We're not in Kansas anymore

© Anna Steinberg

The title of this post comes from All About Audiences' excellent conference which I had the real pleasure of speaking at earlier this week on the subject of business models for a new world. I would like to thank Ivan and his team for an excellent day, all of the participants in my break out session for some great ideas and everyone who has contributed to my thinking in this area over the last year.

My final report has just been published - see here.  The world has changed a great deal since I began my work nearly a year ago although I hope that many of the observations I made then still hold true.

However this post is really about an absolutely wonderful new toolkit - the business survival toolkit which Creative & Cultural Skills has developed specifically for our sector and our sole trader/small scale organisations.  It really will reach the parts other toolkits cannot reach!  If you are struggling to get your head around this new, not Kansas, world this is the place to start.  

Thanks for reading

Susan

We are More manifesto Culture Action Europe

Culture Funding Across Europe
There is a new campaign to support the continuation of public funding of the arts at a European level; we need to make sure that the UK is adequately represented. Decisions are now being made about culture funding across Europe, please make sure you have your voice heard and sign this pan European campaign!

http://www.wearemore.eu/manifesto/

Turning Point North East Steering group member, ISIS Arts is an executive committee member of Culture Action Europe, the political platform for culture based in Brussels and the initiators of this campaign.

Developing the Market for Contemporary Art on Monday 16 May at Ikon, Birmingham

Save the date for:

Developing the Market for Contemporary Art on Monday 16 May at Ikon, Birmingham   

In partnership with the newly formed Turning Point Network National Working Group on Market Development, the Contemporary Art Society is pleased to invite you to a day conference on Developing the Market for Contemporary Art on Monday 16 May at Ikon, Birmingham.   

Invited guest speakers will represent a range of key contemporary art world stake holders including: private collectors, artists and those involved in selling art work at fairs as well as through museum print programmes and galleries to speak about the topic and consider how the market is developed at various levels. 

The Conference will begin at 10am and will finish at 4pm.  There will be a combination of presentations to all attendees which will be followed in the afternoon by collectors “in conversation” in addition to several workshops. 

VAGA Venice Biennale 2011 Tour 1st-3rd June

Join the VAGA Venice Biennale 2011 tour 1st-3rd June, offering a mix of networking, arranged talks by exhibiting artists, curators and producers and free-time.

Cost VAGA members  £135 (travel and accomodation not included, but we are looking into group booking some accomodation); non-members £180; 10% discount for second and additional bookings from same organisation.

You will need to apply for individual accreditation, although we will also apply for a group entry as a failsafe - we will let you know when this opens. Please email  to register interest.

Curators' Survey

A new survey aimed at curators and artist/curators across the UK has been launched with the aim of investigating existing curatorial work in an international context.  The survey forms a key part of the data collection for a year long research project VIRE (VAGA International Research Enquiry), that aims to support curatorial development by identifying opportunities to promote exchanges, foster partnerships and develop programmes in the future.

VIRE is commissioned by Creative Scotland, managed by VAGA (Visual Arts and Galleries Association) and led by independent curators Kirsteen Macdonald (Glasgow) and Ellen Blumenstein (The Office, Berlin).  VIRE aims to benefit the visual arts sector as a whole by identifying opportunities available to curators at all stages of their careers; working in institutions and independently.

To complete the survey visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/vire The survey only takes around 20 minutes to complete. Please pass this to any contacts you feel would be interested in contributing to the research.

Occasional publication 1

I am a trustee of The Egypt Exploration Society and, as part of our publications programme, we issue occasional publications which are 

Studies arising from, but not directly connected to the Society’s fieldwork and research, Festschriften (studies in honour of... etc.)., and various other works are included in the Society’s ‘Occasional Publications’ series.

This and similar subsequent posts are very much in the spirit of these publications - interesting information and ideas I have found during my research which do not quite fit into the main programme.

This week I wanted to highlight one tool, one piece of research and one chance to inform policy on philanthropy.

The tool

Regular followers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of the Business Model Canvas.  I recently came across this presentation on business models beyond profit by one its creators - Alex Osterwalder.  I think it is really powerful and the cow idea is great (thanks again to Dawn Langley for this one).

Some research

New Philanthropy Capital have just issued a report on impact networks authored by Clore Fellow, Joe Ludlow.  It is well worth a read.

Have your say on philanthropy

Arts Quarter are running a consultation on the Philanthropy Action Plan launched by Jeremy Hunt in 2010 and they are very keen to garner as many views as possible.

That is it from me 

Susan

Plan B - learning to live with less

On 29 March those organisations that submitted an NPO application will learn whether they are ‘in’ or ‘out’; in the following months the fortunate ones will agree with the Arts Council what being ‘in’ will mean for them in financial terms.  

I discussed this process recently with a colleague David Worthington (UK Design Alliance, Media Square and CC Skills) and was really struck by his take on where the design industry, and indeed the wider creative industries were; they had, he believed ‘learnt to live on less’.  I am not convinced that we have yet reached this level of acceptance.  Hearsay suggests that many NPO applications, and their accompanying business plans, were predicated on levels of future public funding which seem, at best, unlikely.  Cutting costs is not the same as learning to live with less: it is only the first stage.

Organisations which respond successfully to a major financial shock be that a drop in income or rise in costs, usually do three things.  First, they cut costs to survive, to buy themselves time and to generate some money to invest in the next task.  Secondly, they work on improving the performance of their people and assets.  Lastly, and usually 2 – 3 years after the initial shock, they are in a position to focus on growth.  Examples of the types of actions that are needed in all three phases can be found here. 

No business ever secured its long-term future by cutting costs alone; viability comes from re-designing and re-making the organisation’s business model to succeed in the light of changed circumstances.  It is not possible to ‘skip’ from cost cutting to revenue growth without paying some serious attention to ‘performance’.

Over the coming week I, and my fellow contributors, will be offering readers of this blog some ideas around adapting existing business models and creating new ones.  Obviously we cannot hope to cover everything so I have included an initial resources list here.

If you have a good idea, case study or example to share please join in. 

Thanks for reading 

Susan