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Partnering for risk and return in the arts
"Partnerships are a smart way of doing business. They pool complementary strengths and resources to achieve better results for customers and benefits for the partners," says Alastair Carruthers, Chair of Creative New Zealand.
Writing in a column published in the National Business Review, which announced the winners of the 2007 National Business Review Awards for Sponsorship of the Arts, Alastair Carruthers continues:
As the national arts development agency, Creative New Zealand recognises that partnerships lie behind many of the most successful arts endeavours. We see them as one of the key ways to help the arts to flourish in the future.
Greater investment by business is one of the reasons that the arts have grown stronger over recent years. Businesses have joined with private patrons, community trusts, local authorities and Creative New Zealand to help the arts be more sustainable and to provide security for artists to take more creative risks. I warmly congratulate all business supporters of the arts for your commitment.
The benefits are not always easy to measure, but with over 75% of New Zealanders agreeing that the arts help to define who we are as New Zealanders and deserve public funding there is very strong consumer support for investment in the arts. In addition, 73% of New Zealanders agree that their community would be poorer without the arts.
Smart business partnerships create benefit for staff and shareholders too by introducing new audiences, building company culture, strengthening brands and encouraging innovative business thinking.
As leading Australian businessman and the Chair of the Australia Council for the Arts, James Strong, commented recently to a business audience: "A two-way partnership that allows your arts partner to tap into your business knowledge and expertise - and you to tap into their creative streak - can pay dividends. A creative approach to business problems can be the intangible spur to innovation that can provide you with an edge."
The Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery is presented to arts business partnerships that extend boundaries, test new ideas, develop new work - in short, that dare to be unusual.
This year's winner is an innovative partnership between the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Multi-Media Systems Limited.
When the NZSO was planning its 60th anniversary celebrations, it approached Multi-Media Systems with a proposal to increase its level of sponsorship. Multi-Media Systems brought its business resources to the table, resulting in New Zealand's first-ever live web cast involving sound and moving image.
Via the internet, the NZSO was able to reach into every corner of New Zealand and share its music with an international audience. Big screen technology presented archival footage of the NZSO throughout the concert, held in the Wellington Town Hall and shown live in Civic Square.
This was a massive undertaking involving numerous technical challenges. But through collaboration, a commitment to excellence and meticulous attention to detail, the concert went off without a hitch and the NZSO increased the capacity of its audience many times over.
Congratulations to Multi-Media Systems and the NZSO on a successful and brave partnership, which dared to go beyond the confines of a traditional venue space. And congratulations to all business that are helping artists to make and present work so audiences in New Zealand and overseas can experience their brilliance and inspiration.
