A Question of Communication

Cooperation between the Cultural Sector and the Business Sector

Annemarie Türk

The extent to which cooperation between the business sector and the arts can function is ultimately a question of communication – from establishing the first contacts through negotiations to the conclusion of a successful cooperation project. How can two institutions that are unfamiliar with each other and whose ways of thinking and operating are, in many aspects, contrary to one another, communicate?

How can misunderstandings be prevented and ways and means of fruitful cooperation be found?

KKA, in pursuing its mission as an intermediary between the business sector and the arts, has the task of pointing out effective ways of communicating. The important thing is not only to increase the circle of business enterprises interested in the arts, but also to prepare artists for their meetings with representatives of such enterprises. In seminars, workshops and lectures, KKA attempts to dispel the artists’ doubts and reservations, broaden their understanding and provide insights into the business world. How does one communicate with company representatives one has never met before? How does one present one’s projects to them, awaken their curiosity and interest, and convince them of the value of one’s proposals?

KKA has been offering such seminars and workshops for almost 20 years. It is surprising how welcome and how much in demand they still are and how often additional seminars have to be scheduled. Obviously, insecurity in dealing with the business sector is still an issue and the necessary forms of communication have not yet become a matter of course for persons in the arts.

Besides offering these courses, KKA also prepares artists for discussions with business representatives in numerous individual advisory sessions.

In addition to these consultancy services, theoretical discourse is also being cultivated, with the object of stimulating, initiating, developing and expanding communication and cooperation between business representatives, academics and cultural professionals. Often, persons from these three sectors encounter one another for the first time at events such as the symposium “Kunstsammlungen privater Unternehmen: Vom Sponsoring zur Kulturvermittlung” (Art Collections of Private Companies: From Sponsoring to Cultural Education) which took place in 2007, and, more recently, the symposium “Vom Sponsoring zur Corporate Cultural Responsibility” (From Sponsoring to Corporate Cultural Responsibility), both of which have been documented in publications .

The successful communication that has been taking place at such events between the speakers and other participants has been very encouraging and gives us reason to hope that, even in view of new developments and various crises, dialogue between the cultural sector and the business sector has a future.