Culture is big business. Examining cultural goods and services, the cultural industries, and the cultural aspects of organization and work, this innovative text offers a novel understanding of relations between the economic and the cultural.

The book shows how cultural products are produced, marketed and sold in an increasingly global economy. Individual chapters examine the emergence of truly global cultural products and the strategies of global cultural players such as Sony. They analyze how culture is circulated through the activities of the cultural intermediaries of design, marketing and advertising, and explore cultural production in practice through an examination of the contemporary fashion industry. The book also looks at why culture has become a crucial concern in business and organizations, and how the construction of particular corporate cultures has implications for the creation of identities which blur the boundaries between work and leisure.



Throughout, the book illustrates that contemporary cultural goods and services are inextricably bound up with economic processes of production, circulation and exchange, and shows how `economic' processes and practices are in an important sense `cultural' phenomena depending on meaning for their effects.



With unique coverage of a range of hotly debated topics, presented in an accessible form with questions, activities and selected readings, this book will be essential reading for lecturers and students in cultural studies and a range of related fields.



Production of Culture, Cultures of Production is one of a series of books developed by the Open University which aims to offer a comprehensive and innovative introduction to contemporary cultural studies. The series editor is Stuart Hall.



Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd; 1 edition (March 10, 1998)

In this book, a number of remarkable case studies from museums and galleries around the world give a fascinating insight into the planning, development and realization of a range of initiatives in diverse environments, highlighting the need for collaboration, commitment and strategic planning. Sponsored by the Tate Gallery, this easy-reference Manual provides invaluable advice and guidance for anyone involved in the creation, development and management of museums.

The first book that applies the full range of forprofit marketing principles to the not-for-profit, institutionally based performing arts. Outlines a clear process for defining an organization's mission, as well as for selecting, analyzing, and implementing relevant marketing initiatives.



Philip Kotler is Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management, Evanston, Illinois)

Hardcover: 560 pages

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (January 1997)

With increasing pressure on museums to be more commercial and more professional, those working in museums find that they need to know about marketing. In response to this need, Marketing the Museum is the first book to apply the concepts and principles of marketing to the museum world. Fiona McLean works out whether it is possible to define a "product" and "customer" when talking about museums. She also examines how these models need to be adapted if one is going to successfully attract more visitors to exhibitions. She guides the museum professional to the ways in which museums can overcome the numerous hurdles on the route to truly achieving a marketing orientation and gives practical guidelines to the specific ways in which marketing can be tailored to the needs of museums and become a useful as well as an acceptable part of today's museums in achieving their ultimate purpose in serving the community.


About the author

Fiona McLean is a lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the University of Stirling, Scotland, and has published widely on museum and heritage marketing. She was the director of a Leverhulme Trust funded project investigating the construction of identity at the Museum of Scotland.

Gallery and museum staff are aware that exhibitions can be materially diminished by the failure to acknowledge that there is an art to displaying art. The Art of Displaying Art takes the mystery out of successful exhibition design. It is an essential guide for gallery and museum personnel. Private collectors who own oils, graphics, drawings, and photographs will find this volume a valuable handbook for hanging art in their homes and offices. Professor Lawrence B. Smith, the author, taught display and exhibit design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, one of the few institutions of higher learning with a program in gallery and museum management. His book covers arranging the wall

- using a model of the space

- conservation concerns

- handling the work

- hanging hardware

- lighting

- labels

- captions

- cases, vitrines and cabinets

- and adapting alternative exhibition spaces.

It is complete with illustrations, sources, a bibliography, and an index.


Hardcover: 119 pages

Publisher: Consultant Press,; First edition (March 1, 1998)

This text addresses the business skills that are essential to those involved in the performing arts. With increasing emphasis on freelance and small-scale work in the arts, this book provides an introduction to areas such as marketing, finance and fundraising.

Historic house museums can be found in nearly every city in the United States and Canada. Despite their popularity, it is not uncommon to find museums that are in poor repair, their collections neglected and their staffs grossly overworked. Many are run by well-meaning and hard-working volunteers who have little or no professional training. Often they survive on shoestring budgets and are able to present only limited programs. Serving both as a hands-on guide and reference, this book examines these problems, offering practical advice and solutions which can be easily implemented. Its useful "lessons" include governance, where to find help, care of collections, conservation, security, and interpretation--all designed to increase the professionalism of the historic house museum.

