Learning to share

Arts organisations feel vulnerable. This is no surprise for a sector that is used to living on thin and unreliable resources, and being valued for our instrumental impacts rather than the intrinsic value of what we do. One of the ways the sector has countered this impression is by developing extremely high levels of professionalism. We’ve developed ourselves as viable businesses, our plans, policies and procedures providing evidence that we take ourselves seriously, and that we expect to be taken seriously by others.

While I applaud organisations that are run properly and efficiently and which are effective at advocacy and meeting targets, I do wonder whether we should re-appraise how this approach can affect our relationships with audiences. Recently it seems that the brands that are doing well are those that allow their audiences to take some ownership of the values, activity and approach of the organisation. This is antithetical to traditional brand theory which has regarded fierce protection of every aspect of the brand to be crucial.

Led by new technologies which have enabled all of us to be able to have choice over aspects of our lives that we wouldn’t have dreamed about a few years ago – audiences want to be involved. And if they like you, there’s a chance that they will want to use your brand, share your video or comment on your work. This raises a challenge to arts organsiations, stuck in the rut of providing a glossy, untouchable outward face, a professional veneer to disguise our fear that others will see our vulnerability. That our audiences might know that we are not perfect, that we are struggling, that we sometimes get things wrong.

It’s a major shift, to let our audiences share our brand, admit their ideas into our planning, in effect, to see them as much a part of our organisation as our buildings, our staff, our brand. the world is changing quickly though, and it seems likley that those organisations that are prepared to let down their guard, and enjoy our audiences desire to share and be part of what we do, will be the ones thriving in the future.

 

The recession starts to bite

Browsing in a bookshop

Alongside the joy and over-indulgence of Christmas were daily reports of doom and gloom. One retailer after another being put into administration, jobs being lost in manufacturing and the news that housing prices are plummeting to 2004 levels. News from the arts sector is slow to emerge, but I am starting to notice bits of information that emerging in the press. As chair of Tindal Street Press I am particularly concerned about the impact of the recession of book sales, and sad to say, early evidence is that although January to July was a good period for book sales, they took a dive in the second half of the year, painting a gloomy picture for the year as a whole, and for 2009. Information on the sector can be found in The Bookseller who do useful year-on-year reviews.

In the Observer Robert McCrum does a good job of showing what great value a book represents (6-8 hours of entertainment for only £12.99) but in a subsequent article celebrates the even better value of the second hand book. I can’t argue with him, second hand books are wonderful. Not just because they’re cheap but because browsing in a second hand bookshop can lead to surprise discoveries, encouraging you to read things you might never have found in a high street bookshop. Notwithstanding their value, it still means that the book trade will be hit, and this means publishers and writers will suffer too. Even worse, there is a good chance that this will lead to less choice of new books, with blockbusters, celebrity biographies and big names dominating the market.

Other news shows that people are choosing to eat out less. This might be great for the main supermarkets who are looking like they are holding their own during this period, it might be bad news for arts organisations, many of whom rely on their cafes and restaurants to supply a slice of their income.

Overall it looks like a difficult time for the arts, and one where the organisations need to focus not just on their paying audience, but also the situation of their suppliers and partners who might be even more severely affected in the short term than the subsidised sector.

If you have seen other useful and relevant information about how the arts might be affected by the recession, please do comment below.

 

What impact will the impending recession have on the arts?

Radio 4 ran a report from the Frieze Art Fair earlier today, discussing the impact of the recession on the contemporary art market. While the dealers were bluff and confident in their assertion that sales are robust, commentator Louise Bluck was more believable, saying that attendance was high but people were looking at not buying. Damien Hirst’s solo auction at Sotheby’s may have raised £111million only a month ago, but he is an exception, and no conclusions can be drawn about the contemporary art market as a whole.

Some commentators are suggesting that art is a particularly attractive investment right now. Like gold you own something with an integral value, and you’re not at the mercy of fat cats or having your funds frozen, lost or disappeared by some bank’s mishandling your investment. However, all but the biggest collector’s have little chance of making a significant profit from owning art, and the buyer’s should still beware of investing for profit rather than love. An article from The Independent, written in 2002 titled, Beware art for profit’s sake, seems as relevant today.

I have been searching the internet to try and find some research that gives an indication on how arts attendance, might fare during the recession. I must say I can’t find much, except that recession seems to be good news for cinema. During the depression of the 1930s, cinema attendance grew hugely. The assumption seems to from the 30s to today, that cinema attendance is cheap, and therefore becomes more attractive when money is tight. Some commentators add that cinema is escapist entertainment and so it’s exactly what people are looking for when they are finding their day-to-day difficult. Across Wales cinema attendance has been up this summer, and while they agree that people look to cinema to cheer them up during gloomy times, the gloomy times in this instance could also be the terrible, washout we experienced this summer. 

What I can’t find at the moment is more detailed information about theatre or music attendance during recession, and I think this informaiton would be really useful right now. Arts organisations need to be preparing for the next few turbulent years, and the ones who take a measure, strategic and planned approach will have the best chance of flourishing through the recession. If you have any relevant research you can share, or links to useful publications on this matter, please leave them as comments and if there are enough I’ll create a set of links bringing the research together. Please comment with your thoughts and comments too.

In the meantime I thought I’d leave with another resource form my new favourite Arts Marketing blog, ArtsMarket. This ones entitled Audience Development in a Recession Economy and is full of tips for successful audience development in time so economic uncertainty.

See my new post, The recession starts to bite, for ongoing dicussion of this topic.