Editorial

Bigger thinking for Smaller Cities: How arts and culture can tackle economic, social and democratic engagement challenges in smaller cities

An Invitation to Test Drive the Arts

Arts and Creative Industries: a historical overview and an Australian conversation

Shift in perspective: an arts and disability resource pack

Changing Room: Mobility of Non-Artistic Cultural Professionals in Europe

Right here, right now: taking co-production into the mainstream

Creative Economy and Culture in the Innovation Policy

Deep Value: A literature review of the role of effective relationships in public services

Fearless Journeys: innovation in five American Orchestras

Funding Culture, Managing the Risk: Proceedings of the Symposium held at UNESCO Paris, 16 and 17 April 2010

Improving efficiency in the culture and sport sector: Looking for new ways of delivering culture and sport services

Music Education in England: A Review for the Department of Education and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Next Gen. Transforming the UK into the world’s leading talent hub for the video games and visual effects industries

Writers in schools – sustaining the momentum

Workhubs: Smart Workspace for the low carbon economy

The Low Carbon Transition: Implications for the Creative and Interactive Industries

Northumberland’s creative hubs: Working together for a strategic, accessible arts experience to the people of Northumberland.

Of course opportunities arise at times of change. Creative Economy and Culture in the Innovation Policy tells how Finland plans to suppport the creative industries in the next five years and why. Part of their strategy is to ensure deeper and broader involvement of the sector with other industry areas and to include artists in policy development – not just cultural policy that is.

The innovation theme continues with Right here, right now: taking co-production into the mainstream. Linked to the UK Government’s Big Society policy agenda this report from NESTA sees an opportunity to rethink and reshape the relationship between citizens and the state. If we get it right, then co-production will help rebuild public services as equal and reciprocal partnerships between professionals and the people they serve. Clearly a role here for artsists if they are linked in and watching.

Improving efficiency in the culture and sport sector: Looking for new ways of delivering culture and sport services begins with these words: ‘Despite the financial situation the concept of the ‘big society’, launched by the Prime Minister in July 2010, provides even greater opportunities for culture and sport to be placed at the heart of the community agenda’. The report provides ideas and advice on how to embrace new delivery models and work in partnership with local community, voluntary groups and social enterprises.

Deep Value: A literature review of the role of effective relationships in public services makes clear that strong relationships are instrumental in achieving quality outcomes and value for money and discusses what the elements of an effective relationship are. Particularly useful, when thinking about co-production and improved efficiency.

Shift in perspective: an arts and disability resource pack published by Arts and Disability Ireland captures the learning from the Arts and Disability Networking Pilot, the Altered Images exhibition, and an audio description and captioning programme for theatre to share its practical application with artists and all who work in professional and community-based venues, galleries, theatres and related arts organisations. It tells us how the pilot enabled venue personnel, artists and disabled and non-disabled audiences to engage with the visual arts in new ways, and raises challenging questions about the way we programme and present art in our gallery spaces.

Two reports focus on the arts in schools: Music Education in England: A Review for the Department of Education and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Writers in schools – sustaining the momentum both asses impact and make recommendations for refining and improving the delivery of music and creative writing to schoolchildren.

From Australia comes Arts and Creative Industries: a historical overview and an Australian conversation. This takes a close look at the relationship between the arts (those publicly funded activities and institutions such as galleries and concert halls, symphonies and literature) and the creative industries. Based on conversations with artists, it concludes by asking: should the arts be approached purely in terms of state subsidy? And if the creative industries are central to contemporary culture, how should they be supported to enhance this cultural contribution? A great read and particularly relevant to policy makers.

We also look at artists mobility (Changing Room: Mobility of Non-Artistic Cultural Professionals in Europe) and find out about an online mobility toolkit. On to the UK video games industry and we find we have a skills problem.  Next Gen. Transforming the UK into the world’s leading talent hub for the video games and visual effects industries says how and why and makes proposals that could rescue the UK’s cutting edge form.  An Invitation to Test Drive the Arts is an account of how four New Zealand arts companies fared when they introduced incentive schemes to attract new audiences.

This is a taste – there’s more in Issue 55. Hopefully your curiosity will have been sufficiently aroused to make you want to download it from our website!

Judy Seymour

Editor

I think the recent report of research from Finland (Creative Economy and Culture in the Innovation Policy, in this issue) is a must-read for those tasked with mentoring and guiding new entrants to the cultural sector and for those shaping public policies. It’s unusual to link these two audiences together but this issue says often and loud that we should be thinking across traditional boundaries.

The Finnish report chimes with much of the thinking in Mark Robinson’s recent publication: Making Adaptive Resilience Real, (Issue 52), recent work by Mission Models Money and Creative Clusters and Innovation (Issue 54). We need to make sure we have the bigger picture, and that we’re able to incorporate horizon scanning into our organisation’s planning processes for instance; this helps us adapt to change and out of this, comes innovation: innovation is what makes successful economies. To innovate, we have to be able to cross ‘every imaginable boundary’ to make connections with others, other cultures, other sectors; the ability to network to do together what we can’t do on our own.

Another important theme is that creative industries need to be embedded in the wider economy – our workforce needs to network with other industry sectors more and our policy makers need to include our people in the design of policy – not only cultural policy. Too often we think, we are invited to take part only once the decisions have been made.

On BBC Radio 4 this morning (it being International Women’s Day), Jenny Murray, Women’s Hour presenter par excellence, introduced an item about women entrepreneurs. Why, she asked, is it that of the footsie top 100 companies, only three are led by women? Her panel of experts, successful women entrepeneurs answered without pause: women are not successful at networking. There are many reasons, but what can be done? We shouldn’t underestimate how lack of confidence keeps us networking within our comfort zones, not necessarily where innovative ideas are going to come from since we tend to congregate with like minded people. So mentors might help, for instance, by buddying up to go across boundaries.

In this issue we touch on recent research into the theory and challenges of co-production – prompted by the UK government priority to create ‘the Big Society. I see connections with the video games and music industries where fans become co-producers, and with community development practice where professionals work with residents to tackle social issues. The knowledge we need is often ‘locked up’ in other sectors (hence back to networking again). And to put it all together, we need to learn the skills of collaborative working – see Mission Models Money (the People Theme) in Issue 51.

So, we know what to do!

As you know, this is the last issue of the Digest.  We’ve been scanning our horizon and whilst whistfully contemplating our demise, we are also celebrating the rich tapestry of networked information resources that have come on-stream in recent times. Our own archive will take up home at the British Library @ www.webarchive.org.uk on July 1st – you’ll be able to visit us there.

