Discovery
To begin the Discovery phase, the team engaged in a icebreaker activity, where they came to know each other, and areas of commonality. They discovered that the group was exceptionally diverse, but that they had a mutual interest in arts education. That subject became a focal point for further exploration.
Context Mapping
Context mapping is designed to help the team form a shared contextual understanding of the central question and bring out areas of expertise and passion to determine the team’s unique personal take on the central question.
During the Context Mapping activity, the team looked at trends affecting the performing arts. These include polarized political trends in the arts around DEI, activism, and perceived political issues around funding. At the same time, the arts are being viewed as something “extra”, and funding cuts have become commonplace. The Covid pandemic affected performances and introduced more “virtual arts,” which can increase reach; meanwhile other existing technologies have allowed for better crowdfunding and improvements in audio (for music online). Some issues identified by the team included questions around tech’s affect on the arts, how arts staff are treated, and complications around meeting the needs of a wide range of generations.
Below is Team 1’s Context Map: (click to zoom in)
Sense Making
During the Sense Making stage, the team captures insights from the Context Map and identifies patterns. During this 15 minute time, the facilitator captured and identified these patterns using the Context Map. Sometimes ideas move from a laughable idea (“Ha Ha”) to a discovery (“Ah Ha!”) to a resolution (“Ahh”).
