Why innovation isn’t about high-tech tools but about looking at assets differently.
Innovation is often sold to us as a high-tech, high-cost endeavor involving glass-walled offices and venture capital.
But for a grassroots arts organization, innovation is something far more grounded and powerful. It is the art of looking at what you already have and seeing a thousand different possibilities. It is the ability to solve a problem not with a checkbook, but with a conversation. In our world, innovation is simply another word for resourcefulness. It is the decision to stop asking “What do we lack?” and start asking “How else can this be used?”
This principle matters because resources will always be tight. If you wait for the perfect conditions or the right amount of funding to try something new, you might never start. Innovation is the engine of the scrappy creator because it turns constraints into catalysts. When you have a massive budget, you can afford to be uninspired; you can just pay for the standard solution. But when you are small, you are forced to be clever. This cleverness is where the most honest and exciting art happens. It is where community bonds are forged, because you have to rely on one another to make things work.
To apply this mindset, you have to embrace the “sideways look.” This means examining your environment for underutilized assets. We often overlook the wealth that sits right in front of us because it doesn’t look like capital. Your organization’s innovation doesn’t need to be a new app or a complex piece of hardware. It can be a new way of organizing your time, a new way of sharing space, or a new way of valuing labor. It is about rethinking the how of your daily operations until the friction disappears.
One of the most effective innovative approaches for a small organization is the “Resource Mapping” strategy. Instead of looking outward for a grant to buy equipment, you create a public-facing ledger of the skills, tools, and spaces already held by your community. One person has a van; another has a high-end camera; a third has a basement that is empty on Tuesday nights. By mapping these assets, you aren’t just solving a logistical problem; you are building a self-sustaining ecosystem. You are creating a library of things and a directory of talents that bypasses the need for traditional funding. This is innovation in its purest form: creating a new system of value where none existed before.
When you approach your work this way, you realize that you aren’t just an arts administrator or a creative leader; you are a designer of possibilities. You are proving that a lack of money is not a lack of potential. Resilience comes from knowing that even if your primary plan fails, you have a web of relationships and a habit of creative problem-solving to fall back on. This isn’t about making do with less; it is about making something better because you weren’t tied to the expensive, conventional way of doing things.
Keep looking for the hidden potential in your neighborhood and your team. Innovation is not a destination you reach; it is a muscle you build. Every time you find a workaround, every time you swap a skill for a space, and every time you rethink a tired process, you are innovating.
You are building a future that is more collaborative, more flexible, and more human.
Stay sharp, stay curious, and remember that your greatest tool is your imagination. You have exactly what you need to begin.
Northern Arts and Regional Innovation
This is a collaborative initiative by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners art collective, supporting artists and creative projects in Melgund Township, Northwestern Ontario. Our groups champion rural arts development, community programming, Indigenous arts partnerships, and cultural innovation—strengthening the local and regional arts sector through mentorship, exhibitions, digital media, and sustainable creative entrepreneurship. Our events and activities include artists from Melgund Township, Winnipeg, Ignace, Sioux Lookout, Dryden, and beyond. You read more innovation-focused posts here.
About the Author