I can think of no better way to conclude than by quoting from The Low Carbon Transition – a report you’ll find in this issue: ‘The work of the Creative and Interactive industries is about increasing the wealth of human and social capital through its ability to nourish and inspire the human mind, soul and spirit. We can work to help the general public understand a much richer, rounder view of what it means to be a person and what makes us happy’.

Best wishes from us all at the Digest.

Judy Seymour

Editor

In 2007 Creative New Zealand set up a pilot Test Drive the Arts scheme to run over one year. Their program supports the infrastructure set-up and human resourcing for four companies including Christchurch Symphony, The Court Theatre, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the Auckland Theatre Company to put a target of 5000 people through the Test Drive the Arts scheme. This case study provides an overview of the program with insights from Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra into some of the challenges, highlights and results to date from the pilot.
Test Drive the Arts is a scheme designed by Andrew McIntyre. It has been introducing new audiences to the arts in Britain – and now in New Zealand.
A key finding in Creative New Zealand research, published in ‘New Zealanders and the arts: attitudes, attendance and participation’ in 2005, shows that 84% of “low attendees” (people who seldom go to an arts event) are interested in the arts even though they don’t go much.

This finding was the trigger that prompted Creative New Zealand to invite Andrew McIntyre to New Zealand in late 2006 and present the Test Drive the Arts scheme to arts marketers. Subsequently, Creative New Zealand set up a pilot Test Drive the Arts scheme to run over one year. It invited its recurrently funded organisations (arts organisations funded on an annual or multi-year basis) to apply for seed funding to undertake the pilot. The funding was to support infrastructure set-up and human resourcing. The overriding goal was to put 5000 people through the Test Drive the Arts scheme. Four companies took part.

Box-office analysis of the four pilot companies showed that combined, they had 50,000 empty seats in 2006.

How the scheme works
Although each company’s approach varies to suit the particular requirements of its artform and the local population, there are three essential elements each project shares.

1. It introduces people to something in the arts (e.g. a concert or a play) for the first time.
2. It provides an incentive (e.g. complimentary tickets, discounted tickets, value-adds such as free drinks) for people to participate in an arts event.
3. There are planned follow-ups (e.g. e-communications and special offers) to encourage test drivers to become long-term audience members.

Success factors:

Attract as many people as possible to the first offer. For example, non-attenders are given two complimentary tickets. Once they’ve attended the concert and filled out a feedback form, this is followed up with a second offer (e.g. discounted tickets). In the third offer, they pay the full price of the tickets but they are value-added (e.g. two complimentary glasses of wine, the opportunity to meet the musicians after the performance). In the final offer, they are invited to become a season’s ticket holder or subscriber with a special subscription offer. By the end of the season, these new audience members may have become loyal and frequent attenders.

Make the arts experience as non-threatening as possible for participants: for example, by sending them information sheets about where to park and eat, what to do when you get to the theatre and why you need to turn off your cell phones.  Even more importantly, the product being offered to test drivers needs to be accessible.

It’s also important to give test drivers the best possible seats. Their first impressions are key to them returning. There’s no shortage of people wanting to take the arts for a test drive. They’re on every street corner and at every bus stop. Ninety per cent of people offered complimentary tickets say ‘yes’ and turn up to the show. That’s the easy part. What you need to do is focus your efforts on retaining these people as committed audience members.

The case studies: Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

The two Auckland companies shared database information and human resources to develop and implement their projects using in-house box offices as opposed to their standard practice of using a ticketing agency. This assisted them to collect data more easily and enabled them to waive barriers for first-time attenders such as booking fees. “The biggest benefit of the partnership was having to make the time to talk to others in the industry and bounce ideas off them. When the take-up of the second offer was lower than expected for both of us, it was great to be able to discuss what we were doing and change tactics. It was also valuable talking to someone from another artform with different demographics and programming.”

Auckland Theatre Company
Feedback from Test drivers provides the rationale for continuation. Of the 155 who took part, 43.2% re-attended and when asked whether ATC should continue to introduce new people to its shows via its Test Drive the Arts programme all but three of the 155 respondents (98.1%) said “Yes”.

What was learned
Contact with a real person at ATC broke the ice for test drivers and set the relationship on a good footing.
Test drivers need three to five weeks’ notice of an upcoming offer.
Giving a choice of offers (two is optimum) at offer two will help you recruit more people.
Putting a deadline on the offer will increase response rates.
Early investment in email and electronic surveying equipment saves a lot of time.
Some test drivers will become independent theatre-goers after the first experience, opting to buy their own tickets from the box office.
Test Drive the Arts looks to the future, using today’s spare capacity to secure tomorrow’s audiences.

Keep offers straightforward

Auckland Philharmonia

What was learned
Factor the scheme into programming so that accessible concerts are placed strategically to maintain interest for test drivers at each of the offers.

Set up an information booth at any of the concerts attended by test drivers. As well as having somewhere to go and ask questions before the concert, attenders also approached the booth after the concert to say thanks. “People really liked putting a face to a name and showing their appreciation. It’s just one of the personal touches that make them feel welcome and valued.”

Phone calls are important for reminding people: “most of the bookings for offer two came in after the reminder phone calls so they are certainly worth doing.”

The most important benefit of the pilot is the long-term goodwill and positive public perception of the APO. “Going on people’s comments, word about our concerts has been spreading like wildfire.”

Top tips from the pilot scheme

Be time-savvy: drop non-responsive participants after two attempts to engage them, get test drivers to update their contact details before mail outs and use e-tools to increase efficiency.
Be flexible: it’s important to reduce barriers (e.g. no booking fees, a choice of shows and dates).
Market your scheme to sectors that you don’t already market to because you are much more likely to reach non-attenders.
Don’t overload people with information: keep it simple, succinct and user-friendly.
Don’t give away seats you can sell.
Get buy-in from the whole organisation by talking to them about Test Drive the Arts, asking them for their support and knowledge, and sharing your findings with them.
Be patient: make a long-term commitment to using the scheme in your marketing mix and don’t expect to see immediate returns. It could take between three to five years before you get the results you’re really looking for.
Use phone calls as a way to communicate: it provides a personal touch and helps you learn more about your Test Drive audience.
Factor Test Drive the Arts into the year’s artistic programme so you can offer test drivers appropriate and appealing events at each stage.
Build a steady, modest scheme that’s manageable. But keep doing it, and keep refining and looking at ways to improve it.
Remember that the bigger your initial group, the better the overall results. It’s like sifting sand for a few nuggets of gold. Once fixed costs are taken into account, the extra work required to add additional test drivers is negligible.

