Susan Adam on Art Online + IRL
The Peak talks to Susan Adam, the founder of Art in Real Life, about art, the power of storytelling, and the growth of her online world.
Throughout Susan Adam's career, she has worked for both big corporations (L.L. Bean, J.P. Morgan Chase, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and Publishers Clearinghouse) and leading arts organizations (The Performing Arts Center of Bath, The Blue School, The Public Theatre, Mark Morris Dance).
Over the years, her keen powers of observation and an inherent artistic outlook have led her to understand that each milieu had their own language, fashion, rituals, and ways of engaging. She learned the power of storytelling and all of the tiny and significant rituals that work together to define an organization. Art is not just present and integrated in our lives, it is essential to being human. Art helps us interpret our world and express ourselves within it.
Her vision is now realized with the launch of the Art and Real Life website, an online magazine dedicated to exploring the roles that art and culture play in our worlds. She is now working on a series of related books.
First, can you give me a brief background about yourself and your career prior to ARL?
My corporate career began with L. L. Bean, heading up the Training & Development function as they launched a major organizational change - creating an online business. I later moved to New York City and, for the next 30 years, led major change initiatives in large companies, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and Blue Man Group.
It was all about organizational culture – and all the ways companies can make it easy and compelling to do the right thing. I learned the power of storytelling – who gets talked about? Who gets airtime? I learned about the importance of greetings, how and where you sit, dress codes. What words do you use to talk about customers? Employees? All the tiny and significant rituals work together to define an organization.
At the same time, I was haunted at how those very same arts operate in our personal lives. I set out to help people see that ‘art’ isn’t just in galleries, museums and concert halls. It is much closer than that. We wear it on our skin, we sing it to our kids and we tell the stories of our heritage. We define ourselves for the world to see.
Where did the idea for Art in Real Life come from? How did/does the web make it possible?
It's funny, it took me a while to realize that not everyone saw the world as I did. Of course I’m a good actress. I act every day. I can act like a manager. Or act like I really enjoyed a cocktail party. Doesn’t everyone? For the life of me I couldn’t understand why everyone else in the world didn’t see it as I saw it. Eventually I started building content to explain this POV - still unsure of the final format. Would it be a workshop? A book? Eventually I settled in on the flexibility and interconnectivity of a website. This was about 15 years ago - long before I had the good fortune to find the fine folks at LTL MTN.
Initially, the website forced me to articulate - and demonstrate - that compelling vision I had about the power of the arts. And - well - I started to see how very complicated the concept could be. No wonder people flashed polite smiles and walked away. The challenge was becoming clear.
Cut to last Spring when I found LTL MTN. That’s when the work of strategy and purpose and possibilities started to take form.
How does creativity inform your business? How does business inform your creativity?
Hmmmm. Creativity. To me, creativity is simply finding new ways to solve problems. Teaching change management in organizations required that I engage everyone in looking at things in new ways - to tap into something that works in other parts of our lives and applying those ideas in new situations.
The real force that drives creativity is having a well-defined goal - and then considering a variety of ways to accomplish that goal. What has surprised me most is how much my goals have evolved. With each step in the right direction, I have been able to see what ELSE I could achieve. Whenever I would say, “Wait - what am I really doing here? Maybe I want to shoot higher,” Steve honored the impulse. For Art in Real Life, the most creative act seems to be growth. Like a plant that needs room to become something more.
How has your website and online presence evolved over time?
Since working with LTL MTN, the challenge has always been finding ways to categorize and sort tons of content. Simply. Which, as I now know, was impossible. But, we established a few organizing principles and I quickly filled up all the spaces.
Almost immediately, after I finally could see all the interconnected parts, I felt relief. Then a new rush of possibilities. With Steve’s gentle cajoling, the next mountain top came into view. We introduced a blog - and a newsletter. After some initial fretting, I found I liked it. I started to think maybe THAT was the real purpose of Art in Real Life.
And of course, the evolution continues today. Our current focus is helping people take these ideas and observations into real family conversations and connections. The word ‘product’ is now in my vernacular. SKU’s are coming to mind. My decades of corporate work are flooding back into my thoughts.
Did Covid-19 change anything for you in terms of your business? And your web world? Did/does your digital presence make up for it in any way?
Not really.
Do you have any frustrations, worries, or paranoia about conducting business - or life - online?
Well, as you might have guessed, given that I am retirement age, I am not a digital native. So it is the simple things that gnaw at me. Loading up images for instagram, for example - and how to keep track of them. I know I am probably taking 10 steps to do what most can do in 3 steps - but I am okay with that.
What are your goals, aspirations, or hopes for your online world?
I guess I have to edit this question given my earlier responses. My CURRENT goals and aspirations are to have lots of people noticing things in new ways, being more aware of how culture is a bit bossy in their lives, and helping people appreciate and explore the role our biology plays in keeping us all connected and living happily ever after.
Can I share one of my favorite quotes from Patti Lupone? "It's not easy being an actor, and having said that, everybody’s an actor."
For more on Susan, visit artinreallife.com.
Video by LTL MTN. Music by Two Dark Birds.