Managing Organisational Success in the Arts

Book excerpt: The creative and cultural industries are a dynamic and rapidly expanding field of enterprise. Yet all too often the dominant narrative about arts organisations is one of crisis, collapse, and closure. This edited collection seeks to challenge that narrative through pursuing a focus on organisational success in the management of creative and cultural organisations. This book offers a robust and in-depth analysis of nine international case studies exploring how different organisations have achieved their objectives through effectively managing their resources. Spanning a broad cross section of the cultural sector including Theatres; Multi-Arts Venues; Performing Arts Companies; Museums and Galleries; and Festivals and Events, these cases highlight the importance of examining an individual organisation’s success in relation to its environmental context, revealing not only how arts organisations work in practice, but also providing inspiration and encouragement for those wishing to emulate such success. With an explicit focus on examining theory in practice, this unique collection will be of great interest to students, academics, and practitioners alike. While traditional approaches have often been overly theoretical, this pragmatic approach will help students to gain a richer understanding of how to manage cultural and creative organisations more effectively.