Available from
www.creativenz.govt.nz

Summary
This report began in June 2009 with a series of interviews with Australian artists and intermediaries from across the arts practice and policy worlds. Participants were asked what they thought about the similarities, differences and connections between the arts and creative industries. Initial responses by participants were based on the understanding that ‘the arts’ were those publicly funded activities and institutions such as galleries and concert halls, symphonies and literature. Quickly however this moved onto the more pointed issues of what is art and why the debate had to be more than just ‘the arts’. Popular culture and creative industries were also about art, and about culture. Maybe there was a spectrum – art at one end, commerce at the other. But did that mean those outside the arts were less creative or less cultural? And if not, why does so much public support for culture go on ‘the arts’; surely other kinds of culture were just as, or even more, creative, contemporary, forward thinking and exciting? Finally, what did ‘support’ mean beyond just subsidy of some kind.

The interviews frequently resulted in fascinating discussions on art, culture, creativity and policy. However, the fundamental question remained of what we meant by ‘art’ and ‘creative industries’. All the interviewees were high achievers in their fields and had much to say about the goals and operations of their businesses or projects. How all these different businesses and projects, values and aspirations, techniques and products fit together under the policy terminology associated with ‘the arts’ and ‘creative industries’ is the real subject of this report.

To address this question we provide an historical approach to understanding the connections between the arts and creative industries. This report suggests that the current idea and practice of ‘art’ emerged at a particular moment in European history, during the rise of capitalism and modernity from the late 18th century. Aesthetics emerged as a particular humanistic ‘science’ charged with understanding this new set of art practices and ideas. The report traces some of the transformations and debates surrounding this idea. The focus is on issues of culture and economy, but these cannot be isolated from wider issues of state and society.

The main argument is that ‘art’ as an idea, as a set of practices, as a set of experiences, cannot be restricted to what is now known as ‘the arts’. ‘Art’, as with other phenomena of modernity, is a mobile term which constantly transgresses boundaries and undermines fixed oppositions. In particular, we try to show how that old opposition of art and popular culture – with its associated binaries of ideal/commerce, public/market, high/low – has always been contested and is now mostly threadbare. This has great consequences for cultural policy in general and arts policy in particular. But if the term ‘art’ can be extended into popular culture then arts and cultural policy have a legitimate stake in policy-making for the creative industries. These industries consequently have more than purely economic importance and their working context is saturated by cultural as well as business considerations. This poses a challenge for existing public policy.

Arts and creative industries
Since the creative industries initiative was launched in Britain in 1998, the relationships between the arts and the newly defined creative industries have been subject of much debate. Out of many questions, two issues in particular stood out.

First, did all these players hang together as a sector? Were industrial designers or computer game companies working in the same sector as record labels, advertisers or TV companies?

Second, what was the value of these sectors for policy-makers? If this value was primarily economic, as it appeared to be, then the question of ‘arts and culture’ became tricky. The traditional justification for arts support had been their ‘intrinsic’ or ‘non-instrumental’ value and their traditional policy instrument was public subsidy. Should there then be a clear separation between publicly subsidised ‘art and culture’ and commercially oriented creative industries under the economic purview of industry development policy?
There were four problems with separating arts and creative industries.
a) Arts as inputs into creative industries

The evidence from many sources and disciplines suggested that the arts had a range of inputs into the creative industries. They were generating new ideas; acting as a kind of R&D; they contributed to a general creativity; they provided an institutional infrastructure for new ideas and experimentation; they contributed key skills to the creative workforce; they attracted creative workers to particular locales and enhanced the creative atmosphere of place, and so on. These different ways of understanding the ‘input’ of the arts need much more clarification, and this is a key purpose of this report. We do however suggest that the ‘separate spheres’ policy model is not adequate.

b) Creative industries and common culture
Creative industries contributed enormously to our common culture; it is inconceivable to have a contemporary cultural policy that does not take into account the central role of commercial culture within our everyday lives. The newer ‘creative industries’ – not just new cultural forms, such as computer games, but new cultural means of creation and communication – have complicated but not removed this issue.

c) Creative workers
Many of those working in the arts and creative industries – including most of those interviewed in this report – see themselves as operating between these two spheres. They might work for one or the other across the course of a day or week, but equally their work, though never receiving public subsidy, might be described as ‘artistic’. Indeed, those working in commercial culture not only value ‘the arts’ but also see their own commercial activity as involving high levels of artistic or cultural purpose.

d) The arts are ‘big business’
Publicly subsidised culture turns over millions of dollars every month; it employs a vast range of people; it purchases and sells business services commercially; it involves extensive marketing and branding activity; it generates income through tickets and sponsorship. Certain areas of the arts – think of the international gallery circuit – outdo the major luxury brands in attracting the disposable income of the very rich. Cities invest millions in arts-led cultural makeovers. The arts are, or can be, big business.

All of these issues present challenges to contemporary policy makers. On the one hand, should the arts be approached purely in terms of state subsidy or are there other policy approaches better attuned to the commercial practices of the creative industries that could be beneficial to the arts? On the other hand, should the creative industries be approached in purely economic terms; if they are central to contemporary culture, how should they be supported to enhance this cultural contribution?

Available from
www.australiacouncil.gov.au

Introduction, The Arts and Disability Networking Pilot: A local development initiative, How to…promote a holistic approach to arts and disability at local level, Case Study One: Altered Images – an accessible exhibition, How to…organise and promote accessible exhibitions Case Study Two: Assisted performances at the Abbey Theatre, How to…organise and promote assisted performances, How to…shift perspectives on accessibility, How to…shift perspectives on people, spaces and communication, Useful contacts, Acknowledgements

Summary
This resource pack is the result of a partnership between the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI), Mayo County Council, the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and South Tipperary County Council. It grew out of the partner organisations’ work to develop innovative approaches in high quality contemporary arts and disability practice, and to make arts venues more accessible to artists and audiences with disabilities. The material is based on three specific initiatives: the Arts and Disability Networking Pilot, the Altered Images exhibition, and an audio description and captioning programme for theatre. The resource pack aims to capture the learning from these initiatives and share its practical application with artists and all who work in professional and community-based venues, galleries, theatres and related arts organisations.

The approaches described in this pack are also based on the social model of disability, which understands that ‘it is society that disables people with impairments, by the way in which it is organised and by the conventions and priorities it displays.

For example, many buildings are inaccessible to people with impaired mobility, but this results from specific conventions and traditions in building design rather than being an inevitable consequence of mobility impairment.

The first initiative described is the Arts and Disability Networking Pilot (ADNP). In 2008, the Arts Council, ADI and Mayo County Council came together to pilot a new model of developing local capacity in the area of arts and disability. In brief, the ADNP model offered training and support to artists and venue personnel based in Mayo as a means of extending the scope of arts and disability practice in the county. It also promoted the presentation of high quality, professional arts and disability work in local venues. During the pilot, the partners developed a set of guiding principles that are included in this pack as a resource for other local development initiatives.

The second initiative was Altered Images, an exhibition which explored issues around improving access to the visual arts. It was developed in partnership by Mayo County Council, South Tipperary County Council and IMMA. Case Study One describes the partnership and the exhibition, and suggests how the knowledge acquired can be applied in practice.

The fact that the Altered Images exhibition took place in Mayo during the same period as the Arts and Disability Networking Pilot added significant value to the latter. It enabled venue personnel, artists and disabled and non-disabled audiences to engage with the visual arts in new ways, and raised challenging questions about the way we programme and present art in our gallery spaces.

The third initiative was the development of audio described and captioned theatre performances.

Case Study Two describes ADI’s partnership with the Abbey Theatre. Their work in developing audio description and captioning for performances increased awareness of audience needs and helped to grow new audiences. Each of the three initiatives yielded specific resources, which are contained in this pack. They include practical advice on:

How to…promote a holistic approach to arts and disability at local level
How to…organise and promote accessible exhibitions
How to…organise and promote assisted performances

The concluding section contains advice on:

How to…shift perspectives on people, spaces and communication

The core elements of a local networking model:
1 local authorities, venues, individual artists, disability organisations and individual people with disabilities are key stakeholders in improving access and participation and extending artistic ambition in the area of arts and disability.
2 the optimal model for achieving meaningful advancement in arts and disability is one that connects and integrates all these stakeholders in developing practice at local level.

3 disability equality training is an effective way to bring people together on a county/regional basis to explore attitudes, consider access, discuss opportunities and explore a broad range of arts and disability work including professional contemporary arts and disability practice.

4 providing tailored support to enable venues to conduct access audits and individual artists to extend their practice is an important way to build capacity for the future.

5 programming high-quality contemporary arts work in local venues and developing continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for disabled and non-disabled artists are effective ways of extending ambition in the area of arts and disability.

6 it is important to look at contemporary arts and disability practice in other countries as a means of continuously challenging and extending practice in Ireland.

Available from
www.artscouncil.ie

Summary
Changing Room was one of four pilot mobility projects selected by the EC in 2008 following a call for proposals to support, on an experimental basis, the mobility of cultural workers in the cultural sector through networks of existing structures supporting mobility, with a view to exploring ways of improving the overall environment for mobility at EU level and feeding into future policy and programme developments.

Trans Europe Halles (TEH) and its co-organisers, Melkweg, Amsterdam and Sibelius Academy, Helsinki managed Changing Room, working together with twenty-five TEH partner members from across Europe.

The target group for Changing Room was non-artistic cultural professionals (NACP’s), from young volunteers to leaders of cultural organizations. This is the group of cultural workers who facilitate the production of art, support and development of artists and manage arts buildings. Few, if any mobility projects or studies had previously focused on this specific group. NACP’s means cultural leaders, managers, producers, programmers, curators, technicians, administrators, and those working in marketing, finance and catering.

At its core, Changing Room aimed to test, study and evaluate a staff exchange programme within TEH. As well as the staff exchange, Changing Room included a professional development programme, this study by the Sibelius Academy and an on-line mobility toolkit.

By combining both theory and practice in Changing Room, its results were intended to produce information that could assist in informing the formulation of future mobility policies, projects and schemes.

The primary purpose of Changing Room was to identify the current issues and barriers to, and then the opportunities and possible solutions for, enhancing and increasing the mobility of NACP’s. Its key objectives were:
1. Stimulating and supporting independent cultural organizations to increase their commitment to the mobility of cultural professionals.
2. Facilitating and developing a cultural professionals mobility exchange programme to provide both workers and cultural employers increased knowledge and experience of the benefits of mobility.
3. Conducting an academic study to examine and identify the key factors which enhance mobility of cultural professionals, what could stimulate mobility, how best to evaluate it, what are its benefits and how best to raise its value.
4. Creating an on-line mobility toolkit for cultural professionals, students and organisations to increase assist and support mobility.
5. To contribute to a greater understanding of NACP’s mobility issues across the EU through the outcomes of training workshops, a cultural leaders retreat and by making mobility a key issue for debate within the Trans Europe Halles network during the two-year period of the project.
6. To create new, and develop existing partnerships, sharing combined knowledge and experience in order to produce innovative and long-lasting proposals for enhancing and increasing the mobility of NACP’s.

During the project’s Staff Exchange programme TEH members’ hosted and sent their NACP’s on exchanges at each other’s centres for periods of one week to one month. This “taste” of mobility was intended to stimulate longer-term exchanges and hopefully lead to an increase in the permanent engagements of workers from abroad by network members. But Changing Room also wanted to examine the barriers, differences and similarities in mobility issues between the projects participants. For example, is it easier for technicians compared to marketing staff to cross-borders? How important an issue is language in being mobile? Do NACP’s want to temporarily or permanently work in different countries? How different are management and financial systems and processes across Europe? Do cultural organisations seek to recruit staff from outside of their country?

This valuable study by the Sibelius Academy is a first step to answering some of these questions.
When it became clear that there was no existing research or data on the mobility of NACP’s, it was decided to focus the study around the staff exchange programme, through evaluating the experiences of the workers who were ‘exchanged’ together with those of the host and sending organisations.

The projects immediate results and conclusions (that can be found at the end of this report) have already informed the development of a three-year capacity building and professional development plan for TEH called Engine Room Europe. Planned to commence in 2011, Engine Room Europe will build on the knowledge, experience and “lessons learnt” from Changing Room with the aim of assisting in the development of a long-term, sustainable future for the European independent cultural sector through investment in its cultural workers and their creative processes.

Ways of Perceiving Mobility
Mobility as a term is understood to be part of a national or international co-operation, exchange or activity that has many features and forms. Mobility was seen in different ways such as “sending people to places and exchanging ideas, knowledge, networking” or as an “exchange of knowledge and experts”. Based on the focus group discussions five main forms of mobility are currently in place: (1) mobility of non-artistic cultural workers within centres, (2) of artists, (3) of non-artistic tenants and (4) of volunteers. In addition, we can also talk about (5) mobility of ideas.

TEH members think that mobility is an important area to address. It is believed that mobility can help develop staff members individually and centres collectively. When discussing mobility, representatives talked more about themselves or their staff going abroad rather than receiving mobility projects.  Awareness of being a host needs to be enhanced in order to develop successful mobility projects – experiences at the receiving end can be just as rewarding enabling hosts to see their centre in a new light.

