Arts and culture reflect open society values and influence public attitudes, yet they seldom receive adequate recognition and resources from either governments or society. To counteract the lack of support, the Arts and Culture Program promotes cultural and artistic collaboration throughout the Soros foundations network; fosters structural changes in cultural policy; and helps develop an autonomous and innovative arts sector. The program's primary goal is to stimulate cultural activities while respecting and celebrating differences among countries.

In the latest issue of International Arts Manager, Michael Crabb explores the question of whether performing arts organizations have gone too far in providing customer service. Unquestionably, it is a very high priority among all arts organizations in their efforts to attract larger audiences in a highly competitive field. But is there the danger of going too far? Borrowing from the retail model of building customer loyalty by providing excellent services, the strategy has been to try to develop a committed audience that not only will buy subscriptions but also will become donors. It includes practices that audiences have come to expect, such as accessible parking, comfortable seating and pleasant, courteous, efficient staff...
[in: ACENews, Feb 04]

A report, prepared in 2003 and released to the public for the first time today, shows that Canadian consumers spent Can$ 21.3 billion on cultural goods and services in 2001, an amount that is greater than spending on tobacco, alcohol and games of chances combined. The $21.3 billion in consumer spending is over three times higher than government spending on culture in Canada. The report also shows that consumer spending on live performing arts events is nearly double the spending on live sporting events.

The Arts Marketing Association (UK) has conducted a pilot benchmarking project, funded by Arts Council England, to assess the effectiveness of arts organisations' e-marketing activity.
32 organisations from accross the UK have taken part in the research and the results have been very encouraging as an indicator of the value of e-marketing. One of the key findings is that the potential to generate awareness and visibility through a website is huge.

Cultural Diplomacy in Arts and Education
Saturday & Sunday, March 27 & 28
Saturday & Sunday, April 3 & 4

The paper aims to develop a framework for future research on the interface between relationship marketing and entrepreneurship in the performing arts in New Zealand and the role this interface might play in the successful development of audiences. The common link between relationship marketing and entrepreneurship is network analysis, focusing on both a strategic and operational level. It is proposed that relationship marketing enhances the audience development function, and those arts managers and marketers who use relationship marketing are likely to be successful in attracting and maintaining their audience base. Not only do they maintain regular subscribers but constantly look at ways of increasing attendance by attracting new audiences. An important factor could be that such managers espouse an entrepreneurial approach - they are willing to take risks and stretch the boundaries of their artistic product by supporting innovative programming.

The paper outlines significant developments in copyright protection of Aboriginal art. This outline reveals that protection of art is improving as understanding of Aboriginal culture grows. Also apparent are the limitations of the Copyright Act when representing the complexity inherent in the respectful treatment of the art in the range of circumstances that it becomes involved. A large proportion of Aboriginal art is culturally significant with some containing sacred imagery. Thus, the rights of more than just the artist are at stake, with communal rights coming into play. Until such time as these rights have been formalised, awareness must be raised of artist's rights and of the responsibilities of those dealing with the work.

Over the past decade it would seem that the arts have become significant to the Singaporean state. This paper investigates the language which has been developed by government agencies and employed by government ministers concerning the arts and culture since 1957. It argues that the underlying intentions of the state towards the arts are to be found in documentation which existed well before the formation of supposedly new arts policies and most significantly within the written record of ministries not traditionally associated with the arts. The paper questions the claims that there is a renaissance of real artistic innovation in Singapore and considers the motives which may lie behind the creation of the newly-phrased arts and cultured infrastructure.

The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity goes live with a new database conceived as an interactive platform to match offers and demands from members and other cultural operators concerning the development of local creative industries and the enforcement of copyright. Fully respecting the confidential nature of certain information, the database provides access to profiles, requests and offers of services, know-how and collaboration put forward by over 150 Global Alliance partners operating in all regions.

The Forum for Cultural Cooperation (FCC) with South East Europe is a platform for cooperation between the countries of the European Union and the region of South East Europe. Its creation was called for by participants in the European Cultural Foundation's seminar "Crossing Perspectives: Cultural Cooperation with South East Europe" (Amsterdam, June 2003).

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP about New marketing approaches in Museums, Heritage and Performing Arts, Turin, 22nd 24th January 2004, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

The first workshop on new marketing approaches organized by the Fondazione Fitzcarraldo in Torino gave the chance to connect practitioners and researchers from all around the world. Under the guidance of Prof. Neil Kotler and Prof. François Colbert the challenges that cultural organizations face nowadays were identified and suitable strategies discussed.

Nonprofit performing arts didn't have good, reliable research on attendance or it's audience -- until now. The Performing Arts Research Coalition chose 10 cities around the country for an in-depth study including Austin. The study found that 75 percent of Austinites attended a dance, opera, symphonic concert or theater performance in the last year.

This study had two objectives: to review the concept of cultural marketing as applied to museums; and to analyse the management and marketing strategies of cultural entities, museums in particular. The authors sought to identify the marketing tools and resources used in the museum sector by means of a questionnaire mailed out to all of the major museums in Catalonia.

This paper examines the relationship between consumer satisfaction and subsequent intentions in the museum context, as well as the moderating influence of demographic characteristics such as gender, age and education in that relationship. The relationship between satisfaction and a range of service elements, overall satisfaction with the experience and intentions was investigated. Museum marketers can profit by examining the value chain of museum experience outlined in the model presented, especially the greater likelihood of consumers recommending the experience to others than making a repeat visit themselves, and by investigating segment differences beyond those reported here.

Performing arts organizations are increasingly looking to build endowments as a means of stabilizing revenue flows. The authors report on a study of 272 arts-presenting organizations, some of which have built a substantial reserve while others have no savings at all. They hypothesize that the haves differ from the have-nots on seven factors: whether the organization is free-standing or part of a larger entity; the organizations age; budget size; whether the organization owns or rents its primary venue; the size of the board of directors; number of institutional donors; and proportion of revenues derived from donations. They conclude that the haves are larger organizations with large boards and a substantial number of institutional donors, factors that point to the value of budget size, network contacts and institutional legitimacy in the accumulation of investment capital.

Framed prints for art lovers, science kits for budding Einsteins, historically accurate reproductions for history buffs for unusual gifts that also give back to local cultural institutions, museum stores are the place to shop this holiday season.

On Sept. 22, 1999, New Yorks Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, strode into a press conference to publicly attack the Brooklyn Museums not-yet-opened show of Charles Saatchis collection of British artists. The Mayors threats ignited a firestorm of controversy that finally burned itself out six months later, when a settlement was reached in federal court that ended legal hostilities with the museums free speech rights affirmed and its funding saved, at least for the immediate future.

"Culture matters" - this has become more and more of a certainty in the development policy debate in recent years. Cultural values, beliefs and view points are key influences on political, economic and social development.
The publication "Culture is not a luxury" was released by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and is available for free at their website (publication section)

This paper will address the economic value of having photographic resources available in digital formats.