Entrepreneurship for the Creative and Cultural Industries

Bonita Kolb

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317697862
• Topic: Arte
• Subtopic: Arte y negocios

Artists, musicians, actors, singers, designers and other creative individuals need to understand basic business concepts if they are to successfully pursue their chosen artistic profession. These skills have historically not been taught to creative students, which leaves them unprepared to make a living from their artistic efforts. Entrepreneurship for the Creative and Cultural Industries will teach the basics of business in a way that is relevant to the challenges of running a small business marketing a creative product.

Whether it is understanding the basics of business language, appreciating the crucial importance of finance, or using social media marketing, this innovative textbook covers the entrepreneurial skills required to succeed in the creative sector. Including advice from artists who have turned their idea in to a profitable business and worksheets that can be combined into a simple business plan, Kolb helps non-business minded creatives to understand everything they need to succeed in the increasingly competitive creative economy.

This textbook is essential reading for non-business students who are looking to understand the business side of the creative sector whilst its practical style will also suit recent graduates in these industries

Part 1

Finding your entrepreneurial inspiration

This is where you start the journey; not with a musical instrument, or an artistic medium but with an idea. You are already creative – now you need to find how your creativity can earn you an income.

Chapter 1: Art, culture and entrepreneurship

Chapter 2: Making the dream a reality

Chapter 3: Researching competitors and customers

Well-matured and well-disciplined talent is always sure of a market, provided it exerts itself: but it must not cower at home and expect to be sought for.

Washington Irving, letter to Pierre Paris Irving, 1824

1 Art, culture and entrepreneurship

Introduction

Individual artists, creative industries and even cultural organizations have always been businesses, although not all have been successful at the pricing, marketing and distribution of what they produce. In fact some creative individuals reject the idea that art and culture should be considered a business, believing that they should be kept separate from the commercial world. However, art and culture has always been priced, distributed and promoted. In the past these activities were often undertaken by the promoter, agent or gallery that sold the work, rather than the creator. Today, communication technology allows creative individuals to promote and sell directly to potential customers. However, few creative individuals have been taught the skills to be successful business people as business involves more than creating a product.

The mission of this book is to teach an understanding of the fundamental skills of entrepreneurship so that creative individuals can successfully start their own businesses, run for-profit creative industries or manage nonprofit cultural organizations. By learning the skills of business, creative individuals can then spend more time on producing their art or cultural product as they are freed from the need to hold a second job to bring in income. In addition, if creative individuals working in nonprofits can increase the organization’s revenue, they can spend less time and effort on fundraising. These artist/business people who run their own small businesses focused on selling their artistic product or manage creative or cultural organizations are often referred to as creative entrepreneurs or sometimes simply creatives. To be successful, creative entrepreneurs must learn the various business structures and ownership models that can be used. Second, the unique features of creative entrepreneurial startups must be appreciated. Finally, the uses and components of a business plan must be understood.

---

What creatives have to say: Helena Vyvozilová

Helena doesn’t think of it as selling, but her company provides music groups and ensembles for any type of occasion. In addition, she also organizes events for clients: anything from team building to galas. Helena markets online but gets most of her new clients through personal recommendations. She prides herself on providing a service that is highly personalized. In terms of business skills, Helena wishes that earlier she had been:

• more patient as business builds over time;

• more proactive in raising funds;

• less idealistic, with more insight into cruel reality.

You can see Helena’s work at www.hmmanagement.cz.

---

Art and people

A first step in understanding the relationship between art, culture and business is to review how society’s view of art has changed. The common definition of art is that it is something that is produced by a professional artist solely for contemplation and not for use. However, this definition of art as an object that is the individual expression of an artist with no utilitarian function became accepted only in the eighteenth century (Staniszewski 1995). Prior to this time, art objects and performances were considered an expression of a society’s culture. The art created, rather than being focused only on the artist’s vision, was expected to be a visible production of a society’s values and beliefs.

As a result, the objects were produced not as art, even though they may now be considered art, but to meet specific human needs. These needs were pragmatic ones, such as creating pottery dishes for eating, but they also included spiritual needs, such as statues or music for worship. Both types of objects, those to meet pragmatic and those to meet spiritual needs, were created to express the values of the society’s culture. It was not considered necessary for the artist to incorporate a personal vision into the product.

In fact it is a modern invention to think of an individual’s inner vision as necessary to produce art. In earlier historical times, only technical skills were considered necessary to produce the object (Greffe 2002). The object might have been considered beautiful or meaningful by its users, but the first purpose was for it to be useful. Technical skill, not vision, was considered necessary to produce art.

During the Renaissance art was elevated above the level of a mechanical skill. However, the creation of art was still considered to be a skill that could be learned. It was not until the eighteenth century that vision and genius were added to technical skill as what was necessary for the production of art. While fine artists might have wished to gain technical skill so as to better create their vision, technical skills alone were not enough to be considered an artist. To be a true artist, vision was essential.

Valuing the art product – aesthetic, financial or both

Since individuals with artistic vision were rare, their creations, besides having aesthetic value as art, would have value as a scarce commodity. In the Middle Ages these rare objects were only affordable by royal courts and churches. However, with the rise of the market economy during the eighteenth century, merchants also had the wealth to purchase art. These merchants may have purchased art because they wished to enjoy the beauty of the object and the satisfaction of sharing in the artist’s unique vision. However, the value of art does not come only from the object itself, but it also results from the scarcity of the art object (Budd 1995). Merchants understood the value of a scarce commodity and also bought art because it would retain its value and could be resold at a profit.

