On Thursday 25 October Prof. Kiran Trehan and Dr. Jane Glover from the WE-LEAD Centre held an interactive session on “Artistic Engaged Scholarship: Creative art labs on family business” at the Family Firms Institute Conference in London. 

The session attracted a good audience and we received great feedback on the session from the audience who said that it was good to see something different and interesting which looked at family business using novel methods.  Dr. Jane Glover’s digital book told a compelling story about the history and change in one family business, which was followed by a dramatic performance by Dr. Angela Carradus and her husband – who told the emotional story about  married couples running their own business the problems the hidden family dynamics and the emotions experienced.  The session ended with actor Nicholas Bailey and Prof. Kiran Trehan discussing the opportunities and challenges of using artistic methods to explore family business and what this could mean in terms of generating impact and delivering policy relevant research.  Nicholas Bailey also engaged with the audience acting out different scenarios chosen by the audience in relation to the two family business stories they had been told. 

The session demonstrated how we should remove the disciplinary boundaries and be more adventurous in how we conduct research and the ways in which we disseminate it.