Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 63

Conflict, Collaboration, and Caring
J. P. Singh:
What about the intensity of that collaboration? So we think of the string
quartet being one of the most intense forms of creation because there are
four people. In economics, we speak to how we could never have a market
form with four players because we think that three would work but there’s
a tension with four—that wouldn’t be there even with with two or three. In
collaborative forms, how do artists deal with that inherent tension? How
do they internalize it and keep it going and make it speak to an artistic
expression as opposed to it falling apart?
Dorothy Miell:
I think there’s often tension and conflict; it can either be suppressed or out in
the open. Sometimes people don’t recognize that enough; students training
in creative fields do not always recognize just how exposed they will be
working with others, especially from different disciplines, and the difficulties
it can bring. We have a responsibility in education to help people recognize,
deal with, and manage those tensions productively. Risk-taking and clashes
are essential to creativity and authenticity, but the personal investments
the artist makes in the process of creation can be difficult to manage. I’m
not sure that our arts education does enough to help with those issues.
We educators teach the particular discipline, such as music composition
or performance, but won’t teach how to manage the psychological tensions
that can arise in collaborative work—such as when playing in a quartet or
when working with others, for example dancers or filmmakers.
J. P. Singh:
So, what could we do, as educators?
Dorothy Miell:
The first thing we should do is help them recognize that they personally
are not the problem. That it’s not about them not being good enough, its
about working out how to understand the perspectives, assumptions, and
languages of others that they are working with and ensuring they establish
a shared language.
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