ri200330  Searching for hope: Following the advice of Moss-Kanter  

Good advice then and now 

Rosabeth Moss-Kanter, in an article published in AARP magazine in 2006, stated, “A structure for collaboration is an insurance policy for hope,” and it came at a good time. I was, that year, exploring ways to tap into senior experiences – such as my own – that would help college art students at my alma mater – Central Washington University.

I never found good soil there, sadly, although it added to my experience. Her statement about an insurance policy for hope never left my mind. Now it’s more important as we live in the onset of the corona virus pandemic, and schools nationwide are shut, forcing separation of teachers and students.

Parents of school-age students are forced into home-schooling and most were not prepared. Many are not going to their workplaces because of the risks of contagion. Once again, as people have faced crises in the past, we need an insurance policy for hope.

What does “a structure for collaboration” mean to me?

In the first place, it’s an abstract design, this structure. In a perfect world, it would be a successful printmaking studio where people came together not only to make prints for their enjoyment, but to share in the creative processes that color human interaction in achieving goals.

The collective goals, for example, of having a group show such as an “Open Studio.” When I was a member of the collective, Triangle Studios, we hosted those events and they are among the highlights of my life. The physical studio and the abstract design of an open studio event are structures for collaboration.

I think this fits Moss-Kanter’s definition.

But, what now?