The Poetics of Leadership- Creativity As a Leadership Practice is a unique programme designed by the Creativity Pioneers Fund that aims to strengthen creative leadership skills through self-awareness and critical thinking and tapping into a variety of artistic, educational and creative disciplines to provide today’s cultural practitioners with unconventional tools to better guide their organisations to transform their communities.
The program is unexpected as it's different from other activities I participated in. It found ways of combining body and mind. I had many questions I kept asking myself. I am grateful for this experience.
- 2025 Participant
A 5-day in person intensive workshop in Milan, Italy, for a maximum of 20 participants conducted daily by different mentors to provide a rich variety of diverse perspectives on what it means to be a leader.
The workshop will take place on June 22-26th at BASE, Milan, Italy from 10:AM to 5:PM daily* with a lunch break from 1 to 2 PM.
Participation on all days of the programme is mandatory.
* The exact times of the sessions may vary slightly and will be communicated to participants during the programme.
The programme is designed specifically for the founders and senior leadership staff of the organisations selected by the Creativity Pioneers Fund from all the cohorts, as well as for the changemakers from the Creativity Pioneers Fund extended network.
Please click on the APPLY button and fill out the application form. The Creativity Pioneers Fund’s team will review all the applications and will get back to you individually with the selection result.
NEW DEADLINE APPLICATION 5th March 2026
Applicants will be required to submit their applications through an external platform called Idea360. They are encouraged to download the technical guide at the link below to ensure they can create an account and navigate the application form without difficulty.
Read carefully the FAQ section below for any doubts before applying.
The Poetics of Leadership aims to support these pioneers by fostering resilience, self-confidence, and a deeper capacity to navigate complexity and ambiguity. Leadership is not a static role, but a practice shaped by interaction, dialogue, and shared experience.
At its core, this programme is rooted in poetics—not just poetry but an expansive mode of thinking and being. Poetics is about asking the questions that open us to new perspectives rather than clinging to the certainty of answers.
The programme taps into multiple creative disciplines as metaphors and unconventional wells of wisdom. We will connect with writers, tightrope walkers, musicians, entrepreneurs, curators, integral coaches, and CEOs to rethink and explore key concepts such as risk, failure, and authorship to draw and re-draw the maps for our collective future and to define each person’s unique poetic rhythm (or leadership style).
The programme will be conducted in English, so all applicants must be proficient in English language in order to fully benefit from it.
The programme combines somatic practices, in-depth group discussions lead by a mentor with some practical tools, peer to peer learning exercises, unconventional creative experiences and in-person networking opportunities with fellow Creativity Pioneers and members of the Creativity Pioneers Fund extended network. The programme will be also enriched with some cultural experiences around the city of Milan.
- February 16th to March 2nd (midnight CET time) 2026, application window.
- March 2nd – March 13th evaluation process
- Week of March 16th: selected participants announced
- June 21st – arrival to Milan for the programme
- June 26th– end of the programme
- June 27th – Departure day
We will be giving priority to the applications that are:
- very personal and clearly state the personal challenges that you are facing as a leader (please respond to the questions as an individual not as an organisation)
- that motivate why this course could be a pivotal point in your leadership journey
- that demonstrate the open mindedness, willingness to question yourself and to deeper understand your purpose as a leader through creative tools
- that demonstrate the willingness to actively participate in Creativity Pioneers community
You are welcome to apply again, but in the spirit of giving an opportunity to as many Creativity Pioneers as possible, we will be privileging the applications from the individuals that have not had the chance to benefit from the programme yet.
Yes, more than one person can apply from the same organisation, if they are co-founders or hold senior positions, however, in the spirit of giving the opportunity to as many organisations as possible as well as maximum freedom and safety in the programme’s space, we will only select one person per organisation.
If you have any questions, please contact: [email protected]
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For any questions or clarification, please contact us at: [email protected]