Reviews


"Pulls together a range of information in a handy reference written specially for the nonprofessional house museum staff....Its candid language, extensive subject-specific bibliographies, and lists of additional resources provide a strong foundation on which staff can build a commitment to professional standards for the care and interpretation of historical resources."--Winterthur Portfolio

"This book is invaluable not only to curators of house museums but also for all owners of old houses."--Preservation Notes Newsletter

Further Links

http://www.preservationdirectory.com

Table of Content

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

I. Museums and Money: Understanding the Effects of External Forces on Cultural Organizations

II. From Philanthropy to Funding: Changes in Museum Patronage

III. Pictures at an Exhibition: The Impact of Funding

IV. From Scholarship to Management: Changes in Museums as Organizations

V. Conclusion: Museums and Mammon?

References

Methodological Appendix

Index


Reviews

You can guess the fun a sociologist might have if turned loose in the museum world. Be warned - analyzing motivation and money is tricky business, especially with non-profits. Museums & Money is an interesting overview of art museum exhibit funding from 1960 1986, but only some of its conclusions survive into the 21st century.

Sociologist Victoria Alexander devoured enormous amounts of information in sociological studies of organizations, and in annual reports from 36 American art museums. She carefully coded information on exhibit topic, format, funder type, stakeholder and frequency, searching for patterns in exhibit funding at art museums. The difficulty interpreting this book is not in the math, but in determining if differences between her discoveries and todays funding environment come from the books age (published in 1996), the highly individualistic experiences of museums, or a bias for wounded curators.

Her research demonstrates that from 1960 through 1966, exhibit support came primarily from wealthy individuals. From 1966 on, the donor matrix began to include organizational givers, developing by 1974 into a mosaic of individuals, corporations, foundations and governments. Thats clearly todays experience.


Alexanders demonstration that types of donors exhibit patterns in funding, but in format, not content, is interesting. For example, as corporate and government funding becomes more prevalent, so do traveling exhibits. Scholarly formats increase with government and foundation funding along the timeline. Her research indicates that organizational donor interests may overlap, but not usually with individuals funding interests. Not coincidentally the decrease in single-collector exhibits matches the decreased influence of individual philanthropists over the study period.


There is a significant increase in the number of museum exhibitions during the study, with the average doubling to 17 annually by 1986. In that larger pool of exhibits, Alexander writes, the frequency of externally funded exhibits increases while internally funded ones decrease comparatively. There is no information to explain the cause, yet somehow she concludes that, because museums self-fund exhibits of more esoteric art, past and present, these and other unfunded exhibitions represent true curator desires.curators most likely value exhibitions that are internally funded (they would not be mounted otherwise)... . Somebody values the exhibition, curator or not. I believe Alexander underestimates the talent and professionalism of museum staff. Many resources, in addition to money, must be available to support an exhibit: art or artifacts, space, research, staff, and time; and many people make an exhibit happen: registrars, preparators, educators, writers, directors, not just curators.


Alexanders mistake is setting aside her statistical research for museum analysis. She errs by interviewing museum staff, not funders, to learn about funders interests. She meets with just twelve museum staff at only eight northeastern institutions. They are not randomly selected targets, but people whom [she] knew through personal contacts. That small sample cannot make a case for what she calls tension between curators pursuing scholarly work and directors chasing money ostensibly primarily available for broader-appeal formats. Still, she concludes that two institutional logics have collided. The first logic is the art historical, conservation and collection-oriented vision of museums held by curators. The second is the logic of business and of modern capitalism whichis maintained by administrators, board members and, to a large degree, by museum directors. These conflicting institutional patterns lock their adherents into pitched battles, where participants vie for ascendancy of their view.


She protests too much.

