Benjamin Wolff on The Value of Immeasurable Things
September 15, 6–7 pm
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery
Since this country’s founding, artists have had a troubled relationship with American capitalism, often feeling undervalued—even devalued—by the economic framework in which they live and work.
That relationship may be changing. With the rise of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the rapidly evolving nature of work itself, the qualities that artists possess—creativity, curiosity, humanity, and craft-specific skills—are now valued and in demand.
For the past five years, Forbes Leadership contributor Benjamin Wolff has been asking: “What can business learn from the arts?” The answer, increasingly, is “A lot.” Join him in a conversation that explores new opportunities for artist careers, trends in corporate artist-in-residence programs, and some unusual ways that artists are quietly remaking the corporate landscape in the 21st century.
Musician, writer, and speaker—Benjamin Wolff delights audiences with elegant insights from the arts into the way people create, communicate, and work together. His philosophy is that whenever we immerse ourselves in worlds other than our own, our eyes are opened; we see familiar things from fresh angles; we’re stimulated by unexpected points of view; and we are renewed by recognizing what is universal about the experiences that we have in common.
Ben writes a regular column on the intersection of business and the arts for Forbes Leadership and has delivered his innovative programs for companies and organizations such as Cisco, Ingram Micro, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, NASA, Williams College, Rockefeller University, Yale University, and Harvard University. For eighteen years he was Professor of Music at Hofstra University and a member of the Hofstra String Quartet. As a professional cellist, he has performed with ensembles such as Early Music New York, Concert Royal, and the American Classical Orchestra.