Hier is mijn voorstel, dat ik vandaag mocht presenteren tijdens het symposium Creative Financing of the Arts in Rotterdam.

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pitch my idea. It is about organisations in the performing arts industry earning their own money by setting up additional commercial businesses.

MY TOUR GUIDE IN ITALY

Let me tell you about La Scala, the famous opera house in Milan, where I once got an unforgettable tour. My guide explained to me how the acoustics of the building were different from every angle of the building. In the evening my tour guide joined me at the opera show and gave me lot of information about the different voices and the theme of the opera. I have never had such a great opera experience.

My guide happened to be a member of a Dutch opera group. Along their artistic activities, they organized tours to Italy for opera lovers.

Unfortunately this never happened to me in real life. But I am sure that it could become true in the near future!

I believe that there are a lot of opportunities for cultural organizations, to earn money with commercial activities, beside their cultural work. The resources and capabilities of cultural organizations can be used in many more ways than they are used now.

A MUSEUM CAFE

Museums have understood this principle really well. A large part of their income is based on the revenues from their restaurant and museum shops. For organizations in the performing arts, the situation is a little different. Usually they do not have a building that they can exploit. Still the possibilities are numerous.

OPERA SINGER

Let’s get back to the opera group. Their funding will stop next year due to the new government policy. They want to develop commercial activities but they don't want to attract sponsors or private funding, because they don’t want to be dependent! By starting up an opera travel agency, they can earn their own money and use the profits for their opera productions. And what is even more: their opera productions will certainly benefit from being in Milan often and by integrating their growing knowledge of 18th century opera with their own opera productions. They are adding value to their original product.

Let me give you some real life examples now:

COMMUNITY ARTS GROUP + CATERING SERVICES

I know a community arts group working with women in the suburbs, that just started offering catering services. It's a big hit and they get a lot of money from it.

YOUTH THEATRE SCHOOL + CHILD CARE

A Youth theatre school will be an after school child care at the same time, so they can finance the theatre school themselves.

NEW MIND SET

So what do cultural organizations need in order to set up their own commercial business unit? They need a new mind set, in which earning money is nice, marketing is exciting and entrepreneurship is rewarding. We all know that the sense of urgency is high. We also know that the capability of thinking creatively is high too.

Be creative in both worlds: the artistic and the commercial!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH