When we are being asked to re-consider our breakthrough goals in order to adjust to the current crisis we currently are in, we need to be more creative and innovative in forming solutions and plans for recovery. The next time you feel like you are in a creative rut, perhaps a visit to the Ayala Triangle Garden and seeing the McMicking Memorial or any of the Impy Pilapil structures that line up the many public parks around the business district can quickly help stimulate your creativity and allow you to open up to other people’s perspective and the fact that those art structures came as a result of multiple ideas and “experiments” before ending up with the final product.

Ayala Corporation Chairman Emeritus Don Jamie Zobel de Ayala was asked, “How do you convince the Filipino people that now more than ever, the arts are important?” and he replied – “look around, when everything shut down, it was the arts that allowed us to continue to live.” 

Creative activities can help you feel better about yourself. There are no doubts that a quick visit to the Ayala Museum or a walk past Makati’s artwork infused walkways and underpass might have a calming effect on your psyche and not to mention the power to change your physiology. A particular artwork can help you relieve stress and provide a quick respite from the stressful, hectic and unrelenting pressure of work. A fresh mind allows you to be more productive and gives you a healthier perspective on the work that you do which in turn provides a positive effect within your work environment and consequently contributes to the overall improvement of your department’s and the company’s shared goals.

The arts can elicit an emotional response and can pave the way for an open communication and interpersonal connections in the workplace. This becomes critical as more of the younger generation starts entering the workforce. The advent of technology and social media have disabled this type of relationships and more and more people are becoming less social which can have a negative effect on the overall productivity of the organization. How many of us have attended the Art Fair or perhaps the annual Christmas Light Show or passed by, jogged or just simply enjoyed the wall murals at Circuit? These art events allow us to collectively participate and when we collectively participate in the arts, our individual response and understanding of what we just witnessed or participated in can initiate the connections that allow you to share your experience and elevate the interpersonal morale and mood within the organization.

The arts can inspire us to be more resilient, give us hope and remind us that we are not alone. This couldn’t be more evident than the present situation we are experiencing worldwide. The creative industry was the very first one asked to close and will more than likely be the last one called to open. Despite that, the arts provided a steadying force, reminding us of the human capacity to create and endure. It is the same quality of stillness and quiet force amidst the dizzying swirl of noise that we can learn from the arts and can help us as corporate individuals and organizations weather the storm and continue on the intended path ahead.