From Sponsoring to Corporate Cultural Responsibility

CCR as a Pledge of Faith in the Power of Art

At the time when sponsoring of the arts and culture had just reached its first zenith and an increasing number of companies were using the marketing instrument of cultural sponsoring with growing enthusiasm and professionalism, a new concept entered the discussion, causing both confusion and interest:

the concept of “corporate cultural responsibility” (CCR), which, hand in hand with a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), can lead to a new understanding of cooperation between the industrial sector and the arts.

Just as, over 20 years ago, the definition of cultural sponsoring was broad and often rather vague, today many people are not sure what ought to be understood by the term CCR. What is the difference between CCR and traditional cultural sponsoring? To what extent do private companies actually have a responsibility to support cultural life in society? What other benefits can companies draw from their cooperation with cultural institutions and/or individual artists, assuming that marketing alone is not a strong enough argument? What forms of cooperation can be established which, without calling the autonomies of the partners into question, will still lead to interesting and creative new synergies?

Even though this discussion is still in the early stages, there have already been encouraging examples of CCR in practice. Several of them were presented, together with an attempted theoretical analysis, in September 2010 at the symposium “Vom Sponsoring zu Corporate Cultural Responsibility” (From Sponsoring to Corporate Cultural Responsibility), initiated by KKA and Bank Austria.

One of the fundamental theses of CCR is sustainability. Whether it is a matter of sponsoring or of CCR, the long-term effect of various cultural initiatives is always being emphasised. However, the experiences that are cited are mainly subjective, and there are as yet no irrefutable bases for serious theoretical discussion.
CSR as well as CCR are strongly related to economic developments, and this, of course, includes the recent economic slumps whose effects no country has been able to avoid. Has the crisis led to a change in thinking, causing companies to withdraw from cooperation with cultural institutions in order to save money? There were widespread fears that this might prove to be the case, but in fact there has been no major falloff in sponsoring of the arts and culture. It cannot be denied that cancellations have occurred, but these have been more than compensated for by numerous new initiatives, the generosity of which has been surprising. Many companies are steadfast in their commitment to cultural responsibility, and their faith in the arts and culture has not been shaken even by decreases in production and sales.
/KKA, Annemarie Türk

Full-length text in German:
www.kulturkontakt.or.at/magazin

SYMPOSIUM “Vom Sponsoring zu Corporate Cultural Responsibility” (From Sponsoring to Corporate Cultural Responsibility)
The first public discussion among representatives of Austrian and international companies, as an impulse for future debate about CCR, took place on 10 September 2010 in Vienna. The results of the symposium, which was organised by KKA and Bank Austria, will be published at the beginning of 2011.

In November 2009, KKA organised the theme evening “Über die Verantwortung von Wirtschaft und andere Unternehmungen” (“On the Responsibility of the Business Sector and Other Enterprises”). The recording of the discussion is available as an MP3 file at:
www.kulturkontakt.or.at/themenabende