Currently individual artists and artistic groups are internationally well connected, more so than non-artistic staff members of TEH centres. It would make a great difference if internationally connected artists would share their experiences with other tenants at their centres.

International exchange opportunities can serve professional development and a sense of commitment to one’s own centre very well. Technical staff members in particular were mentioned in this regard: providing them with a sense of international connections, and also receive visitors can in part serve as a very good motivational factor. There is a basic need for technicians to move from one centre to another to see people, to talk to each other, to do research. Good and committed technical staff can be hard to come by and their wellbeing is of crucial importance.

According to the respondents, an ideal length for exchange would be two weeks – this was supported by 40 % of the respondents.

Despite new ways of sharing information such as Facebook and LinkedIn, representatives argue that though these social media tools are useful they cannot possibly replace real-life shared experiences and cooperation between colleagues.

Each participating centre was asked to nominate a buddy for the exchangee. A buddy operates as a kind of liaison, the main contact for the exchangee before and during the exchange. The importance of looking for a suitable match between the exchangee and the buddy from within the organisation was underlined by the project management.

The participants felt that their home centre needed to be open to new ideas and suggestions realised during and after the exchange. Interest and enthusiasm had been recognised after the exchange and after informal conversations and formal presentations about the experience and suggestions had taken place. The problem of scarcity of time came up however. Even though the home centre might be interested, there is not necessarily time to really look into the experience and suggestions.

It was felt that exchanges benefitted the host and visitor equally if goals were clear. A handbook of the project and the hosting centre might help to prepare for the exchange and that this should be put together by the hosts themselves.

Features Discouraging Mobility
While discussing reasons that work against participation in mobility issues some key features arise. These are financial questions, time and division of labour, responsibilities back home, lack of information, visas, language and culture shock.

Recommendations
1. European Culture Networks should be supported to become the key facilitators and delivers of mobility programmes.
2. Programmes should be developed and support provided for short-term and long-term exchanges of NACP’s.
3. There should be increased opportunities and support for NACP’s trans-national Professional Development programmes.
4. Trans-national capacity building programmes for NACP’s should be delivered in partnership by European culture networks and culture organizations
5. Further discussions and a consensus are required on how, where and in what form mobility information should exist on the Internet and who should deliver and manage this resource.
6. In order to ensure sustainability, there should be a pre-planned strategy for utilizing the results and continuing to develop the successful programmes of EC future pilot projects.

Available from
www.labforculture.org/en/resources-for-research

Other related reports
Changing Room toolkit
http://changingroom.teh.net/

Summary
The creative economy is an important sector. According to the Culture Satellite Account, over 102,000 people worked in the cultural industries in 2006. This figure represented 4.19 per cent of Finland’s entire employed labour. According to Eurostat, the share of the cultural labour force of the entire labour force in Finland in 2005 was the third largest in the EU countries after Holland and Sweden. The added value to the national economy produced by the cultural industries was around EUR 4.6 billion (3.2%) in 2006.

The global economy has entered an innovation-led phase.

For companies, a capacity for constant innovation has become a prerequisite for competitiveness
and their most scarce resource is skilled workers and professionals, and creative, well-educated citizens. Although skilled workers and professionals are dispersed all over the flattening
world, the most likely locations where they are to be found are creative environments, world-class knowledge clusters.  In choosing locations for knowledge-intensive operations, the price of labour and the proximity of markets are not the only decisive factors.

Recent innovation studies have often arrived at the conclusion that innovations flourish in special interactive environments, or innovation ecosystems. In natural ecosystems, certain species flourish because they have optimal living conditions and the food chains are complete. The ecosystem metaphor stresses fruitful interaction between different factors and actors, as well as their interdependence. Being capable of self-regulation, an ecosystem does not need external guidance to be viable. According to Richard Florida, creative processes flourish in places which offer a comprehensive ecosystem that feeds and supports creativity and channels it into innovations, new companies and, ultimately, economic growth and a rising standard of living (Florida 2002).

There is a great variety of components that need to be present in innovation ecosystems notably:

World-class universities and research institutes produce new knowledge and educate skilled professionals for the needs of companies and society at large.
Organisations financing R&D and capital investors secure funding for product development and for the establishment and growth of knowledge-based companies.
Specialised business services support the start-up and success of companies (legal issues, marketing, management, realty services, design, business accelerators, etc.)
Sufficient supply of specialised labour, both accomplished intellects and capable hands, secures the establishment and growth of companies.
The international companies operating in the region help new companies with pulling force.

But these are not all the success factors in innovation ecology. The region itself and the culture prevailing there are crucial factors in an ecosystem. The dynamics of the innovation ecosystems are largely dependent on the attitude climate. For instance the Silicon Valley ecosystem is characterised by a very strong business culture encompassing creativity, risk-taking, work orientation and cooperative exchange. In a culture like this, entrepreneurship comes naturally. At the same time, the ecosystem supports business start-up and cooperation. Risk-taking also means the possibility of failure, but failure is always seen to promote the development of the ecosystem as a whole, and those failing are not left out in the cold. The innovation ecosystem in itself is a huge laboratory for testing new ideas.

Factors affecting competitiveness within the global economy:
Creativity and culture
Public services
Housing
Public space
Logistics.

The development of these dimensions should have two basic aims, namely the quality of life and entrepreneurship − the sources of contentment and prosperity.

1. A high quality of life, which is particularly influenced by culture, housing, the public
space and services;
2. Good prerequisites for business, which are particularly influenced by the innovation environment, public services, and traffic and communications.

The report examines these conditions in detail.

Since the competitiveness of companies increasingly rests on their innovativeness, the basic question in innovation policy is how to develop innovation environments which generate new business and towards which new business gravitates. Finding an answer to this question is the key challenge facing innovation policy in the years to come.

An innovation policy geared towards economic growth easily destroys nature capital (emissions, waste of non-renewable natural resources), intellectual capital (people burning out) and culture capital (polarisation of society, see Muutoksen Suomi, Hautamäki 2008).

Culture capital consists of the following:
values and attitudes
shared responsibility and communality
trust and cooperation
education and culture.

Culture capital is a vital precondition for networking, which in turn is absolutely crucial for innovation (open and public innovations, combinatoriness, and consumers).

