomplish an artistic project. The latest edition was run by the artist Marinella Senatore, who devised and led a two-day workshop in Venice with the employees of ACRAF, with the aim of producing a short film. Sharing in all the various activities, the participants were directly involved in every stage of the creative process, including drafting the script, working on the sets, acting and shooting. The initiative was developed in collaboration with training specialist Piero Tucci of M&D, who talked about the experience to us, explaining how contemporary art can be a useful tool in management training.   
Art can be a metaphor for in-company training.

Companies today require their employees to be flexible and versatile in coping with the sudden and continuous changes which they are so incessantly subject to. There is the constant need to interpret their specific company role in new ways. New paradigms arise, and new rules of the game come with them. The world around you has to be looked at through new eyes.
Art, and the reflections that it inspires, can be a highly educational factor in especially competitive business contexts. In addition, the training experiences undergone so far have, by their very structure, made it possible to consider themes of vital importance to the company, such as project orientation and the acceptance of cultural diversity.
Putting yourself to the test, breaking through traditional boundaries, stepping out of your own comfort zone – these were all part and parcel of the participants’ working kit. All these forms of behaviour had to be brought into play and given coherent expression in order to achieve what was asked of them by the design and shape of the training programme.