The Transformative Power of Creativity

A Leap in the Unknown
Arts, Culture and Creativity, when viewed through an economic lens, reveals a deeper kind of entrepreneurship, one that begins with imagination. “Creativity and entrepreneurship are closer than people think,” says Ellen Loots, researcher in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Creativity. Both involve identifying opportunities, mobilising resources, and turning ideas into value. Yet in the cultural sector, that value is rarely financial first. Money, she explains, is a means to an end: it enables the creation of aesthetic, social, and emotional meaning.

For Ellen, entrepreneurial thinking in the arts is not about commercialisation but resilience. Financial strength allows artistic freedom. “Long-term engagement forms a kind of capital that’s often more valuable than direct income,” she says. This mirrors economist Mariana Mazzucato’s argument that collaboration and creativity are the basis for inclusive, sustainable economies. Culture, in that sense, is not the cherry on top of
society’s cake, it is the main ingredient.

Innovation Through Imagination
That interplay between creativity and innovation sits at the heart of Astrid Manden-Benneker’s work as Innovation and Partnership Manager at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Every day, she brings together artists, scientists, and societal partners to test how creative approaches can lead to new forms of impact.

“The cultural sector is much more than a source of entertainment,” she says. “It has a proven transformative power that renews, connects, and advances society.” Astrid points to examples such as interventions in healthcare, where design cues and music improve the wellbeing of patients and staff alike. Similar projects show how art can foster belonging in neighbourhoods, or spark conversations about inclusion and sustainability in urban renewal.

Yet she is also pragmatic. Transformation, she argues, needs structure. “To prevent gentrification from displacing the creativity that sparked renewal, we must anchor culture and affordable workspaces in redevelopment plans.” She advocates for measures such as a revival of the one-per-cent art scheme in (public) construction, not as decoration, but as infrastructure for imagination.

New Models, New Resilience
That structural thinking is also what drives Trilce Navarrete, a specialist in the economic and historical aspects of digital heritage. In her Horizon Europe project RECHARGE, Trilce and her team explored participatory business models that blend social engagement with financial sustainability.

The findings were striking. Many heritage organisations still struggle with financial literacy: they can measure visitor numbers but not the wider social and economic value they generate. “Organisations often pursue educational or community goals while neglecting financial capture,” Trilce explains. “Yet both matter, one sustains the other.”

Through experiments with participatory ownership, resource pooling, and digital platforms, the project revealed that people are not only willing to engage, but also to invest time, effort, and even money when they feel genuine ownership. “Each location is unique,” she says. “Success depends on active participants and fair exchange between them.” In other words, participation is not a buzzword but a precondition for resilience.

From Project to Policy
Together, these perspectives sketch a vision of culture as a living laboratory — one that blends artistic experimentation with economic and social innovation. But if creativity is to keep driving transformation, it must be structurally embedded rather than treated as an occasional project.

For Astrid, that means bringing creative professionals to the table from the start of innovation processes, not merely at the end to “make things pretty”. Their way of thinking challenges assumptions, reframes problems, and centres human experience in complex transitions, from healthcare to housing, from technology to urban design. Ellen adds that the same mindset applies inside cultural organisations themselves. By strengthening their entrepreneurial capacity, through partnerships, digital tools, and smarter business models, they gain the freedom to take artistic risks. And Trilce shows how data and participation can make that freedom measurable and sustainable.

Imagination as Systemic Power
The future of innovation will not be powered by technology alone, but by the imagination to use it wisely. Artificial Intelligence, for instance, will increasingly shape participatory cultural practices, from digital archives to co-created heritage. Yet technology must serve creativity, not replace it. This is where the spirit of the New European Bauhaus offers guidance. Its three pillars, sustainability, inclusion, and beauty, mirror the triad that Manden-Benneker, Loots, and Navarrete embody in their work. It reminds us that aesthetics and empathy are not luxuries; they are what make systems human.

“We are learning how transformation really works,” says Astrid. “It’s not a switch you flip; it’s a ripple that begins with imagination.” The lesson is simple but profound: societies that invest in culture invest in resilience. Creativity doesn’t just make life more beautiful; it makes it more possible.