KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Strategic Planning for Your Arts Enterprise

By Jo-anne Tull, Lecturer Academic Co-ordinator
Carnival Studies Unit, Dept. of Creative and Festival Arts,
UWI, St. Augustine
For
NCF Arts Symposium, @ Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Barbados
April 9-10 2010

can strategic planning really assure arts enterprises success?

I preface my comments to you this morning with this question
not because I wish to instil doubt as to the role and significance of
strategic planning for creative enterprises, but rather to
encourage us to interrogate our perspective and understanding of
the nature of strategic planning. {SLIDE #2} Often used
interchangeably with the term strategic management, strategic
planning is actually one of three broad elements within the
strategic management function. It provides a big picture of the
landscape in which our arts enterprises operate, and thus can aid
in determining paths for moving forward. In essence, strategic
planning is about crafting and implementing strategy based on
future scenarios, informed by current contexts and past
endeavours, whether the creative enterprises focus is for-profit or
not-for-profit.

{SLIDE #3} As one would imagine, strategic planning was not

always perceived as a pal of the arts and culture. Indeed, the
purists would argue that strategic planning is not relevant to this
domain - that it bastardises the arts and culture, which ought not
to be tied down by strategy and business paradigms, so that
creativity could flourish for creativitys sake. In fact, it was a
criticism of a similar nature by German philosophers Theodor
Adorno and Max Horkeimer of the Frankfurt School of Critical
Theory in the 1940s, that lead them to coining the term culture
industry to connote that culture in its ideal state, like art, was
being eroded, because it was becoming commodified - that is, a
thing to be bought and sold1. Others have since weighed in on the
discourse. For example, some political economy theorists such as
Ronald Bettig (1996), Dan Schiller (1989) and Robert McChesney
(1999) have questioned the extent to which the arts and culture
have been positioned as business spheres and used strategically
to further the interests of the wealthy and powerful. Such
perspectives, to some degree, have also given context to what
one might describe as a love/hate relationship that often exists
with regard to the popular arts.

But, while the arts are generally viewed as self-conscious

creativity that produces an object or performance of personal or
collective expression, they too include cultural industries, which
encompass cultural entrepreneurs and enterprises operating in a
commercial marketplace, producing artistic objects and
performances that are identifiable commodities and services such
as books, theatrical productions, carnival and cultural tourism.

1
See Theodor Adormo and Max Horkeimer (1977/1944) The culture industry:
enlightenment as mass deception, in James Curran, Michael Gurevitch and Janet
Wollacott (eds.) Mass Communication and Society. London: Edward Arnold pp. 349-
83.
Moreover, the arts is undisputedly the bedrock of the cultural
industries - talent remains a critical requirement for sustainability,
although not necessarily for success. And so, as the foundation of
the cultural industries, the arts and their entities also require
planned direction.

What then, can we say of our arts enterprises here in the region,
predominantly seeking to forge their way in the visual and
performing arts, as we seek to build them into successful
enterprises? Whilst it is recognised that there is an abundance of
raw artistic talent, we possess some shortcomings that can affect
our success as a global players. It is also known that as regional
governments continue to grapple with forging platforms for
economic development, the arts nor culture are considered key
catalysts in this quest, even as developed world nations continue
to invest heavily in their own arts and culture. I give you four
examples {SLIDE 4}:
In 2005, it was estimated that the creative industries sector
adds $1.1 billion in exports to the Queensland economy, and
are worth $3.4 billion a year to the Queensland economy
[CIRAC (QUT) and SGS Economics and Planning, Mapping
Queenslands Creative Industries: Economic Fundamentals
(Australia: 2005) based on ABS data).
The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre project in Hong Kong is
the first of its kind initiated by the Government and
supported by a few institutions, including a seed donation of
HK$70 million from the Jockey Club for the renovation of a
vacant factory building into a creative arts centre. The
designer is to consider how to convert and transform the
factory spaces into studios and other communal spaces for
 the tenants, who would be artists and entrepreneurs in the
creative industries.
In the UK, late last year a total of 3.5 million investment
was announced for centres of excellence in Abertay
University, Dundee and Media City UK, Manchester as part of
the Governments commitment to maintaining the UKs
global reputation in the growing video games industry
[DCMS, 9 December 2009].
In October 2009, the Government of Canada committed
investments totalling $2.35 million in British Columbia
publishers. These investments will support the ongoing
production and promotion of Canadian-authored books,
industry-wide projects to increase the visibility of Canadian
titles in the online marketplace, and internships in the
publishing industry.

And so, it begs the question, can strategic planning really assure
our arts enterprises success?

While the task may seem daunting, there is much to do with little.
It begins with first recognising that there is no magic formula that
leaps the arts enterprise from the strategic planning process to
successful arts enterprise development. It is not a linear process
and success does not come automatically. Many can attest to
having attempted all or some form of strategic planning to
marginal success and not clear as to where and how strategic drift
occurred, having followed all of what was prescribed as the step
by step approach.

I wish to suggest that success with strategic planning is attainable

in the arts, if we concern ourselves not only with executing the
steps of strategy planning, but also with continuously strategising
our arts business even after we have concluded the strategic
planning phase. I call this operationalising strategic planning. It
suggests that strategic planning is not static, but rather is an
ongoing process that sometimes involves simultaneous effort in
moving ahead in concentric circles. This also suggests that
strategic planning is not the responsibility of one in the arts
enterprise, but rather requires collective effort, which assures
sustained visioning and buy-in throughout the process a catalyst
for success and sustainability. And thirdly, this suggests that there
must be a common thread of elements that drives the continuous
strategising process. This common thread of elements can be
referred to as the Ws, which represent a series of practical
questions that ought to asked and answered continuously as the
arts enterprise engages in the strategic planning process. {SLIDE
5} These are:
Who are we?
What business are we in?
Why are we doing this?
What external and internal contexts are we operating in?
Who are our stakeholders, our customers/audience/patrons?
Where are we going?
Which way do we go to get there?
What do we have to do to get there?
What is the time frame for getting there?
When do we begin to implement?
 Who is responsible for getting us there?

The idea is that the answers should be consistent at every stage,

and where this does not occur, there is need to review and
reformulate to get back on track.

And what of you, the arts entrepreneur, where do you fit into all of
this? There is need for a particular mindset for operationalising
strategy as opposed to simply conducting strategic planning is
not for the faint-hearted! Zimmerers notion of the
entrepreneurial mindset bears tremendous relevance. Of his list of
qualities, reference is made to six in particular, which have been
further expanded for greater relevance {SLIDE 5}

One must have the drive to succeed, because if you do not

keep focused successful strategy implementation will
seem unattainable;

One must be intuitive to be able to make sense of the

existing environment in which your arts enterprise
operates;

One must be a risk-taker, for if the chance is not taken to

succeed, how will success ever become a reality for the
arts enterprise?;

One must recognise that the arts involve counting dollars

and cents and therefore they must be accounted for also;

One be willing to learn and grow, either through formal

and/or informal education in order to be able to keep up
 with the trends and see where it is possible to create new
trends; and finally,

Above all, one must balance, for the very nature of the arts is
about enjoyment and leisure the arts entrepreneur must also do
this to replenish and renew in order to continually give value-
added to his/her arts enterprise in the quest for success and
sustainability.