Behind the scenes of public funding for performing arts in Italy: hidden phenomena beyond the rhetoric of legislation

Zan, Luca; Baraldi, Sara Bonini; Ferri, P; Lusiani, Maria; Mariani, Marcello M.

doi:10.1080/10286632.2011.573849

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…A limitation of this study may be that my analysis provides just a snapshot of arts funding decisions in a given context and time. Other recent studies endorse that panels' (positive) biases and prejudices are not exceptional (Lewandowska 2017) and that previous merits matter a lot (Zan et al 2012). The fact that the findings are similar for two distinct settings increases their external validity and suggests that the phenomenon may apply elsewhere as well.…”

Section: Conclusion Limitations and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Strings are attached to arts funding (McDonald and Harrison 2002) and, when seeking support, arts organizations are increasingly required to make explicit what justifies their legitimacy (Herman 2019). At the same time, government subsidies to the arts have, in recent years, declined in terms of total contribution and contributions to individual organizations (Kirchner, Markowski, and Ford 2007;Zan et al 2012;Bertelli et al 2014), augmenting the challenges for nonprofit arts organizations (Arnold and Tapp 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Owing to the fact that government agencies have increasingly limited funds to distribute and many organizations request funding, a common practice of governments is to install selection procedures, executed by third parties of experts and/or peers. Because nonprofit arts organizations are largely dependent on public funding, third-party decision makers gain power as gatekeepers who control entry to an arts production environment and can exclude arts producers from it (Zan et al 2012). In this manner, such third-party assessments could be manifestations of the power hierarchies that Bourdieu (1993) found to typifying symbolic fields as the arts: a limited number of actors possess the ability to impose criteria of evaluation, and thus the power to consecrate and eventually maximize the autonomy of a field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this manner, such third-party assessments could be manifestations of the power hierarchies that Bourdieu (1993) found to typifying symbolic fields as the arts: a limited number of actors possess the ability to impose criteria of evaluation, and thus the power to consecrate and eventually maximize the autonomy of a field. Hence, a common outcome of those selection procedures is that well-established organizations get repeatedly and disproportionally subsidized, at the expense of new organizations and art forms that have not got their foot in the door (Towse 2010;Zan et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I study how government resources are assigned among diverse applicant organizations; i.e., the choices of funding (cf. Zan et al 2012). Specifically, I examine to what extent governments' policy goals-effectuated in criteria-actually play a role (or not) in the third-party assessments of theaters' eligibility for subsidies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strings Attached to Arts Funding: Panel Assessments of Theater Organizations through the Lens of Agency Theory

Loots

2019

The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society

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Agency Theory deliberates the relationship between principals and agents, and the agency problems that originate in information asymmetries and goal conflicts. Through the lens of Agency Theory, with mixed methods, I investigate the decisions about funding of theatre organizations by governments, based on assessments by third parties. In two settings "artistic quality" is the major determinant of public support, to the detriment of criteria as participation, social objectives, efficiency and entrepreneurship. I argue that, next to previously recognized principal-agent relationships between governments and theatres, and governments and panels, a third relationship is very influential: between an arts field and panels.

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Section: Conclusion Limitations and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Strings Attached to Arts Funding: Panel Assessments of Theater Organizations through the Lens of Agency Theory

Loots

2019

The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society

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Managing the performance of arts organisations: Pursuing heterogeneous objectives in an era of austerity

Abdullah

Khadaroo

Napier

2018

The British Accounting Review

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2018) Managing the performance of arts organisations: pursuing heterogeneous objectives in an era of austerity. The British Accounting Review, 50 (2).Abstract: This study provides insight into how two national arts organisations located in London manage their performance in the pursuit of heterogeneous objectives, within the confines of external influences. These organisations significantly rely on the government for funding and are therefore required to implement policy initiatives, albeit at arm's length from the government. Performance management systems (PMSs) were primarily designed to enable trustees discharge their statutory duties of collecting, preserving, and displaying objects and works of arts, which were reflected in a management agreement containing the government's strategic priorities. The findings show that the changing politicoeconomic climate has subtly started to change values, accountability relationships and realities in the field of arts and culture. Whilst arts organisations emphasised socio-cultural objectives in strategic planning and operational processes, external pressures arising from austerity has subtly started to displace socio-cultural values. Business language, vocabularies, and tools commonly used in the private sector are insidiously taking roots in arts organisations. Austerity provided a signal to executives that the survival of their core activities was at stake and, they have to engage in income generating activities to support their core activities. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 AbstractThis study provides insight into how two national arts organisations located in London manage their performance in the pursuit of heterogenous objectives, within the confines of external influences. These organisations significantly rely on the government for funding and are therefore required to implement policy initiatives, albeit at arm's length from the government. Performance management systems (PMSs) were primarily designed to enable trustees discharge their statutory duties of collecting, preserving, and displaying objects and works of arts, which were reflected in a management agreement containing the government's strategic priorities. The findings show that the changing politico-economic climate has subtly started to change values, accountability relationships and realities in the field of arts and culture. Whilst arts organisations emphasised socio-cultural objectives in strategic planning and operational processes, external pressures arising from austerity has subtly started to displace socio-cultural values. Business language, vocabularies, and tools commonly used in the private sector are insidiously taking roots in arts organisations. Austerity provided a signal to executives that the survival of their core activities was at stake and, they have to engage in income generating activities to support their core activities.

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Accounting for trust and control: Public sector partnerships in the arts

Bogt

Tillema

2016

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

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Behind the scenes of public funding for performing arts in Italy: hidden phenomena beyond the rhetoric of legislation

Cited by 9 publications

References 4 publications

Strings Attached to Arts Funding: Panel Assessments of Theater Organizations through the Lens of Agency Theory

Strings Attached to Arts Funding: Panel Assessments of Theater Organizations through the Lens of Agency Theory

Managing the performance of arts organisations: Pursuing heterogeneous objectives in an era of austerity

Accounting for trust and control: Public sector partnerships in the arts

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