ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°137 - Juillet 2011 - 58

Arts don’t need support, they need business!
Ask artists about the cuts in government funding and watch them carefully… Some will get very angry and claim the violation of their artistic integrity, others remain calm -almost passive, as if they don’t care. But hardly any will see it as a welcome opportunity. Strange, considering that every artist born before 1900 was considered an entrepreneur. Nowadays, most artists believe they need financial support to be able to make something beautiful. It’s an understandable attitude considering the fact that governments throughout Europe have been supporting the arts with subsidies for as far as I, my mother and my late grandfather can remember. So it would not be unfair to say that the arts world has been enjoying a rather luxurious status. Subsidy is meant to be a market correction mechanism. But in the case of the arts, these subsidies are the cause of a ridiculously unfair competitive market. For any young creative collective it is almost impossible to beat up against an arts organisation that has all its operational and development costs paid for by the government. This way, the state is monopolizing the arts instead of investing in the development of a truly valuable market. SO STOP SUBSIDIES and START INVESTMENTS! Begin with compiling decent statistical data so that other sectors can at least calculate the risk of being involved with the arts, which will turn out to be a lot lower than expected. Then redesign the educational trajectory for artists so that they learn to speak a realistic language that you and I understand as well. Furthermore, create networks that work: ones in which all parties involved can learn about the value of creativity. Indeed, the arts are beneficial for social integration, territorial cohesion, the strengthening of employability and the expression of cultural diversity. But it’s far more than that. Artists are creative people: they come up with solutions, emotional triggers and exploitable products. They attract tourism, create turnover for derivative business activity and they manage to hold the attention of audiences for much longer than any advertiser can dream of. Moreover, creativity produces symbolic added value, which in turn creates the possibility to mark up your product or service and increase margins instead of battling the never-ending price wars. However, most artists and their managers do not understand the paragraph above. They have a NEED to learn as they lack the knowledge, experience, and networks that would help them to become a self-sufficient sector again. Their challenge will be to combine a market-oriented approach without diminishing the artistic quality of their activities. Therefore, businesses large and small, I have a challenge for you: evaluate arts organisations as valuable strategic partners and integrate their strengths into your business. Do not simply offer them money to perform their usual trick. Do not give to artistic beggars but engage, challenge, cooperate, and maybe even employ them, so that you both learn to understand each other’s worlds. When tomorrow artists attain that relatively small but vital attitude change and know how to apply their skills in the market, then they will no longer demand pocket money for their highly developed tricks and can provide you with the artistic support to sell something more beautiful. Yes, it’s an investment.

Brendan WALSH (07)

ESCP Europe Magazine N° 137 - Juillet 2011

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°137 - Juillet 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°137 - Juillet 2011