A thoughtful business model does not stand in the way of artistic freedom, quite the contrary

The corona crisis has brought many things into focus, especially in the cultural sector. A 2019 study on working and entrepreneurship in the Flemish cultural sector already showed that the sector still suffers from a lack of business skills. In the corona crisis, this lack really became clear. Subsidies fortunately offered somewhat of a safety net but the sector was still hit unusually hard.

According to Annick Schramme, it will remain crucial for the cultural sector to focus on sharpening business skills even after corona: "In the cultural sector, organizations or creators very much start from their own artistic project. This is logical, but it sometimes causes them to neglect elementary questions such as: What do we want to achieve? Who are we doing it for? How can we connect people to our story? Who can we collaborate with to achieve this?"

"Those are actually all questions you have to answer in your business model. The word business model alone often evokes protest and resistance because it is supposed to be at odds with the artistic project. But it's the opposite: a well-thought-out business model makes it possible to create, to bring art and culture. So cultural management is not an enemy of the sector; on the contrary, it supports and strengthens it. Cultural management helps to ensure that artistic projects can be realized and that they find their way to the public."

This 'care' for art and culture is fully reflected in Antwerp Management School's courses for the public sector. Annick Schramme: "You never have total artistic freedom. You always work within a certain context and that has its limits, no matter what. In our programs, we help look at how you can get the greatest possible creativity within those limits."

The latter, for example, proved extra important in full lockdown: "In that first wave, organizations started shifting gears very quickly in order to still be able to offer something of art and culture. They immediately dived into the technical aspect of digitization and usually opened up their online offerings for free. This is quite understandable in such a situation, but strategic thinking has been somewhat neglected. Where and how can we really create added value? These are questions you have to think about. You may be for or against it: the online business will not disappear completely. People may crave the physical experience, but they have also discovered the advantages of online offerings. And as a creator or organization, you better be aware of that. That doesn't mean you have to be a technology expert but you do need to know what impact the digital transformation will have on your operation and how to respond to it."