The Hewlett Foundation has released its phase two report in its series on ”Involving Youth in the Arts,” specifically as staff and leadership (described by author Barry Hessenius here, or available for PDF download in executive summary or full report versions through Hewlett). The first phase (which I blogged about back in 2007) underscored the impending challenge of recruiting and engaging young workers in the arts, given the demographic shifts and competition from other sectors. This report adds more reflection and insight from focus groups and conversation.
Since the first report, the emphasis has changed. The panicked prospect of heavy competition for young staff has calmed, as the economy has contracted and the relative attraction of arts employment has remained strong. Rather, says the report:
The real challenge for both public and private, nonprofit and for profit organizations will be to effectively manage different generations working side by side in the same workplace, and doing so in a way which optimizes retention of employees already trained and experienced.
Let the negotiations between generations begin.
Reminds me of Maurice Sendak’s book Where the Wild Things Are when they say, ” Let the wild rumpus begin!”
I understand that it would be difficult to have a younger person come into your company and have the same job as you or even higher, but this is not always a bad thing. Young people out of college have updated education (not that the education that others have been given isn’t valuable). This coming generation has been brought up in technology and it has become second nature to them. It can be helpful in many ways. They can explain how to work a new soft ware, they can answer questions, or even broaden a company with technical advances. The younger generation doesn’t just bring technical skills to the table, they bring fresh ideas and most are eager to bare the responsibility of a powerful position. With all this said, the ‘newbies’ must not forget to remain respectful of the elder’s experience within the company. This is most valuable.
I think it’s great for the two generations to work hand in hand. One has more of the ‘book smarts’ and the other has the ‘streets smarts’. A perfect combination.
I think it is extremely hard for the youth such as college students to become very involved in the arts and build a resume if they want to be in the art field. Because of the economy, the art professions are not taking many interns and new jobs. The younger generation has different skills than the older generation also. We are more advanced in the computer world because we grew up with it instead of it coming upon us very suddenly like older generations. I think the challenge instead of recruiting and engaging young workers, now is, in this economy, getting younger workers to actually be in the art field to do some of the work that they want to end up doing after college to get them experienced.
although some people focus on how hard it would be to have a younger person come up into a company to work with a person who believes that the newer one is inexperienced, i think that this could be beneficial. Not only for the new education that would be applied, but also the new ideas. People from different times, whether it be 20 years or 5 years have experienced different events and have been affected differently. this is a perfect combination for new ideas and works to be created. if nothing new is thrown into a system then only the same type of stuff will come out