Art on the Job

“Art on the Job,” considered how the discussion of art builds skills of critical inquiry, dialogue, and compassion in the workplace.

For this project I partnered with Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute, a 501(c)(3) that gives formerly incarcerated adults foundational skills in the culinary arts and hospitality.

Edwin’s had not previously integrated Humanities into the curriculum of the institution. Studies in the Medical Humanities have shown, however, that just such humanistic education is beneficial to the development of thoughtful, engaged, empathetic doctors.  More recently, other non-profits have sought to apply a similar thesis in different types of vocational environments.  My contention is that the discussion of art has the potential to achieve the same results across class, gender, and racial differences while simultaneously building a more visually sophisticated workforce.

This project was been funded by a grant from the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University.