Artists and Infrastructure

We are in a New Deal type of moment with government investment in jobs, infrastructure, and digital transformation. Today we are investing in broadband and digital technology. Back then we invested in electrification and the technology of the day. Back then we engaged artists to help shape the story of the transformation we were engaging in. Today we are not. This is a mistake. Artists can play an important role in contextualizing new ideas and transformation.

What we see now is a lot of superficial examples of “STEAM.” STEAM is an alteration to the acronym STEM. STEM stands for “Science Technology Engineering and Math” and is used in education circles. When we add an A, that A stands for Art. But most of the time this is interpreted as adding glitter to a robot project. This is a superficial approach to integrating Art and STEM and it perpetuates a superficial understanding of art, that it is decorative and after the fact.

No. Art runs deep. There is risk taking, imagination, navigating ambiguity, generating multiple ideas, facilitating tests, analyzing data, revising. Art is rigorous. And art is engaging. It’ll be a lot easier to engage diverse folks with STEM if we lead with art, music, fashion, design. It will be a lot easier if we invite folks to express themselves in their own communities, to be authentic and share their interests. Technology is great but it’s merely a tool. Technology is a means. It can lead to positive change but only if we engage everyone with it in creative and meaningful ways. Let’s do it.