Issue 89: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

We’re refining our format - and proposing conscription... to creativity.

Author

Willem Martin
October 07, 2025

ISSUE 89 /

A BULLETIN FOR
BIG IDEAS AND
BETTER BUSINESS.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Last week we ran a poll to find out what you, our lovely readers, most enjoyed about The Business of Creativity Newsletter. One answer came through loud and clear: the opinion piece is your highlight.

So, we’ve heard you and we’re making a change. From here on, you can expect even more attention on weekly provocations: sharp thinking, strong voices, and creative fuel you can use. Some will come from Sir John. Others, in time, from brilliant guests across the creative industries. What won’t change is our commitment to delivering something provocative, opinionated, and hopefully useful - every single week.

We’re grateful, as ever, to our subscribers - thank you for continuing to make space for The Business of Creativity in your week.

OPINION / Art

Creative Conscription

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Some years ago, I found myself on a panel. One of those sessions where the conversation bounces between policy, philosophy and a faint whiff of self-congratulation. Then an interesting question was posed from the audience.

“If you could change one thing about education, what would it be?” My reply: “Bring back national service.”

“Bring back national service.”

The ripple of horror across the room was immediate. Eyes widened. Eyebrows vanished into hairlines. One of the panelists looked like I’d just suggested we reinstate public flogging.

I clarified, once the murmurs had died down, that in my version of national service, we wouldn’t be sending 18-year-olds off to polish rifles or dig trenches. We’d be sending them to art school.

Initial confusion was followed by curiosity. No one had allowed themselves to consider it.

Imagine this. One year immersed in creative exploration. Painting. Writing. Designing. Performing. Making. A year of asking questions, not marching to orders. We’d be instilling confidence and curiosity in the next generation. Affording them the ability to see the world differently. If that sounds like a luxury, you’re thinking too small.

This is about national growth. Cultural, yes. But there are economic benefits too.

Creativity drives innovation. Innovation drives prosperity. And yet, we pour public money into teaching discipline through force rather than freedom. We applaud the idea of turning teenagers into soldiers. Why not into artists, designers, filmmakers, architects, makers? Give a young person a camera or a paintbrush, not a gun.

Give a young person a camera or a paintbrush, not a gun.

We’ve convinced ourselves that order comes from obedience. But all the great leaps forward came from people who challenged it. That’s what art school teaches. To question and then reimagine. And if we want a society capable of navigating complexity, ambiguity and constant change, then we need people who can think for themselves.

So yes, National service. But for creativity.

Send them all to art school.

Illustration by Marc Johns

❝

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

What do you think of our new newsletter format?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Unlock your creativity.

Has this newsletter
been forwarded to you by a friend?
Sign up to The Business of Creativity 
to receive your own weekly dose
of creativity news.