A Ministry of Education report on creativity (OPM 2005) defines ‘creativity’, ‘innovation’, ‘culture’ and ‘creative industries’

Creativity is an ability to do or produce something new and surprising and is manifested for instance, in the form of new ideas, meanings, interpretations, practices and products.
Innovation is a new invention, product, service or action model of commercial or economic
significance. Innovations are developed from the level of ideas to practice within the economy or in society.
Culture is the soil for creativity and one of its manifestations. Broadly taken, culture is
a reality created by human beings with all its manifestations (culture vs. nature and biology).
Narrowly taken, culture refers to historically and regionally diverse cultures (mores,
means of production, beliefs, etc.). Thirdly, it is possible to speak of culture as the intellectual
sphere of society (ideas, values, etc.).
Creative industries refers to sectors of creative production. Creative production in turn
is exchange of cultural meanings.
Copyright constitutes the backbone of the creative economy. Creative economy is also called copyright economy.

We must differentiate “creativity culture” from culture in its narrow sense. Creativity culture involves developing society as a whole in terms of creativity and innovativeness. It is characterised by a wealth of ideas, openness and courage. These characteristics are central to both culture (incl. art) and innovation. Art and other sectors of culture are of the utmost importance for the enhancement of creativity culture and for innovation. Innovation and its paradigms in turn shape culture and influence the commercialisation of cultural output. Innovation and culture overlap to some extent: the creative industries – the creative economy – exist in the interface of culture and innovations.

It has been estimated that the creative industry will grow, which will expand the interface, and an ever greater part of innovations will be “culture-oriented” or contain a strong cultural component (e.g. design). When corporate innovation is examined from this point of view, culture is in the heart
of production. In a Finnish working group on the future of business, we analysed this change, seeing it as the “intellectualisation” of production, that is, the value of the cultural component will increase in relation to the material component.

Innovation processes

It has transpired that the central factor is the combinatoriness of innovations, in other words, that innovations are created through an amalgamation of different kinds of complementary knowledge and skills. This is why innovations entail a community in which people from different backgrounds work together. From this nature of innovation processes follows a need to find complementing knowledge and skills, which often are not found within the organisation. Therefore innovations are increasingly created through networks. A strong trend is work in open networks in which skilled professionals living in different parts of the world work together via information networks (so-called open and public innovations, see Hautamäki 2008). This kind of networked, open innovation entails an ability to combine various bits of information and understand different standpoints. Looking from this perspective, innovation processes take place dialogically in networked communities.

In the current view, innovation processes are open processes involving multiple parties.
They are seen to follow an open innovation paradigm, in which ideas and innovations are sold and bought on an “idea market”.

Strengthening the status of the creative economy in innovation policy

The challenges:
1. How to include the creative economy more robustly in innovation policy on the national
and international levels?
2. What are the roles of the public, private and third sectors in the linkage of the creative
economy and culture with innovation policy?
3. How to integrate knowledge of the creative economy and cultural actors into the core of
innovation policy?

A starting point is the significance of user and demand-led innovation – a major departure from the more traditional technology-based innovation policy. Here the consumer takes the central stage and the consumer’s experience of the product ultimately decides the demand for it. The consumer’s or user’s experience is not solely based on the technological properties of the product but on design in a large sense.

Policy solutions:

1. The promotion of user- and demand-led innovation will be taken as a key aim in all publicly funded innovation projects with emphasis on the participation of the creative industries.
2. New instruments will be adopted in the development of creative industry companies (incubators, venture capital, growth entrepreneurship and internationalisation; cf. cultural exportation). The traditional instruments designed to support technology companies have not worked very well in regard of culture-based companies.
3. Research projects will be undertaken to find out the underpinnings of user and demand – led innovation and especially the role of creative industries in the innovation process. We
know all too little about the role of users in product development and testing and how to
integrate the user’s knowledge and skills into innovation processes.
4. Measures will be taken to consolidate cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in the definition and implementation of innovation policy with a view to increasing the relative weight of culture and creative industries. The Ministry of Education has a great deal of knowledge that has not yet been fully used in innovation policy.
5. Local (urban area) forums will be created to put creative industries in touch with other industrial sectors. These forums can be organised by higher education institutions, technology parks, business incubators and local authorities, among others. The forums will help strengthen networking between companies operating in different branches of industry, which is a prerequisite for successful innovation.

In the definition of innovation policy, the voice of creative industry and culture representatives has not been very loud. In contrast, a large number of people working in creative industries contributed to the drafting of the creativity strategy. The knowledge of organisations in the culture sector could be used to a much larger extent in the planning of concrete measures.

Proposals:

1. The Ministry of Education will appoint a committee to explore measures which a) strengthen
innovation in the creative economy and b) enhance cooperation between the creative industries and other industrial sectors. The members should represent creative fields in higher education institutions, organisations, cultural institutions and the business sector.
2. A wide debate will be initiated to explore the place and role of copyright in innovation policy, based on the work of a copyright committee set up to devise guidelines for legislative work, assess the need to amend copyright legislation and prepare guidelines for the Ministry in view of social, economic, technological and international development.
3. Regional and local (even municipal) plans will be drawn up regarding ways to implement innovation strategy and to enhance local ecosystems. It is indispensable to anchor innovation policy into the local and regional levels. Innovations come about locally in local cooperation and therefore the development of innovation ecosystems is the only way to secure the impact of major innovation policy inputs.

Available from
www.minedu.fi
Other related reports
Creative Clusters and Innovation and Innovation
www.nesta.org.uk/publications/
Creative Industries in North West Europe: Mapping Innovation Opportunities
www.ecce-innovation.eu/

Summary

It is clear that strong relationships are instrumental in achieving quality outcomes and value for money. We need a better understanding of this ‘Deep Value.’(People of Influence, Council on Social Action, 2009)

Across the range of public services there is a striking degree of consistency in the evidence:

People using public services put great importance on the human relationship with the person providing the service.
The quality of relationships people have with others in all parts of their lives is an important determinant of happiness and well-being. The evidence for this is so compelling as to be referred to in the psychology literature as a ‘deep truth’.

An effective relationship with public service providers is a crucial factor in client satisfaction appearing repeatedly in studies of what people want from public services and in client feedback. Clients value this because they use services at times when they seek comfort. They may be angry, embarrassed, guilty or confused.

Alongside the professional competence of the service provider, people make direct links between the effectiveness of the relationship and securing a good outcome. This seems to be especially important where people have more complex and chronic needs and have lower levels of skills and confidence.

The role of relationships has started to be reflected in professional training and assessment, with health services developing particular expertise.

The elements of what make for effective relationships are strikingly similar across all areas studied in this review.

The elements of an effective relationship are:

Understanding: the service provider seeks to understand the needs and circumstances (economic, personal, emotional, cultural) of the person using services and treats people with dignity and respect demonstrating that they are ‘on their side.’ In return people using services acknowledge the pressures on service providers and their need to make judgements about good use of public funds.

