A number of students whom I taught at the Eastman School of Music in the Institute for Music Leadership, and now an impressive number of students whom I teach at Drexel are not interested in entering the established not-for-profit arts and culture sector. They have dynamic and important ideas they want to move forward. They are committed to the arts as an instrument of positive social change. They are the innovators who can supply the energy needed now more than ever to revitalize the impact of the arts in our towns and cities.<\/p>\n
Sadly, my past experience in working with these extraordinary young people is that despite their personal investment (s) in their enterprises, only a handful survives. Multiple reasons comprise the challenges and difficulties faced. It’s worth an analysis and discussion of these reasons, so that we in the “establishment” can better enable these emerging social entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n
It’s advisable here for me to offer a definition of cultural or social entrepreneurism. I choose to intentionally not use the word, arts, as the modifier. In my experience, I have discerned a distinct difference between the creation of a string quartet that seeks to support itself from performance and education outreach revenue and an after-school creative writing program that seeks to teach literacy through poetry and story-telling. I am interested in how to enable the latter, the artist\/social activist who sees how the arts can tackle core societal challenges. There are other, imagined cultural entrepreneurship projects that can be described as purely artistic, but that locate themselves within communities with the intent of cooperative transformation. <\/p>\n
The cultural entrepreneur faces challenges that differ significantly from the business entrepreneur. A great idea well-crafted, a sound business plan that includes the formation of an LLC, fund raising for start-up capital from profit-minded investors, and talented and committed personnel form the framework for success for a business entrepreneur. For the cultural entrepreneur: a great well-crafted idea, a sound business plan that includes any number of organizational options, start-up capital from a meager number of public or private foundation funders (most charitable foundations and government funders require 3 years of successful operation before an organization can apply for grant monies), and talented and committed personnel (who are willing to work in the enterprise for almost nothing, and who often hold hourly jobs to support themselves) form the almost insurmountable obstacles for the cultural entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
To facilitate the transition from the well-crafted great idea to sustainable enterprise we must focus as a field on organizational and funding challenges and options, while at the same time, in the classroom additionally focus on how to build a realistic and sustainable business plan for these ideas. <\/p>\n
I’m working on a curriculum for a course in cultural entrepreneurship and in future blogs will present ideas and seek discussion. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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