Each museum operates idiosyncratically, balancing unique internal and external challenges as funders and exhibit opportunities change. Alexanders perception of an internal struggle of scholarship versus showmanship is far more dramatic than current conditions indicate. While museum professionals agree there can be a struggle between scholarship and broader appeal, pitched battles ensue primarily at institutions with traditional top-down management cultures. Organizations with more collaborative internal cultures (and staff) suffer less from Alexanders perceived tension. Internal resource shifting is an antidote: money gets moved from where it isnt needed (a funded project) to where it is needed (an unfunded project), a coping mechanism she identifies near the end of her study -- another trend that has continued into the 21st century.


There is some very interesting historical information here, but Alexander allows her bias, a willingness to see internal conflict, and a far too limited interview pool to guide her to poor conclusions. At least for her sake she discovers that the evolving funding environment provides more money for a wide variety of exhibits, whether the curators choice or someone elses. Now we need a new survey of funding conditions in museums one with a museum professional as co-author. ---Charity Channel

Museums: A Place to Work is the definitive guide to museum practices, to professional positions, and how to prepare, look for and find jobs. Designed to aid both the uninitiated and the professional, it is an extremely useful tool that uniquely projects museum career information in the total context of what a museum is and does.

World-wide, museums have become the central cultural and educational resource for preserving and interpreting cultural and natural history, making it extremely important that they attract the best, brightest and most creative people to work in them. This book, as no other, provides the guidance prospective museum professionals need to encourage them, to provide understanding and to assist them in pursuing a museum career.

Museums:A Place to Work covers all the issues involved in museums: the importance of ethics and professionalism, legal concerns, the descriptions and requirements of thirty professional positions, support positions, staff/volunteer relations and training and preparation. Its most unique feature are interviews with noted museums professionals who share their views of their museum careers.

With societal changes, advanced technologies, cultural diversity, gender issues, wider audiences, environmental problems, social change, and people with disabilities--all affecting the collecting, preserving, researching, exhibiting, and interpreting operations of museums--this book educates the vast potential readership as to museum career for today and tomorrow.
Co-published with the Smithsonian Institution

Drawing on his groundbreaking work on intelligence and creativity, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, developer of the theory of Multiple Intelligences, offers fascinating revelations about the mind of the leader and his or her followers. He identifies six constant features of leadership as well as paradoxes that must be resolved for leadership to be effective using portraits of leaders from J. Robert Oppenheimer to Alfred P. Sloan, from Pope John XXIII to Mahatma Gandhi.

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (August 1, 1996)

Published in December 1995


This text discusses the activities of art-producing organizations from a managerial point of view, emphasizing the economic importance of the production of popular culture. The author's empirical research into this field has important implications for organizational theory and risk management, and allows the reader to gain insights into management from a different perspective. Areas covered include the film industry in Hollywood, publishing, the rock-and-roll business and the management of art-related businesses. This work is intended to be of specific relevance to MBA students on courses in arts management as well as undergraduates in film studies, media studies and communications studies.


Paperback: 216 pages

International Thomson Business Press; 1st edition, December 1995

Managing Quality Cultural Tourism is an authoritative look at how to manage cultural tourist sites to best meet the needs of the visitors, the presenters and the site itself. As cultural tourism increases the management of heritage sites becomes more complex. Priscilla Boniface addresses these crucial management issues using a marketing approach to identify the needs of all concerned. This volume is specifically aimed at professionals and students of leisure, tourism and heritage management. It provides an invaluable background to cultural tourism and then focuses on some important issues involved with managing a heritage site - education, entertainment and preservation - and considers appropriate ways of dealing with the needs of the tourist, the presenters and the cultural site. Managing Quality Cultural Tourism suggests a way forward for cultural tourism. It is an indispensable tool for all involved in tourism and heritage industries.


# Hardcover: 127 pages

# Publisher: Routledge (2 Nov 1995)

The nature of arts administration and management has changed dramatically over the last decade with policy, funding and restructuring all playing major parts. Following on from the successful first edition, Arts Administration has now been updated to include arts policy under the new UK Ministry of Heritage, the workings of the national lottery and the role of ethnic minority, fringe and community arts. Ten new case studies include a variety of problems commonly encountered in arts administration, such as balancing budgets, marketing, fund raising and programming. Arts administration is presented here in an historical, social and practical context. An essential read for students, those engaged in administering the arts and for anyone concerned with the arts in contemporary society.

