call for contributions on the creative financing of the arts

What the symposium was about:

With the government soon to withdraw as the chief financier of art and culture in The Netherlands, artists and culture enthusiasts will have to seek other ways to finance their artistic and cultural expressions.

We call upon you - artists, art managers, cultural entrepreneurs, individuals in trade and industry, public authorities, and those with a passion for art - to come up with alternative ways to finance culture and the arts. We will invite those with the most inventive, effective, and practical ideas to present them at a symposium at The Creative Factory in Rotterdam, March 22nd, 2011. Two of the most notable contributors will be rewarded. We will publish a book and set up a website dedicated to the ideas.

The call is an initiative of the scientific staff and Master students of the International Master Programme in Cultural Economics and Cultural Entrepreneurship, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. We work with several organisations, including Erasmus Trust Funds, Cultuur en Ondernemen (Culture and Entrepreneurship), the Van den Ende Foundation, the Rotterdamse Raad voor Kunst en Cultuur (Rotterdam Council of Art and Culture), The Performing Arts Fund, the city of Rotterdam, and NRC Handelsblad (Dutch newspaper).

Background

This is a forum to generate discussion and new ideas about alternative methods for organizations and artists to realise and strengthen their value to society. Contributors should pay attention to several aspects. The arts have not been so focused on the generation of revenues and visitors, as on the realization of social and artistic values. Does your proposal take this into account? And could cultural organisations learn from the market? Can they present their work differently? Do the social media provide opportunities? What is there that we can change about copyright on artistic works? Could people be convinced to appreciate the arts more, and hence pay more in terms of prices, contributions, or gifts?

We are seeking proposals that are thoughtful and substantiated.

You are invited to send your contributions to info@klamer.nl by February 25th.

About the symposium »