Evolution of Partnerships: How companies & cultural organisations collaborate

March 2012 Richard Kunzmann

United Visual Artists © 2006

1. If there’s one thing I hope to achieve

today...

2. Winds of change

3. How UK organisations are tackling

those changes

4. Some lessons in how to make it work

5. The advantages of helping it happen

6. Taking advantage of those winds of

change

7. Conclusion

CONTENTS

1. Help me reframe the conversation!

The language of business vs. culture is the greatest inhibitor of collaboration & innovation

2. The winds of change

Bakhshi and Throsby (2009) propose four drivers of change in the cultural sector

Drivers of change 1: Revenue sources

Drivers of change 2: Patterns of demand

Drivers of change 3: Concepts of value

Drivers of change 4: Technology

2. The changes that cultural bodies and

business are tackling

Revenue sources

Consumer

patterns

Concepts of value

Technology Change

These drivers are forcing a change in

attitudes and behaviours

And a change in how we think about...

Historically, innovation meant:

•Commercialisation of an invention

•A single organisation

•Controlled environment

•A single understanding of a

problem/solution

•Industrial KPIs

How about:

•A new language of KPIs/Innovation?

•Recognition that innovation is not led

by the organisation, but the users

•An uncontrolled environment of

experimentation?

•Social AND economic value

And about...

Historically, collaboration has often

meant the following:

•Artistic exploitation

•Patronage

•Free tickets, free dinner performances

(add anything “demeaning” here)

How about:

•No patronage, no purchase

agreements

•Shared exploration and discovery (and

risk)

•Knowledge exchange (explicit and

implicit)

How cultural organisations and businesses

are responding to change

Think of how business and

culture are the same:

1. The audience/ the customer

2. The need to

engage/entertain/hold attention

3. The need to expand markets /

audiences

4. Survival (yes, “business” is

suffering too!)

5. Customer Relationship

Management tools

Social media

& Digital

platforms

Technological

innovation &

play

Educational

Engagement

Specific

product

design

Responses

to

change

How UK organisations are tackling those

changes

Successful innovation need not sit at some

‘ideal point’

Punchdrunk & MIT Media Labs “Building an online sensorium theatre”

Battersea Arts Centre & Videojuicer Bridging the challenges of live online streaming

Exhibition Road and Seren Partners App that enables re-imagined tours of London

The Imperial War Museum & Knowledge

Integration – online & app sharing of cultural experiences

London Symphony Orchestra and partners App enabling ticket purchases and event finding for students

New Art Exchange and Artfinder Crowd-curating

Site Gallery, Lighthouse & Caper Seeding collaborative work environments to drive innovation

Six key development areas supported by the

Arts Council

1. UGC/social media

2. Mobile apps,

location apps,

games

3. Distribution

platforms

4. Education and

learning tools

5. Data and archives

6. Organisational

resources

Different strokes for different folks

• Museums are

especially keen to

develop

educational and

learning tools

• Archives and

libraries are

looking for tools to

disseminate and

connect the

information they

hold

• Galleries and

performing arts

are looking to

make their content

more immersive

and immediately

available

Some lessons in how to make it work: fundamentals needed

for project success

Collaboration: opportunity knocks

A local partner can be invaluable

Make sure that you understand each

other’s cultures

Make sure you have the same goals, and

that working together would achieve them

Don’t underestimate the impact of a

project on your brand/reputation

Set goals, have a clear business strategy

There’s a gold rush for new technologies,

with little thought for implementation

Describe responsibilities before a project

kicks off, but flexibility should be a mantra

Agree marketing placements, credits and

IP beforehand ... and don’t shift the goal

posts

Communicate!

Lack of communication is the leading

cause of the dissolution of partnerships

(and decline of projects)

Organisations that felt they were

understood generally developed longer

partnerships and embarked on multiple

projects

Work in each other’s spaces as often as

possible – this is where the real power of

collaboration lies

Allow for creative freedom and experimentation, but ...

Risks should be contained

Longer lead-times on projects plus the

resources to absorb setbacks should

exist

Remember why you’ve brought a

business partner on board: an eye on the

bottom line = sustainability

4. Working together: what can be achieved

Benefits to businesses

Cultural organisations tend to have a

much better intuitive understanding of

consumers

Creating a test-bed for new products

Building a clearly defined brand with a

solid reputation

Reaching out to new markets

Employee satisfaction and retention

Learning alternative work strategies

[Source or footnotes here]

Benefits to cultural organisations

Gaining commercial expertise

Securing new revenue streams

Improving efficiencies and productivity or

cutting costs

Securing technological expertise

Cross-pollinating marketing initiatives

Greater (financial) independence

[Source or footnotes here]

5. Taking hold of the winds of change

The things that I still worry about...

Invention vs. innovation

The balance of IP control

Rampant duplication of products

Follow-through

Squeezed budgets are here to stay

What will shape the future for the better,

irrespective

Collaboration is replacing centralisation

Artistic endeavour is becoming more

digital

Innovation hubs will begin to flourish

Seed funding for enterprise and culture?

[Source or footnotes here]

2. Help me reframe the conversation!

The more ‘business’ and ‘culture’ speak each others’ language, the greater the opportunities for collaboration become