IJAM Volume 7 Number 1 (PDF)

EDITOR’S NOTE

By pure coincidence, the manuscript submissions for this issue of IJAM have conspired to result in an all-marketing issue. A common thread running through several of the articles concerns the need for arts and cultural organizations to increase their revenues or diversify their revenue sources. To do so, these organizations need to understand consumers better, to think strategically and to consider taking a different approach to their dealings with sponsors by treating them as long-term business relationships.

Event sponsorship and patronage in general are common practices in North America, Australia and Japan. In Canada, Australia and the United States, revenue from the private sector represents, respectively, 15%, 25% and 40% of overall revenue. This tradition is much less pronounced in Europe. However, within the context of the European Union, perhaps due to the added pressure this alliance places on national governments to balance their spending, EU member states are increasingly encouraging cultural organizations to appeal to the generosity of the private sector. This is notably the case in Germany, which has been forced to invest considerable effort in integrating the less well-performing economy of the former East Germany.

Managers and artists on all continents share an obvious concern about the possibility of sponsors interfering with or attempting to influence artistic choices. While this danger is very real, experience has shown that such cases are isolated. As McNicholas points out, sponsorship should be regarded as a business relationship between the arts organization and the sponsor. The former can always refuse a contract if the sponsor demands a say in artistic decisions or attempts to exert undue influence.

François Colbert
Editor