Why arts, culture and human experiences may matter more than ever

Last week, I experienced something extraordinary at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm.

Lonely Together is not a traditional performance where the audience quietly observes from a distance. We were placed in the middle of several stages, surrounded by the artists, immersed in movement, music and emotion. The boundaries between performers and audience disappeared. Through dance, live music and performance inspired by the legendary music of Avicii, we experienced connection, energy and hope together.

It was powerful. Unexpected. Emotional. And it stayed with me long after I left the theatre.

As I reflected on the experience afterwards, I found myself thinking about inspiration in the age of AI.

Today, we are surrounded by more content, ideas and information than ever before. AI can generate text, images, music, presentations and strategies within seconds. It is an extraordinary technological shift that is already transforming how we work and create.

I’m not worried about AI.

But I do wonder:

What truly inspires us when we are overloaded with content? What sparks original ideas? What moves us emotionally? What helps us think differently?

Because inspiration and creativity are not only intellectual processes. They are deeply human experiences.

Long before my career in leadership and business, I started dancing as a child. I trained in everything from ballet to modern dance, and later became fascinated by choreography. Choreography is about storytelling, structure and interaction with time, space, music and light. It is expression and communication without words.

Movement became a way to release emotions, gain energy and experience flow.

Looking back, dance taught me much more than performance. It taught me discipline, presence, creativity and the courage to follow passion. It also shaped how I later approached leadership – balancing structure with intuition, direction with adaptability, and ambition with humanity.

What fascinates me today is how much neuroscience supports what many artists and creatives have intuitively understood for generations.

Research shows that the more senses we activate, the more likely we are to learn, remember and form new associations. Emotional experiences strengthen memory and engagement. Creativity often emerges when the brain connects seemingly unrelated ideas, emotions and sensory impressions.

Experiences involving movement, music, storytelling and emotion activate multiple parts of the brain simultaneously. Neuroscientists also point to the importance of the brain’s Default Mode Network – the network associated with imagination, reflection and creative thinking. It often becomes more active during moments of reflection, art, music, walking or daydreaming rather than during constant task-switching and information consumption.

Perhaps this is why some of our best ideas rarely appear while staring at another screen.

And perhaps this is why arts and culture may become even more important in the age of AI.

AI is exceptional at generating and optimising. But human inspiration is different. It often emerges through emotion, human connection, movement, tension, beauty, discomfort and shared experiences.

AI can produce endless content. But not every experience creates meaning.

As leaders, creators and professionals, we may need to become even more intentional about exposing ourselves to experiences that stimulate curiosity, emotion and reflection – not only efficiency and productivity.

Some of the most valuable future skills may not come solely from consuming more information, but from expanding our capacity to feel, connect, reflect and imagine.

The evening at Lonely Together reminded me that inspiration cannot always be explained logically. Sometimes it is something we experience physically and emotionally before we can articulate it intellectually.

And perhaps that is exactly what makes us human.

I’m curious:

Where do you find inspiration today? Do arts, culture or movement play a role in how you think and create? And in a world increasingly shaped by AI, what experiences still move you emotionally?