Speech at the ”Building Resilience of Youth to Hybrid Threats” Seminar, hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland – June 6, 2025, Ia Adlercreutz, Professor of Practice, Aalto ARTS
Before I begin, let me say a word about why I personally care so deeply about this topic. I teach at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Espoo, where I’m part of a programme called Artpreneurship. At its core, this programme challenges the traditional divide between creative professionals and business. We show that artistic expertise, emotional intelligence, and radical creativity are not just nice-to-have skills, but essential for navigating today’s complexity, uncertainty and systemic change.
We help young art students put words to their own value – to understand and communicate what it is about artistic thinking and creative processes that matters so much, especially now, in the age of AI. Because while AI can replicate certain types of knowledge or technical skill, it cannot replicate deep human imagination, moral reflection, or the ability to navigate ambiguity through embodied experience. These are precisely the kinds of capacities that the arts build.
For businesses, we show how artistic methodologies can open new ways of thinking. And for young art students, we help them understand that their role in society is not marginal – it is increasingly vital. In fact, the OECD Future of Education and Skills initiative as well as the Unesco Framework for Culture and Arts Education make this very clear: creativity, adaptability, and cross-disciplinary collaboration are some of the most important competencies for the future. Yet artistic thinking remains under-utilized in many parts of society. I see it as part of my mission to change that.
Now, when we speak of resilience – especially in democratic societies facing polarisation, hybrid threats and rapid change – I believe art and creative capacity are key sources of that resilience. In Finland, we have a national programme for arts and cultural education – the Observatory Programme 2023–2027 – that is built on this exact understanding.
This programme recognises that arts education and creative participation foster creativity and innovation. Art teaches us to think in new ways, to reframe problems, to explore. These are not artistic luxuries; they are the core skills of adaptive societies. At the same time, art fosters inclusion and community. When we create together – through music, theatre, visual arts – we strengthen our shared experience and foster trust across difference. This is essential in societies struggling with fragmentation.
Creative expression also supports wellbeing and mental health. It helps us process emotions, build self-awareness – both in individual and societal level, and cope with stress and uncertainty. Neuroscience confirms this: the arts literally help regulate our nervous systems. In addition, the arts cultivate cultural literacy and identity. Through them, we understand who we are, where we come from – and also appreciate others. In polarised times, this is a democratic skill. Art also helps us imagine alternative futures, process difficult realities like the climate crisis, and inspire action. It builds the moral imagination we need for collective responsibility.
And there is one more point I would like to add today. When we speak about diversity, we often focus on demographics such as gender, ethnicity, age. This matters greatly, of course. But there is another kind of diversity we urgently need to cultivate: cognitive diversity.
Creativity is not one thing. There is technical creativity, strategic creativity, analytical creativity, mathematical-logical creativity, and yes, artistic creativity. Each of these activates different areas of the brain. And it is, frankly, a no-brainer that any healthy society should aim to have its full brain – and its full creative capacity – in use. If we only favour certain types of thinking, certain types of logic, or certain kinds of expression, we are operating with half a brain. We are leaving vast human potential untapped.
That is why arts education and the fostering of different modes of creative thinking is so vital. It ensures that we do not build monocultures of the mind. It helps children and young people discover not only what they know, but how they think. And in a polarised world, where rigid thinking is a root cause of division, this diversity of thinking is an essential ingredient of resilience.
These are not abstract claims. We see them in real life. For example, through Finland’s Taidetestaajat programme. Every year, tens of thousands of eighth-graders experience high-quality professional art performances – many for the first time. They encounter ambiguity. They encounter emotional depth. And crucially, they learn that it is okay and enrichening to experience and interpret art differently from their peers.
This is a gentle training ground for democratic life. As one student put it: “The performance was hard to understand at first. But that made me think more. I had to use my imagination.” That ability – to stay with complexity, to tolerate ambiguity, to imagine – is an antidote to the rigid thinking that polarisation feeds upon.
In my own work with young Artpreneur students, I see this every day. Many of them begin the course thinking that their creative skills are somehow marginal or “non-strategic.” By the end, they understand that in an AI-saturated world, it is precisely their capacity for deep imagination, ethical reflection, and human connection that will be essential – not only in the arts sector, but across society.
As I often say to them: We are not training you to compete with the machines. We are training you to do what the machines cannot do.
And that is something all of us, as citizens, need to understand. A resilient democracy depends on people who can imagine new possibilities, relate across difference, and co-create meaning together. Art fosters all of this. It builds not just individual wellbeing – but social resilience.
That is why programmes like Finland’s arts education strategy matter. That is why creativity should be at the heart of how we educate and engage young people. And that is why, even in times of political and economic strain, we must continue to protect and invest in the arts not as enrichment, but as civic infrastructure.
Thank you for listening and being here today – because by participating in this conversation, you are already helping to build a more creative and resilient democratic future.
