Museums shops all over the world contribute a substantial share to museums budgets, thus helping to defy financial misery of cultural institutions. But they could do even better by en-forcing the perspective of cultural consumers. Facing increasing competition with other cul-tural institutions and leisure facilities, museums will have no choice but to consider the wishes and needs of their visitors more extensively. Our empirical research on that topic started in 2001. On the basis of prior surveys an extensive questionnaire was developed and a series of 110 interviews were carried out.

Carnegie Mellon University announces the establishment of the Master of Entertainment Industry Management (MEIM) degree, a new graduate-level program focusing on management training for the for-profit entertainment sector, and the formation of the Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises (IMCE) as the academic 'home' for the new MEIM degree and the existing Master of Arts Management (MAM) degree, the Center for Arts Management and Technology (CAMT) and the Pittsburgh Arts and Culture Observatory (ACO).

"The Road from Education to Practice"

The 2004 Annual AAAE Conference was hosted by Southern Methodist University's Arts Administration program at the Westin City Center Hotel in Dallas from April 22-24. More than 50 program directors from North America, Australia, China and the Netherlands participated in this three day meeting...

The 14th International Conference of the International Artist Managers Association was held from 15 to 17 April in Genoa. Since this event took place in Italy for the first time ever, the conference has been given as main topic The Mediterranean Perspective in Arts management, focusing on arts managers contributions from Greece, Lebanon, and Sicily. In addition, IAMA management offered breakout sessions on Opera dissemination, Corporate Social Responsibility and Audience development. Italian flair succeeds: most of the about 400 delegates used these days on the rainy Mediterranean coast not only for chatting about Arts management but even more for talking business.

October 28-31: The 12th General Assembly and Conference of EFAH - the European Forum for Arts and Heritage (Lille, France)

Increasing decentralisation and regionalisation in Europe prompts cultural operators and public authorities to consider policy ramifications of a more sophisticated interaction between culture and regions and the role of regions in initiating and supporting international cultural cooperation...

Over the course of three days artistic directors of theatre festivals and other important theatre administrators will gather in Prague to discuss the questions and problems of artistic direction.

The conference theme is "The Road from Education to Practice and continues AAAEs work on content standards and program development for arts administration education, which comprise several approaches to teaching methodology and technology.

Just like everyone, governments and business circles are liable to make decisions by evaluating choices in terms of alternative loss and profit. The game theory is a mathematical approach. The aim is to obtain optimum results from economic activities by taking into account the prevalent competition in the light of the various outputs of contingent strategies that can be implemented. The games played and the number of players is characterized by the amount of total profit and contingent strategies. In two-player games, the success of one competing party implies loss for the other; this is very similar to the negotiations that take place between workers and trade unions. This implies that the game may result with a zero sum. Each move to be made during the game gives rise to a countermove from the competition. In other words, there is unification in the game field among the opponents who are keen on preserving their interests. Competitors who are bound to actualize some sort of competitive action in an era of free competition must be able to at least predict each others activities in terms of the earnings they pursue. This article examines, on the basis of game theory, the series of activities of two truly prominent establishments serving in the field of photography equipment aimed at increasing their market share.

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING:

CREATIVITY AND THE NONPROFIT MARKETING ORGANISATION

The purpose of the last Special Issue of Culturelink Review (November 2003) is to welcome dialogue and action-oriented ideas from all sectors of society in order to clarify current understanding of cultural diversity, explore the existing and countless other links between cultural diversity, dialogue and development, and deliver better policies targeted at the most appropriate level with creative partnerships.

Arts and culture reflect open society values and influence public attitudes, yet they seldom receive adequate recognition and resources from either governments or society. To counteract the lack of support, the Arts and Culture Program promotes cultural and artistic collaboration throughout the Soros foundations network; fosters structural changes in cultural policy; and helps develop an autonomous and innovative arts sector. The program's primary goal is to stimulate cultural activities while respecting and celebrating differences among countries.

In the latest issue of International Arts Manager, Michael Crabb explores the question of whether performing arts organizations have gone too far in providing customer service. Unquestionably, it is a very high priority among all arts organizations in their efforts to attract larger audiences in a highly competitive field. But is there the danger of going too far? Borrowing from the retail model of building customer loyalty by providing excellent services, the strategy has been to try to develop a committed audience that not only will buy subscriptions but also will become donors. It includes practices that audiences have come to expect, such as accessible parking, comfortable seating and pleasant, courteous, efficient staff...
[in: ACENews, Feb 04]

A report, prepared in 2003 and released to the public for the first time today, shows that Canadian consumers spent Can$ 21.3 billion on cultural goods and services in 2001, an amount that is greater than spending on tobacco, alcohol and games of chances combined. The $21.3 billion in consumer spending is over three times higher than government spending on culture in Canada. The report also shows that consumer spending on live performing arts events is nearly double the spending on live sporting events.

The Arts Marketing Association (UK) has conducted a pilot benchmarking project, funded by Arts Council England, to assess the effectiveness of arts organisations' e-marketing activity.
32 organisations from accross the UK have taken part in the research and the results have been very encouraging as an indicator of the value of e-marketing. One of the key findings is that the potential to generate awareness and visibility through a website is huge.

Cultural Diplomacy in Arts and Education
Saturday & Sunday, March 27 & 28
Saturday & Sunday, April 3 & 4

The paper aims to develop a framework for future research on the interface between relationship marketing and entrepreneurship in the performing arts in New Zealand and the role this interface might play in the successful development of audiences. The common link between relationship marketing and entrepreneurship is network analysis, focusing on both a strategic and operational level. It is proposed that relationship marketing enhances the audience development function, and those arts managers and marketers who use relationship marketing are likely to be successful in attracting and maintaining their audience base. Not only do they maintain regular subscribers but constantly look at ways of increasing attendance by attracting new audiences. An important factor could be that such managers espouse an entrepreneurial approach - they are willing to take risks and stretch the boundaries of their artistic product by supporting innovative programming.

The paper outlines significant developments in copyright protection of Aboriginal art. This outline reveals that protection of art is improving as understanding of Aboriginal culture grows. Also apparent are the limitations of the Copyright Act when representing the complexity inherent in the respectful treatment of the art in the range of circumstances that it becomes involved. A large proportion of Aboriginal art is culturally significant with some containing sacred imagery. Thus, the rights of more than just the artist are at stake, with communal rights coming into play. Until such time as these rights have been formalised, awareness must be raised of artist's rights and of the responsibilities of those dealing with the work.

Over the past decade it would seem that the arts have become significant to the Singaporean state. This paper investigates the language which has been developed by government agencies and employed by government ministers concerning the arts and culture since 1957. It argues that the underlying intentions of the state towards the arts are to be found in documentation which existed well before the formation of supposedly new arts policies and most significantly within the written record of ministries not traditionally associated with the arts. The paper questions the claims that there is a renaissance of real artistic innovation in Singapore and considers the motives which may lie behind the creation of the newly-phrased arts and cultured infrastructure.