MBA and MSc students from the School of Management and Faculty of Engineering recently collaborated with Bath Spa University MA Arts Management and Lead Artists from their EMERGE studio to deliver immersive book launch events for School of Management Professor in Practice Margaret Heffernan’s latest book ‘Embracing Uncertainty: How writers, musicians & artists thrive in an unpredictable world’.
Following the theme of the book, team members were encouraged to step outside of their comfort zone and curate events working together as people from artistic and management backgrounds. Mentored by Mike Bond from the Royal College of Art, Clare Hughes experienced designer and curator, Dr Penny Hay Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University, Margaret Heffernan and Matt Rusling Head of MBA Operations from the School of Management the team had just over a month to plan a book launch that broke with the traditional approach at such events.
The team transformed the Incepta Lab in the School of Management and Bath Spa’s Locksbrook Street to welcome students, alumni, staff and external guests to engage with Margaret and learn how embracing creativity is so important when considering the challenges facing modern business.
The events were well attended and it was great to see the two universities coming together to deliver the project. Moving forward, the School of Management’s MBA programmes, which have been recently put through the curriculum transformation process, will include creativity focused content and experiential learning opportunities of this nature so this was a valuable forerunner. The project was partly funded by an Enhancing Research Culture grant.