In 2001 RAND released a report on performing arts in the U.S., Performing Arts in a New Era. The report predicted that it was going to be a difficult time for performing arts organizations for the foreseeable future. Almost a year later, Frances Phillips, in Grantmakers in the Arts Reader, examines the prediction by comparing it to recently published field reports from different performing arts disciplines: Dancing with Dollars in the Millennium, a ten-year study of trends in dance published by Dance/USA in Dance Magazine in April 2001; TheaterFacts, the annual fiscal survey published by Theater Communications Group (TCG) and Reaffirming the Tradition of the New, a report on five regional round table sessions on the future of the National Performance Network (NPN). Phillips identified eight elements in Performing Arts in a New Era and examined them in light of the findings in the other three reports. Following are the eight Performing Arts statements (in bold) and her findings in the other reports.

The Danish Ministry of Culture has allocated NyX DDK 3 million to create and maintain a network between art, art institutions and business - NyX will get the arts and business to play together.

By Monika Mokre

The topic of this paper is the question how arts managers can apply the results of cultural economics to their work. The usefulness of cultural economics shall be tried on two main questions of arts management:

-How to raise money for projects, and

-how to spend it economically and reasonably.

The second question is discussed using the Rational-Choice-Theory and Baumols Cost-Disease-Model. To answer the first question income and price elasticities of the arts are explained.

The author comes to the result that very few results of cultural economics can directly be applied to arts management. Nevertheless, many considerations of cultural economics are worthwhile to look at for people working in arts management, as they clearly describe the conditions under which arts institutions are working.

Contributed by Crispin Raymond, Arts Council of England


When Crispin first started to write Essential Theatre his task, or so he thought, was to update what he had advocated in Clear Sightlines, a book which was much read and valued by those involved in touring. Life is never that simple, however. In the past two years much has changed on the touring circuit and, while it is true to say that the arts never stand still, the pace of change has been phenomenal and not just because of the appearance of National Lottery funds. As a result, Crispins update has evolved into a more complex undertaking. Essential Theatre offers an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of all aspects of presenting theatre management today.

Diese sog. "Creative Industries" sind alles andere als Industriebetriebe im herkömmlichen Sinne. Vielmehr geht um unzählige Klein- und Kleinstunternehmen - zumeist sogar Einzelkämpfer - die in Summe einen enorm großen und enorm heterogenen Tätigkeitssektor ergeben.

Geprägt ist dieser Sektor von Menschen, die für das normale Geschäftsleben zu künstlerisch und im tradierten Bild des Kunstschaffenden zu wirtschaftlich agieren. Sie sitzen sprichwörtlich zwischen den Stühlen. Bei den Kollegen aus der etablierten Wirtschaft gelten sie oft genug als Spinner, die gute Ideen und wenig Geld haben.

Versucht nicht jeder Theatermanager, etwas out of the box zu erreichen? Eine echte Innovation an den Markt zu bringen? Den Produzenten des Broadway-Erfolgsmusicals The Producer mit Mel Brooks ist jedenfalls ein solcher Coup gelungen. Am 27. Oktober kündigten sie an, zukünftig für jede Show ein Kontingent von fünfzig Last Minute-Karten zum stolzen Preis von $480 (in Worten: vierhundertachtzig) anzubieten. Diese Idee jedenfalls kam direkt aus der Box, der Ticketbox. Das Management erwartet - trotz der $150, die von jedem Ticket für Mayor Giulianis Twin Tower Fund abgehen - wöchentliche Mehreinnahmen in Höhe von $120,000. Hintergrund der Entscheidung, auf die sowohl mit unverhohlenem Neid als auch heftigster Ablehnung reagiert wurde, sind die sogenannten scalper, die Schwarzmarkt-Verkäufer. Solche ticket broker haben bereits (zum Teil auch illegal) The Producer-Karten für $800 verkauft. Die Entscheidung des Management ist ein erstaunlicher Schritt. Copy cats sind vorprogrammiert, sollte dieser Versuch, der darauf setzt, Marktkräfte auch beim Ticketverkauf wirken zu lassen, erfolgreich sein. Und damit wird allgemein gerechnet.

Ein Rückblick auf die Konferenz von unserer Korrespondentin Julia Glesner, Mainz

The rather playful title of this workshop suggests the reluctance - bordering on resistance - of some educators to take advantage of the World Wide Web as a pedagogical support tool for their coursework. Once people stop viewing the Web and the opportunities it offers as an end in itself but rather see it as a means to an end, namely the use of the Web to enhance, expand and enlarge the learning process, this reluctance usually diminishes significantly.

Of course, a large of number of people have taken the leap to embrace information technology as a curricular or co-curricular tool with varying levels of success. In my opinion, the level of success most people have experienced is directly proportional to the level and rigor of planning and research that preceded creation and implementation of Web-based tools. Simply put: the more a person understands a tool and its capacities, and thinks strategically and thoroughly about how that tool can be of service, the more successful that person will be with that tool.

An article by Prof. Peter Bendixen, published in: The International Journal of Cultural Policy. Vol. 4 No. 1/1997, pp. 21 - 46

Cultural tourism as a type of organized touring to visit sites of cultural heritage, to take part in a cultural event or an artistic performance is booming. A tour may be a short trip to take part in a performance, for instance a weekend in Edinburgh or Salzburg at the festivals.