The Covid-19 crisis has frequently been presented as a barrier to education. Two teachers at Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) turned it into an opportunity: they re-invented an art and marketing module that has been delivered online. The goal is to inspire students to step outside the box, to develop their curiosity and to awaken their creativity.
The contribution of art to management: a prototype course to test a new pedagogical module
Marie-France Lefèvrehas been developing art and management course and projects at GEM for several years. She has also created the 'association 307', an association for travelling artist residencies.
Ivan Laurens runs the « GEM Educational Case Study Factory ». He is behind several educational innovations at GEM (the 2019 Back-to-School Challenge, Volleyball Manager, Courses in the BizLab, the connected shop & foodstore…).
Together they tested a new course in experiential marketing with fourty second year students of the French GEM 'Grand Ecole' program. The idea was to innovate by approaching a management subject starting from a work of art. Students are thus led to take a step back, step outside of the box, develop their curiosity and creativity.
A course re-invented and adapted health constraints
Far from stopping them, the Covid-19 epidimic obliged them to imagine a new course in an online format.
For 3 hours, the students: :
- interacted with the artist Nathalie Junod Ponsard on the work of art 'Deep Water' created for one of the first 'Nuits Blanches' in Paris;
- understood the techniques and challenges of experiential marketing;
- received the teachings and opinions of Caroline Cuny, a professor-researcher at GEM expert in cognitive psychology and the study of emotions in experiential marketing.
- developed 4 experiential marketing projects as if they were part of the marketing teams at Nutella, Emmaüs, Picture and the 'Banque Postale'.
Among the projects developed, the Emmaüs proposal consisted in donors being invited to tell the story of an object when handing it over in order to create a connection between those who donate and those who buy. This interaction and journey includes and engages donors, develops customers' affection and loyalty, and enhances the value of the objects. A project that could be the subject of a future photo exhibition. A proposal that shows the ability of students to draw on both artistic and neuroscientific contributions to build tangible proposals for case studies.
Other projects at GEM bringing together art and management include:
- Courses to enable students to reflect on different themes through graphic design and based on their internships: the Human Machine; Art & Science; Currency Crisis and capitalism…and Gender Equality in Business.
- Exhibitions on the Grenoble Campus with works of art loaned by 'Space Junk' as part of the yearly Geopolitics Festival at GEM.
- GEM is participating in the 5th edition of the Grenoble Alpes Street Art Festival
- Research conducted from 2018 to 2019 on the work of art 'Hymne' by the artist Patricia Pinzuti Gintz.
