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Looking ahead: challenges to the arts, culture, management and policy in the

next 20 years

David ThrosbyProfessor of Economics

Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Keynote presentation at closing session of the 11th AIMAC Conference organised by the University of Antwerp in collaboration with

the Antwerp Management School, 4-6 July 2011

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Outline

1. Context

2. Stakeholders• Artists• Cultural managers• Policy-makers

3. Conclusions: the role of research

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Context for the cultural and creative sector is provided by the growth of the global economy

• driven by new information and communication technologies

• facilitated by neoliberal economic ideology which holds that: free markets allocate resources most

efficiently power should be transferred from public to

private interests

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Is there an irreducible minimum size for the nation-state?

• the state as the locus for collective action on

provision of public goods

redistribution / equity

• the state as rallying point for cultural identity

identity is still tied to cultural traditions (eg. language) that are inadequately represented by private institutions

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The changing nature of arts practice

• artists as SMEs, not employees

• portfolio career patterns

• diversification of revenue sources

• deployment of creative skills in other industries

• implication for arts education and training

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Cultural managers

• there is a narrowing gap between for-profit and not-for-profit management

• new technologies driving search for new business models

convergence changing patterns of consumption rise of social media

• Illustrations museums and galleries performing arts publishing media

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• financial sustainability

• sustainability of the cultural mission

The bottom line for cultural organisations

This can be represented as finding a balance between generation of

•economic value

•cultural value

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• realistic assessment needed of the creative sector’s contribution to growth, employment, etc.

• balancing traditional artistic and cultural role with new instrumentalism

• need for a valid conceptual framework for cultural industries

Policy-makers: coming to terms with the creative economy

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Core creative arts

LiteratureMusicPerforming artsVisual arts

Other core cultural industries

FilmMuseums, galleries, librariesPhotography

Wider cultural industries

Heritage services Publishing and print mediaTelevision and radioSound recordingVideo and computer games

Related industries

AdvertisingArchitectureDesignFashion

The concentric circles model of the cultural industries

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Re-thinking cultural policy

• comprehend the economic benefits (market and non-market) of the arts and culture;

• recognise the fundamental importance of cultural value as a component of the public value created by the cultural sector;

• foster a positive climate for private sector engagement with the arts;

• promote cultural policy as a core government function involving a wide range of ministries including culture, heritage, education, social welfare, trade, urban and regional development, etc.

An effective cultural policy will

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Further reading

David Throsby,The Economics of Cultural Policy, Cambridge University Press 2010

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Conclusion: the role of researchers and the need for multiple voices

• in the academic world

• in NGOs

• in private consulting

• in government