Collaboration: there is trust, founded in part on demonstrable competence of the professional, both sides have confidence in each other, both are honest and achieve a position where agenda setting and decision making are shared.

Commitment: where both sides demonstrate dynamism and commitment and is thorough and well prepared for meetings.

Communication: where the service provider listens and opens new lines of questioning to draw out relevant deeper issues.

Empowerment: where relevant, an aim of public services should be to support people to change thinking and behaviour so as to cope differently with challenges in the future. This may involve challenge and confrontation but if the other elements of effective relationships are in place, the result can be powerful for the individual and cost effective for the public purse.

Time: having the time is important, but this is not open-ended. With the right skills and systems in place people can quickly put these elements of effective relationships in place. The effectiveness of relationships is therefore dependent on both parties taking responsibility. Delivering and securing good public services is something of a mutual endeavour and one in where the citizens’ relationship with the state is established. Using public services responsibly and effectively then can be seen as an act of good citizenship.

A critical issue bearing down on the relationship is the ability of a service provider to
balance the role of supporter with the role to challenge, to ration public resources and even to issue sanctions. Evidence reveals that even where people do not get the outcome they want from services, if the relationship has been effective they are more likely to accept the result.

Where relationships are effective, they contribute to achieving a range of valuable benefits:
the failure to realise these benefits can be damaging.

The relationship between the advisor and the client in employment services has consistently been found to be a key element of a successful approach to helping people into employment.

Pupils who develop positive relationships with teachers go on to achieve better academic results.

People who access advice services funded by civil legal aid are more likely to reveal full
information if the advisor builds a trusting and respectful relationship, thus leading to swifter resolution of cases, and clients who are more satisfied with the outcomes.

Patients who experience a good relationship with their healthcare professional are more likely to engage in positive behaviour change.

These outcomes are secured through a range of processes that work better when relationships are effective:

Information is gathered accurately ensuring that the problem or issue is correctly identified.

Needlessly expensive responses are avoided and correct responses are implemented more swiftly.
A fuller understanding is achieved of the issue being tackled and wider problems that may be contributing to it.

The correct action is identified and unnecessary action is avoided.

Both sides are more committed and motivated to achieving the outcome, taking responsibility and sticking to decisions and action plans.

The person using the service is more likely to accept the outcome, even if it is not the
one they wanted.

Immediate problems are addressed and prevented from escalating, helping to reduce
future demand and save future costs.

There is some evidence that clients experience a range of psychological benefits from a positive relationship in addition to the positive service outcome. Community Links will be undertaking further empirical research to explore this further.

The damaging consequences go further than simply not achieving the benefits above.

Public services miss opportunities to support people more effectively.
Poor relationships with people using services are a significant and measurable contributor to staff burnout. Securing these benefits and avoiding these consequences are particularly urgent for vulnerable people with the most complex problems.

There was a clear consensus in the literature about the types of working conditions and practices which were more conducive to building effective relationships. The conditions for establishing effective relationships are:

Front line autonomy: excessive focus on a set process, and on ‘output’ targets (as opposed to outcomes) restrict the ability of advisors to treat the client as an individual. Advisors who have autonomy over how they carry out their work can build better relationships.

Continuity and time: building an effective relationship requires time, and ensuring that a client sees the same person over the period in which they are interacting with a service helps to provide this time and establish a relationship.

Training and skills: clients will trust providers when they know that they are competent in their role.

Attitudes of the provider: professionals need to have an attitude towards their clients of trust and respect, and to be proactive in pursuing their case.

Separation between ‘policing’ and ‘supporting’: professionals may both ‘police’ the system and assist clients to access it. Situations in which there is a clear separation of these roles, or these roles are conducted by different people, may help to build the relationship of trust between the client and the professional in the ‘support’ role. Where this is not possible, the relationship with the provider assumes even more importance.

We conclude that the literature shows that effective relationships are not just a ‘nice to have’ but increase the likelihood of achieving a positive outcome across all of the sectors examined in this review. This conclusion has some clear implications:

Effective relationships are not an added extra but are core to the delivery of effective services. Increasing the effectiveness of relationships, therefore, is a lever for improving quality and performance. Effective relationships are much more important and complex than just offering ‘tea and sympathy.’

The effectiveness of relationships varies – this is not something that can be expected just to happen based on the skill and willingness of front-line public servants. Some types of planning systems and working practices are more conducive to developing effective relationships.

Acknowledging the important role of the relationship in securing outcomes has important implications for equity. For if good relationships require action from both sides, where people using services may have lower skills or self-confidence it is even more incumbent on service providers to ensure that the relationship is effective.

Policy makers therefore need to assess proposals to reform public services against their ability to preserve or improve these relationships. Policies that break the link between professionals and clients may undermine the potential for policies to achieve their desired aims.

Significant focus has been placed on what type of organisation is delivering services – public, private, or voluntary. We think that a better question to ask is what type of services they are delivering – and the type of relationships that they encourage. We found a lack of empirical evidence that choice, or personalisation (however defined), or co-production, was yet demonstrating that it could achieve above and beyond other models in terms of delivering these effective relationships. We think that this must be a key question asked of models of public service reform.

The next stage of this project aims to develop a set of tools for use by policy makers and professionals themselves to embed these qualities into everyday practice.

Available from
www.community-links.org/

Summary
American orchestras have long defied predictions of their imminent demise. They have consistently met difficult challenges with creative leadership, successfully managed their complex institutions, and developed new sources of revenue to sustain their business models. This problem-solving journey has taken the field in rich new directions in recent years as orchestras across the country have accelerated their efforts to test new approaches and explore unconventional ideas.

Orchestras arguably have never needed this new thinking more than they do today. Faced with continuing challenges to their operating models, they are working hard to keep the art alive as a vital component of American society. In 2006, the League of American Orchestras committed to help orchestras build their capacity for innovation, as part of a strategic plan that also called for driving research and development and fostering the exchange of ideas across the field. In 2008 the League initiated a study, made possible by MetLife Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, to explore and document promising innovation in American orchestras.

The purpose of this research was to understand the organizational enablers that underpin such innovation and stimulate the sharing of best practices across the industry. The League appointed a Steering Committee from the field to oversee the study and provide guidance to consultants.

Research Process
The principal investigator for the study was Dr. Lela Tepavac of Fit Leadership LLC. An organizational psychologist, Dr. Tepavac created a conceptual framework for the research based on a review of existing innovation literature, her knowledge of innovation models in other industries, and interviews with fifteen experts in the orchestra field. She developed a working definition of innovation in orchestras and identified initial innovation criteria.
Concurrently, the League administered a short survey to member orchestras, asking them to list and evaluate their innovative activities across a variety of areas. From among the 150 responses, the League and project Steering Committee selected five orchestras to participate in the innovation study.

