Executive Education In The Creative Domain

Why Executive Education?

 Normally, all sorts of enterprises are stressing on executive education. It is true for legacy corporate entities, new age start-ups, media organizations, educational institutes and even development sector non-government organizations too. Some call it Management Development Programs, some Continuous Education Programs, some Career Enhancement or Re-skilling Programs, and many Refresher Programs. Such executive education courses are often said to contribute to an improved employee performance, apart from new skills development and re-skilling. Many companies are grappling with fast-track executives who need continuous new skills and knowledge and awareness of case-studies in their domains to be applied in their specific functions.  Some executives lack formal management certification and such executive training from known academies provide for their certification as well, surely adding value to their professional careers. Much such training may lead to freshly motivated and re-skilled employees for better productivity ahead. Employees also get a career path and recognition within the system through executive education. It may lead to company promotions, rewards, repayment fees in installments, and assured retention of employees for a lock-in period for high-end executive training. These can be one day to a few weeks programs, depending upon the intended results. Usually, three to six days are the most common ones.

For example, the Harvard Business School (HBS) Certificate of Management Excellence is designed to help one expand his leadership skills and professional competencies. With its flexible format, this certificate allows the learner to customize his learning experience by choosing from a carefully curated set of leadership, negotiation and innovation, and strategy programs. Upon successful completion of all three programs, the executive will be awarded the HBS Certificate of Management Excellence and can claim to be Harvard alumnus.

Executive Education in the Creative Field:

The world of design, fashion, film, and television production, advertising and brand communication, music and dance, art and craft, photography et al, in short, the creative domain, is on the rise today. The media and design industries today has exceeded USD 50 billion, and if you take clothing and textiles, the figures are far higher. 

The coming in of digital design, fast-paced retail, digital convergence in media, digital marketing communication, digital content development, etc, the need for Executive Education in the creative field has shot up immensely. 

For example, in the fast-expanding domain of art management, there is the rise of a new breed Curators & Managers. Do they need executive education that answers questions like: What do art and heritage need? How do art and craft products generate value for the customer and how do those customers value these products and their quality? How can you turn art auction, art gallery, online art-sales, art exports, applied art, corporate art into real revenue-generating propositions?

Heritage in the marketplace makes for executive education of another type. "Art for art's sake." Does it still work? How important is the role of visitors to a museum or an audience in a theatre for defining an institution's cultural offering? And how such initiatives can be turned into massive branding and also revenue earning routes?

Consumers and visitors' loyalty is one of the most pressing issues for today's art institutions. Thanks to technology and globalization, visitors have access to more information and choices, thus they are less inclined to stick with just one brand. What are the best ways to enforce brand loyalty and retain visitors while attracting new ones? An Executive Education program in the art can focus just on this. 

Similarly, there can be executive education courses on high-end photography or cinematography, on modern techniques of script-writing or content development, on digital branding, on new media PR, on social media strategizing, on ITES in fashion, and a host of other similar subjects emanating from the impact of IT and digital tools in creative fields. 

Creative Leadership:

Although the executive learners come from all over the world or from myriad creative fields, participants in non-degree executive education programs have a couple of things in common: They are driven by a need to respond to the demands of their industries and their imperative is to meet the demands of their markets, clients or members. The sessions are headed by leading international instructors and experts who understand the challenges creative leaders face today. Whether you are in charge of an advertising campaign, a marketing association or a prominent industry event, the rightly curated executive education can offer you a premium, compact educational experience. This education surely leads to a deeper understanding of subject materials through constant discussion and case-studies, build connections with fellow learners and mentors around the world, develop one's leadership and mentoring skills since creative industries are a people-driven innovative industry, and also leads to giving back by helping other learners work through similar programs ahead. 

Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Guest Author The author is Pro Vice Chancellor of Kolkata based Adamas University, and former Dean of Symbiosis and Amity Universities, Pearl Academy& Whistling Woods International, and believes in technology convergence in learning for tomorrow.