Highbrow/Lowbrow: The distinction between art versus craft has been explained as art being the expression of the inner vision of the artist, while craft is made for the appreciation of someone else. However, craft can also be the result of an inner vision, even though the objects produced are also meant to be useful to the consumer. A means to understand the artificial division between those who decide the definition of art and the judgment of consumers can be seen in the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow culture that developed in the seventeenth century (Woodmansee 1994). Those in the upper classes were disappointed that, as more people had the money to pay for artistic objects or performances, they did not choose what was considered high art but instead spent their money on popular entertainment such as romantic novels and music hall performances. The upper classes believed that the choice not to attend high art must have been because of a lack of intelligence. If the public is not willing to pay for art, that is the fault of the public and not the art. Under this view, art that is popular with the public cannot be good (Gans 1997). Therefore people who enjoyed popular culture were considered less intelligent, hence the term, dumbing down, used to refer to the popularization of culture.

Traditionally, high art has been considered to communicate an inner truth that should be contemplated disinterestedly for its internal attributes, not for external aesthetics. Such high art was considered beyond the vulgar concept of price, although its purchase provided both intellectual and financial status to its owner. While the upper classes thought price consideration vulgar, many famous artists were very interested in earning money. The artists employed in Italy during the Renaissance were savvy businessmen. Even Shakespeare’s plays were written and produced for profit derived from ticket sales (Levine 1988). Theatrical companies wrote contracts, demanded fees that they thought were commensurate with their talent and would walk away if the commission was not satisfactory.

Value of Art: Art, therefore, has two values: its aesthetic value and its monetary value. Of course these two values can be combined in the purchase motivation of the customer. An individual can highly value the aesthetic value of a work of art and therefore be willing to pay an amount of money commensurate with this aesthetic value. Or an individual may buy a work of art simply for the monetary value. In this case, whether the individual believes the work of art has aesthetic value is unimportant as long as the artwork retains monetary value and can be resold at a future date at a profit. Of course an individual may believe the work has both aesthetic and monetary value. In this case the work will be bought both for enjoyment but also for resale if the need for cash arises.

Individuals who are buying art for personal enjoyment of its aesthetic appeal may make a purchase decision based solely on what they like. However, if individuals are also buying for its monetary value, as they may sell the art work in the future, they will most likely ask the advice of someone who is knowledgeable in the field, such as a dealer, gallery owner, agent or promoter.

Question to consider: How do I believe art and culture should be valued?

---

What do industry and artists have in common? They are both needed by designers.

The Rudy Art Class Studio, founded in 1897 and located in Pennsylvania in the United States, has artisan roots. However, it now does architectural glass fabrication for large projects. While it can meet the needs of these customers, it also wanted to serve small designers who needed a unique product. As a result, the Rudy Art Collective, consisting of metalworkers, glass makers and woodworkers, was formed. Now designers have a onestop shop where they can find creative products for their clients.

A disadvantage of belonging to the collective is that the individual artist does not have complete control of a project. However, the strength of the collective is that the members bring complementary skills and the artists can be inspired by the work of others. The most important benefit to the individual artist members in collaborating with a large industrial company as part of the collective is that they now have access to clients who previously would not have sought them out. While working for industry, members of the collective still consider themselves to be artists and have mounted shows of the collaborative work that has been completed.

As is explained on the collective’s Facebook page, “Rudy Collective combines artistry + industry. We are artists, craftsmen, and engineers who transform architectural concepts into artistic fabrication.”

Rudy Collective and Burkey 2013

---

Question to consider: Are there local industries that might find my creative talents useful in meeting their clients’ needs?

The business of art

Potential customers for art and culture are divided into a consumer market, where products are bought by individuals for personal use, and the business market, where products are bought by organizations to be either resold or used in the production of other products. In the consumer market for art, individuals purchase art for their own use, for display in their homes or to give as gifts. Marketing to the consumer marketplace stresses the personal benefits that will be received from ownership.

The business market for art includes organizations such as educational institutions, civic organizations and corporations that purchase art for display in public spaces or offices, or to add to collections. When marketing to businesses, rather than personal benefits, the quality and price of the artistic product are promoted.

Art intermediaries – between the creator and the purchaser

When organizations, such as galleries and dealers, purchase art for later resale to consumers, they are acting as intermediaries. The artist has a choice when selling a work of art of using an intermediary or selling the work directly to the consumer. Historically it was difficult for artists to sell directly to the consumer as they did not have the ability to easily promote and distribute their work. Since few people have the desire to purchase art, intermediaries were needed to locate potential customers and market the artist’s work. While the advantage of intermediaries is that they promote the art, the disadvantage is that they also take part of the profit.

It has been advances in communication technology and the ability to conduct electronic commerce that has made it easier for creatives to promote directly. Social networking sites increase the ability to promote directly to consumers by allowing two-way communication between the creative and the consumer about the features and benefits of the product. Advances in payment technology provide the ability to process monetary transactions from anyone, anywhere, allowing the creative entrepreneur to obtain payment without being physically present. As a result of communication and payment technology, artists can now act as their own intermediaries by creating online studios, promoting via social media and selling their work directly to consumers.

Creative entrepreneurs who create performance-based art, such as music, theatre and dance, also face the decision of whether to use intermediaries or to sell directly to consumers. A performance intermediary is the agent who will book venues for a percentage of the revenue. If the concert is p...