Researchers visited all five orchestras in March and April 2009. Using the innovation model and data collection tools developed by Dr. Tepavac, they interviewed approximately 20 people from each orchestra, and a total of 94 people across the entire cohort. Included in these interviews were CEOs, music directors, board members, musicians, staff, external collaborators, consultants, and community stakeholders. The interview questions varied across participant groups, depending on their roles and responsibilities with regard to innovation activity within the organization.
Researchers used the interview process to document the emergence and implementation of innovation within the organization, critical success factors, impact, lessons learned, and future plans, along with orchestra history and context. They also conducted several focus groups with musicians, staff members, and community representatives.

The researchers then analysed the interview material using a specialized computer application for processing qualitative data. They created a case study framework to organize the vast amounts of information, and drafted case studies based on the qualitative data analysis. A member of the
Steering Committee served as the first reader for each case study. Once this initial process was complete, the orchestras reviewed final drafts for clarity and accuracy. The overall analysis, as well as the distillation of lessons learned from the five case studies, was a collaborative effort between the researchers and the League.

What Constitutes Innovation in an Orchestra?

Innovation in today’s orchestras is characterized by aggressive questioning of long-held orthodoxies and traditions and the emergence of new approaches to all aspects of the traditional orchestra model. According to Dr. Tepavac, innovation in orchestras refers to purpose-driven and context-based activities or processes that, following new pathways, transform the orchestra in ways that create sustainable value, inspire and engage internal and external constituents, and respond to the needs of current and future audiences.

There are many examples of extraordinary leadership and innovation among America’s orchestras. Fearless Journeys tells the stories of five of these orchestras and their quest for renewal through innovation. Their annual budgets range from $5 million to $95 million. Their characteristics, operating models, geographical settings, and cultural environments are as varied as their challenges. But one thing is constant among them: the fundamental belief that business as usual will not take them where they want to go.

Pacific Symphony operates in a fast-growing decentralized metropolitan area not far from Los Angeles, where Western classical music traditions are increasingly unfamiliar. In response, the orchestra developed new approaches to contextualizing music, making deep cultural connections with its community. Faced with financial challenges and widespread disaffection among its constituents, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra focused on a cross-constituent approach to building a collaborative organizational culture that eliminates silos and increases synergy. The opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall provided leverage for the Los Angeles Philharmonic to open its “high art” doors to a wider public, focusing on the powerful role of contemporary music and creative interdisciplinary projects.

Looking to link its identity to clear chamber orchestra values and to build its reputation as an ensemble of chamber musicians, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra changed its artistic leadership model, vesting decision-making power in musicians and replacing the music director with a rotating team of artistic partners. When the Memphis Symphony Orchestra lost its audience and revenue base, it came face to face with its growing irrelevance in a community that did not care whether the orchestra lived or died. Embracing a new mission of public citizenship, the orchestra began building artistically engaging community partnerships, using musicians’ artistic talents and leadership to serve community needs.

The experiences of these five orchestras demonstrate that an activity is truly innovative if it is:

Meaningful.
Does it have a purpose and objective? Does it illuminate an issue or suggest a novel approach? Does it address one of the key areas that affect the orchestra’s well-being, i.e. artistic product, community engagement, organizational capacity, etc.? Does it change fundamental assumptions and practice? Does it generate positive response from the audience? Does it generate enthusiasm among organizational constituents? Does it generate interest in the field?

Effective.
Does it solve the problem or answer the need it was designed to address? Does it stimulate creativity and increase capacity within the organization? Does it help attract top talent and facilitate access to resources (time, money, staff)? Does it focus on new prospects/ patrons who are not already committed to the art form? Does it keep traditional subscribers and patrons loyal and engaged? Does it produce revenue? Does it enhance audience demographics?

Sustainable.
Can the method or activity be replicated? Is it adaptable? Does it perpetuate a culture open to novel solutions and approaches? Does it build the infrastructure required to support innovative activity and process, including broad ownership among constituents? Does it provide a framework for evaluating impact and making decisions? Does it capture lessons learned and turn them into institutional knowledge that enhances skills and capabilities? Does it enable a cycle of continuing investment in innovative activity? Does it generate on-going support from the organization’s leadership and board?

What do innovative orchestras have in common?

The immediate impetus for change in all five orchestras studied was some form of crisis. Financial difficulties, leadership transitions, a poorly defined artistic identity, declining audiences, community apathy, and prolonged labour disputes are examples of conditions that inspired innovation in these orchestras. The changes developed organically, as a result of specific events, with all participants thinking through next steps and capturing the lessons learned along the way. Yet these innovations created far greater strategic and transformational impact than typical incremental efforts.

They were successful because they occurred at the right time in the life of the orchestra, because they emerged naturally from the context in which the orchestra was operating, and because they reflected consensus within the organization rather than being imposed arbitrarily. Solutions were individualized, and they made sense for the orchestra in its time and place.

In all the orchestras studied, innovation consistently was…

Inspired and led by a committed and courageous team of leaders.
Driven by an expansive vision that was well articulated and communicated internally and externally.

One thing is constant among them: the fundamental belief that business as usual will not take them where they want to go

Fuelled by an open artistic model.

In some cases, the open artistic model took form as a new way of making artistic decisions. In others it was a redefinition of what should be included in the orchestra’s standard programming. In still others it emerged as a new understanding of how artistic talents could be deployed differently. In every case, however, the key was that artistic issues were fuelling the discussions, and they were being examined in new and interesting ways.

Coordinated by someone filling an explicitly identified integrator role.

Having someone clearly responsible for keeping parallel activities on track and for managing the complex relationship dynamics of the work was critical to ensuring communication and maintaining momentum.

Based on a strong foundation of artistic excellence.

Technical performance and the quality of concerts are generally high throughout the industry, and the fear of compromising quality by changing conventional practices is deeply ingrained. But these five orchestras forged new ground. Liberated by the security of their artistic strength rather than constrained by the fear of losing it, these pioneers showed that innovation is indeed the friend of artistic excellence.

The stories of these five orchestras are meant to illuminate possibilities, inspire curiosity, raise questions, and provoke discussion both among orchestras and between orchestras, their communities, and stakeholders. Together they form an exciting new paradigm for American orchestras’ journey toward a more vital and vibrant future.
Catherine Maciariello
Editor

Available from
www.americanorchestras.org