John Pick was the founding professor of Europe's first Department of Arts Policy and Management, at City University, London, having previously worked extensively in education and the arts. He has subsequently held a number of visiting professorships in European and US Universities, and was twice appointed Gresham Professor of Rhetoric in the City of London. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Arts Policy and Management at City University, and Visiting Professor in Arts Management at London's South Bank University.
He has published extensively, and is the author of Arts Administration, one of the standard textbooks in the field. His other books include The West End; Mismanagement and Snobbery, Managing the Arts; the British Experience, The State and the Arts, The Theatre Industry, Vile Jelly: the Birth, Life and Lingering Death of the Arts Council of Great Britain and Building Jerusalem: Art Industry and the British Millennium. His next book, Managing Britannia will be published early in 2001. He has, in addition written numerous papers, pamphlets and articles and has been a regular contributor to journals and arts magazines for over thirty years.
Professor Pick enjoys a widespread reputation for challenging analysis of arts affairs. He has contributed to conferences, taught and worked as an arts consultant in many different countries including the USA, the former USSR, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands.


John Pick's major recreation is still public performance and he is demand as an after-dinner speaker, music hall chairman, actor and producer. His other interests are writing, occasional broadcasting, art and leisurely gardening.


# Paperback: 192 pages

# Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 1, 1995)

This text offers detailed guidance on strategic planning, including how to bring together a successful team, how to move through the process, how to gather needed information. It includes useful strategic planning resources.

Review
"Strategic planning for nonprofits is my area of interest and this book is the best ever written guide for practitioners, consultants, and researchers interested in the process and implementation of strategic planning in nonprofit (and public organizations). Dr. Bryson's wealth of knowledge and experience are in clear abundance for readers of this treasure."

Drawing on sources throughout the arts community, Reiss has collected more than 100 ideas proven successful in actual practice. Each is presented in a unique CPR format (Challenge, Plan, Result), and many are illustrated with a reproduction of the flyer, brochure, poster or letter used in the fundraising or marketing campaign.



Paperback: 146 pages

Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S. (16 May 1996)

This is an intensely practical book, outlining the various roles a director must fill, from negotiator (with producers, play selection committees, the artistic staff, the actors) to guide.

Collections management is a fundamental apart of museum work, yet recently the poor state of museum collections has been highlighted in terms of physical care and documentation. As a response, there has been increased emphasis on the development of standards for collections management.
Anne Fahy brings together recent papers highlighting some of the major issues affecting collections management in the 1990s concentrating particularly on eight aspects. The book identifies the main issues relating to collecting and to the disposal of collections and discusses why museums should develop appropriate documentation systems. The book also examines the status of research within museums, the various sources of advice relating to security and also addresses the basics of insurance and indemnity.
Collections Management is an invaluable and very practical introduction for museum professionals. It also provides up-to-date information about initiatives and issues for anyone involved in collections management.

Maisel has applied his training and experience as a therapist to the problems encountered by artists and performers. Here, he addresses many of these problems, including the idea of talent, the artist's personality, creative blocks, and aloneness. Most striking are his self-help ameliorative strategies for coping. While his book is not for everyone, it should be required reading for anyone considering a major and/or career in the arts. In fact, Maisel's "artist's ten commandments," a recapitulation of important themes, have a certain universality. Recommended for academic theater or creative arts collections.

Jon P. Cobes, Learning Resources Ctr., Central Wyoming Coll., Riverton

Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.



Paperback: 244 pages

Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher (May 1, 1994)

This third edition handbook is an illustrated almanac of technical information and an invaluable resource. Rates as one of the most widely used reference books for theatrical technicians and designers.

Providing a comprehensive guide to effective arts marketing this book examines the main factors behind audience building with detailed information on product publicity, advertising, public relations, sales, seat pricing, subscription promotion and financial planning.


Hardcover, 293 pages (October 1, 1994)

Publisher: Rhinegold Publishing

ISBN: 0946890587