Colin Tweedy says businesses are waking up to the advantages of working with the arts community

Globalisation, the so-called “weightless” economy and the growing commitment to socially responsible business practices are changing the relationship between business and the arts.

Up to the mid-1990s it was classic marketing led or “chairman’s whim” sponsorships that dominated the scene. But businesses are becoming more aware of the necessity to differentiate themselves in the crowded marketplace by developing communications strategies that are responsive to the demands of savvy, ethically conscious 21st century consumers. In turn, the arts are becoming more astute at recognising their own worth, effectively promoting their work as participative, socially inclusive and high profile.

Consequently, business is recognising that working in partnership with the arts can bring business closer to investors, customers, employees, unions, business partners, decision makers and society in innovative, cost effective ways that positively impact on economic performance and reputation. The result is that businesses are diversifying their relationships with the arts in a variety of new and powerful ways.

Of course, classic marketing-led sponsorship of the arts by business, focusing on brand promotion or corporate entertaining is still a very important relationship for both sides. Our latest survey figures testify to this with arts organisations across the UK recording sponsorship increasing to just over £120 million in 2002/03. But artists and arts organisations are also beginning to contribute to the success of UK business in the fields of corporate social responsibility and human resource management.
Most people believe a business that supports society and the community is a good business to work for and that the arts play a valuable role in the life of the country. Business recognises that partnering with the arts not only helps attract and retain talented employees but can also help create the right working environment.

The arts can offer unique opportunities for personal development. They can develop team building, communication training, leadership skills and problem solving and, as Unilever and a number of other major businesses can testify, they can contribute to developing innovation processes and successful organisation-wide change, involving culture and identity, creativity and innovation, as well as customer relations and marketing.

Business is also recognising that the arts have the power not only to reflect but also to shape the wider world. Because they hold both intrinsic and instrumental value, their deployment can impact effectively on a wide range of social issues from education, equality and diversity to offending behaviour, health and well-being, social isolation and employability. Clearly the arts have a unique role in helping to address some of the social needs which business (as well as government and the wider voluntary sector) are tackling through their social responsibility programmes.Business is also beginning to wake up to the role that the arts play in transforming localities that have displayed the symptoms of physical social or economic decline. New and refurbished cultural buildings, the explosion of cultural quarters in many urban centres and artistic expression itself, in the form of building design and public art, have become a powerful visible source of civic identity and renewal across the country.

By encouraging the arts to flourish where they are located, business is recognising the impact of culture-led regeneration on their own success - from increased land values to better design quality and improved liveability, all of which result in a range of “wins” for business from encouraging employee retention to attracting individuals with spending power or other businesses which are looking to relocate.

For almost 30 years, Arts & Business (A&B) has been developing and revitalising arts-business partnerships, embedding best practice and encouraging new relationships. Our campaigning and advocacy work strives to embed the value of arts and culture into every aspect and level of decision making in business.

We want business to know that the UK is widely acknowledged as a world leader in the creative, performing and visual arts; recognise that arts and culture go to the heart of what it means to be a fulfilled, active citizen; believe that arts and culture have a powerful role to play in progressive change; and recognise that engagement with the arts and individual artists can have a powerful impact on the triple bottom line.

Our 20 offices across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland ensure that business has an extensive network of support to help develop partnerships with artists and arts organisations anywhere in the country. We are in regular contact with over 2,000 businesses and over 6,000 arts organisations, all of whom benefit from our professional research and information, specialist advice, executive training, placements and networking events.

With the money given to us by government we organise arts-to-business relationships across the UK. In the last three years we have been given just under £6 million annually and have converted it into well over £110 million worth of support for the arts, each year. Currently, every £1 of our New Partners money is matched by an average of £3.30 from business through deals we broker at A&B.

Our bespoke employee engagement programmes have placed thousands of individual business men and women with arts organisations to work on specific projects, become trustees or offer mentoring support.

We regularly develop initiatives to help us achieve our goals. Two years ago we created the Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation to work with business to bring the arts to as many young people as possible. This year we have launched a joint programme with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment to encourage collaboration between investors in the built environment and artists, and GAIN which aims to diversify the boards of London’s major arts organisations.

By promoting the value of the arts to business and the value of business to the arts, A&B has played its part in creating a society in the UK where the arts are more effectively integrated with business than almost anywhere else in the world. But there is still much to do.

Colin Tweedy is chief executive of Arts & Business and chairman of CEREC, the European Committee for Business, Arts and Culture

Click here for more articles in this series.