Traditional vs. entrepreneurial marketing of arts/cultural organisations

Arts and other cultural organisations traditionally face unique economic challenges, typically due to scarce resources and significant competition. Nonprofit arts organisations, in particular, often contend with volatile environments, limited resources, and intense competition, not only from other arts/culture organisations but also in much larger arenas, as contenders for consumers’ leisure time and funding from governments/foundations/individuals that support a broad range of nonprofit organisations. This combination of environmental turbulence and competition creates an atmosphere of risk, uncertainty and apprehension among arts organisations and their stakeholders, including their patrons, and it forces managers to take risks, make quicker decisions, and attempt total makeovers and reinventions to stand out in a confusing marketplace. The integration of marketing into the emerging formalisation of the field of arts management occurred relatively recently, in the late 1990s ( Bilton 2023 ). As a result, managers need to seek out and leverage unique marketing techniques, offerings, and processes in order to survive and succeed. More than ever, in environmentally turbulent times, firms should consider incorporating entrepreneurial marketing options into their traditional marketing approaches in order to remain competitive. Doing so can offer real potential for better-than-traditional success, rather than simply maintenance of the status quo or declining success, although arts organisation managers must realise that it also comes with increased risk.