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Meeting a national need
by Brian M Peck
Cultural organisations in Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney are the first to take part in a national pilot project to improve arts-business partnerships development skills.
Some 40 managers and staff at all levels took part in the first workshops as part of the project organised by the Australia Foundation for Culture and the Humanities and the Australia Council.
Focus groups have identified the need for a nationally coherent approach to the provision of training in creative business-cultural partnerships. They say a knowledge gap is limiting the ability of business and cultural organisations to develop fully valuable sponsorships and partnerships.
These views are endorsed by recommendations in Securing the Future-the Final Report of the Major Performing Arts Inquiry-that said capitalising on opportunities to increase individual philanthropy and corporate sponsorship income will require more, higher calibre development staff.
The report said that 'there simply is no alternative for companies wanting to secure private sector support than to be highly sophisticated in their approach-particularly in understanding the marketing needs of the corporate sector.'
The pilot workshops are not just focussing on how to get sponsorship. The long-term aim is to develop a cooperative approach to designing and implementing a national strategy to provide training for the cultural and business sectors.
The action-research workshops in Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney provided those attending with information. Participants responded with advice on course materials, how to meet regional needs and to take advantage of resources already available. Material developed from the pilots will be built into future training programs to be held in other centres in 2000.
The Foundation and the Australia Council are also seeking input from State and Territory arts agencies.
The workshops also gave the Foundation an opportunity to test its newly published Business Case of Cultural Investment Guide that shows corporations how they can benefit from cultural partnerships. It identifies for arts organisations what business needs.
It's been an opportunity for the Foundation to get reaction to the Cultural Products Menu, an Internet-search tool launched in October, that will help business find projects to support. The training program will also help organisations with limited experience in sponsorship management that want to be considered for listing on the Menu.
In the longer term, it's hoped to hold similar training for business with guides being produced for both sectors that will improve each sector's understanding of the needs of the other. They will provide information and ideas on best practice for sponsorship management and the principles for effective and creative partnerships.
The aim is to have cultural organisations thinking commercially and business seeing the opportunities of partnerships with arts bodies.
David Fishel, a partner in the Brisbane company, Positive Solutions, is conducting the project and pilot workshops.
Contact
Brian M Peck,
Deputy Executive Director
Australia Foundation for Culture and Humanities
Tel: 03 9207 7021
Fax: 03 9639 4505
what the participants said ...
Learning how to view sponsorships from the business perspective and understanding how business benefits from arts partnerships were two key benefits identified by those at the workshops.
This reflected use of the Business Case Guide for Cultural Investment as a resource.
The Guide was produced for business to follow a process to benefit from partnerships with cultural organisations. It also provides arts bodies with an understanding of what business needs.
Current trends and sharing ideas were also seen as important. Participants said a forum was needed where they could learn from others with more experience, both in business and the arts sector, share ideas and receive feedback on proposals.
Participants also said they were interested in learning more about pricing the cultural product and identifying core values of businesses. They also wanted to explore what other arts organisations received and gave, placements and exchanges with business.