Theatres in the Netherlands are getting more and more aware of the importance of arts marketing. Art forms that are relatively easy to enjoy (for instance musicals or stand-up comedians) are selling out easily, but with regard to the high performing arts, creating a larger, loyal audience still appears to be very difficult. Since the 1980s, there have been ongoing discussions about the way marketing should be integrated in the theater practice, and still there is no agreement on the matter.
The – still – widely accepted concept of art as an autonomous phenomenon plays an important part in this discussion. From this point of view, artistic creation and arts marketing are “defined as independent tasks, each maintaining its own logic and responsibilities” (Boorsma, 2006). However, recent studies within arts philosophy argue that this modernist concept of autonomous art should be replaced by a relational perspective on art. In this theory, artistic value emerges in the confrontation with the audience. According to the philosopher
Schaeffer (1998) “in today’s world the relationship between art-making and reception can no longer be ignored or considered extrinsic to the core of art as art”. Adopting this new concept has important consequences for the presuppositions of arts marketing theory. If the experience of art, instead of the artefact itself, becomes the final criterion of artistic value, then arts marketing can play a very important role on the accomplishment of the artistic objectives.
This study focuses on the search for basic principles for the marketing of artistic values, especially in reference to the Dutch live performing arts. An important aim will be to help theatres find effective ways for building committed audiences for the intellectually more challenging performing art forms. For this purpose, relevant theories in the fields of arts marketing itself, sociology of arts, philosophy of arts, musicology and theatre studies will be examined and selected. Subsequently, a number of models (based on the selected theories) will be created and implemented into the marketing policy of a number of Dutch theatres, where they will be tested in practice. Finally, the results will be linked to the theories on arts marketing that were examined earlier.
Kim Joostens
