The mission of the Salzburg Global Seminar is to challenge present and future leaders to solve issues of global concern. The Salzburg Global Seminar convenes imaginative thinkers from different cultures and institutions, organizes problem-focused initiatives, supports leadership development, and engages opinion-makers through active communication networks, all in partnership with leading institutions from around the world and across different sectors of society.

The Salzburg Global Seminar seeks to magnify the impact of individuals and institutions that bring just and humane values to bear on the global challenges facing their societies and the world.

The Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention is one of the courses included in the Salzburg Global Seminar 2010 Program and will be held between 21-25 February 2010.

Faculty:

Adrian Ellis (Co-Chair) - Managing Principle, AEA Consulting LLC, New York, NY
Russell Willis Taylor (Co-Chair) - President and CEO, National Arts Strategies, Washington, DC

Abstract:

The current global economic downturn and the resultant tough strategic choices that arts organizations face about the scope and scale of their work both present a rare opportunity for cultural leaders. Now more than ever arts leaders will need to be able to define and articulate the value the arts provide to society as a whole, and to the specific communities they serve. Leaders who are able to share this compelling message will head institutions that emerge from the current crisis stronger than ever before - leaders who cannot will find their organizations marginalized in the search for resources.

All cultural leaders are well versed in the instrumental arguments of economic development and educational enhancement that have been adopted over the past decade to persuade those with funding-donors, government, foundations-that they are deserving of support. While these instrumental arguments have been helpful in sustaining some arts organizations, they have eclipsed the more fundamental and intrinsic value that the arts provide as a key component of a healthy civil society. Arts leaders have become less adept at answering the question "Why do the arts really matter?"

As economies and citizens recalibrate their expectations and begin to look at what values they want their institutions to reflect - be they government, higher education, or cultural institutions - the arts have a rare opportunity to regain a place at the civic table and become part of this recalibration. This session will bring together leaders of cultural institutions, cultural policymakers, foundation representatives, arts association leaders, trustees, arts sector researchers and journalists together to articulate how cultural activities of all types can be crucial building blocks of the society that will emerge from this period of dramatic change. Cultural institutions that were built on the values of thirty years ago have a chance to reinvigorate their missions and become central to public life, and this session will explore all of the ways in which this new creation of meaning might advance. Emerging from the discussions will be a set of strategies and recommendations for arts institutions entitled "The Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Reinvention."

This Session has been made possible by a generous grant from The Edward T. Cone Foundation.