A STRATEGIC LOGIC FOR ARTS MARKETING

Abstract

Abstract Recent thinking within arts philosophy has moved further and further away from the concept of autonomous art. Nowadays art is mostly seen as an intrinsic part of everyday human life. Artistic value is conceived of more and more as something that depends largely upon experiencing the works as they are encountered within general culture. This relational perspective on art has important implications for the future development of arts marketing as a discipline. This article argues that arts marketing should primarily aim to support and reinforce the artistic functioning of artworks. It proposes that art consumers should be seen as co‐producers in the total art process and advocates that arts marketing should focus on the artistic experience as the core customer value. KEYWORDS: arts marketingexchangecustomer valueartistic experienceco‐creation of value Notes 1. The results of the study by Voss and Voss should not be interpreted as suggesting that a customer orientation by definition leads to worse performance in theatre organizations. It only shows that the implementation of the customer concept in an artistic environment has its limitations and that it carries the risk of worse performance. Further research is needed to test the effects of different interpretations of the customer concept. 2. The adoption of the relational concept of art does not necessarily imply a commitment to the philosophical doctrines of postmodernism (Novitz Citation2001). Although most arts philosophers have adopted the view that the arts are culturally embedded and believe that the arts fulfil a specific function within that culture, many of them still assume there are differences between art and non‐art and none of them question the notion of artistic freedom, considered in the sense of freedom of speech. 3. It can be argued that some artists produce their works mainly to satisfy their own need for self‐expression (Hirschman Citation1983). However, when these artists are willing to make their works available to larger audiences, it is likely that they also want these works to function as art. 4. For historical works of art, the main artistic objective could be to keep the artwork "alive" by helping consumers to understand why it represents an historical breakthrough and why it is still an important work in terms of the present, considered aesthetically and otherwise. 5. See, for example, the various contributions by leading international scholars in The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (Gaut & McIver Lopes Citation2001). 6. This philosophical understanding of the artistic experience must be distinguished from the way some arts marketing scholars use the term "arts experience". Kotler & Kotler (Citation1998, Citation2000), Kotler (Citation1999) and Kolb (Citation2000), for instance, use this term to refer to the "total package of experiences" including recreational, social and learning experiences. 7. The other three features are: "felt freedom" – release from distracting concerns about the past and future of everyday life, so that it has the air of having been freely chosen; "detached affect" – where the object is emotionally distanced, which makes us aware of our power to rise above dark and terrible things; and "wholeness" – a sense of being unified and able to encompass perceptions, feelings, emotions, ideas, in a single integrated personhood (Beardsley Citation1982, pp. 288–297). 8. See Davies (Citation1991) for an overview of this criticism, which is very much intertwined with the debate between functionalists and proceduralists within arts philosophy. Beardsley belongs to the functionalists. Functionalists argue that something is an artwork only if it succeeds in providing an artistic experience. Proceduralists hold that something becomes an artwork only if it is made and presented according to the rules of the art world. This philosophical debate is concentrated around the question of how to define art. For the purpose of this article, the philosophical ideas about the functioning of art are more relevant than the problems of definition. The study of arts policy and management needs to start with a clear view of the specific functioning of art within a culture and needs to distinguish between the functioning of art and the functioning of all other kinds of cultural utterances. Therefore, I have chosen a functionalist perspective. The proceduralist approach, however, is not really opposed to functionalism. Proceduralists do not deny that the arts perform specific functions and that these functions are important; they just do not find them an appropriate basis for a definition of art. See also Davies (Citation2001) for a discussion of functional and procedural definitions of art. 9. Cooper and Tower (Citation1992, p. 305) address this group of needs as "ideals". The other four categories are emotional needs, personal needs, social needs and basic needs. 10. A twofold questionnaire was sent to 975 addresses, and 472 usable questionnaires were returned. This amounted to a response of 24%, as in most cases – more than 75% – respondents returned only one questionnaire per address. The response per address was about 42%. 11. This information has not been published before. It was gathered primarily to double‐check and support the interpretation of the findings on quality judgements. 12. This study was conducted by two Master's students – Lianne Pronk and Gryt Beerda. 13. Botti (Citation2000) also refers to findings indicating that the thirst for knowledge is one of the primary reasons to visit a museum. 14. See also the supportive commentaries on this view by Day et al. (Citation2004). 15. The importance of the group of non‐specialist consumers depends upon the artistic objectives. Reaching this group is of crucial importance for arts organizations – specially subsidized organizations – that have the explicit social objective of optimizing the way that the artistic offerings function within society. It is relatively unimportant for those who only want to experiment with aesthetic forms among peers or for those who primarily aim to support the development of young artistic talents. However, even then, non‐specialist consumers should not be ignored completely as fresh views on the production results can be very constructive. 16. Most of the proposed measures such as branding, education and seeking the right customers are in themselves not new, but it is claimed that they should be worked out from a strategic perspective on arts marketing that is based upon a relational concept of art. Further research is needed to assess how current arts marketing practices within different organizations and different countries fit with or differ from this theoretical context.