Imagination for action: nurturing professional values and guiding good actions

This paper explores a relationship between imagination and the perceived professional responsibilities and actions of leaders working in the cultural sector in a northern European country. Using a framework of Imagination for Action and drawing on the qualitative data from 21 leaders, the paper, firstly, illustrates how imagination is simultaneously a necessary condition and the most valuable resource for a renewal of professional calling, responsibility and motivation in value-driven and humanity-centred actions. Secondly, this paper acknowledges a wider spilling effect that emerges from the act of researching imaginative actions of a group of professionals. Using a poetic and symbolic language, inspirational and reflection-yielding value of imagination is showcased in the form of a reflective epilogue. Drawing on a written poem and visual images created in response to empirical data to re-tell the story of cultural leaders, an invitation to reflect and reconnect with a professional self is extended to the readers.