Author: Wahl-Ziegler, Erika

Publication Year: 1979

Media Type: Conference paper/presentation

Summary:

Paper presented at First International Conference on Arts and Economics, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 8-10, 1979.

Abstract:

Paper presented at First International Conference on Arts and Economics, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 8-10, 1979. Comment by Alexander Belinfante appears on p. 235.

In Germany and the today there is much debate over a complex of noneconomic and political factors or crises confronting theatre and orchestra - what has been called the arts in jeopardy. (Peacock 1969, p. 324) The financial aspects of the crises dominate this investigation and determine the future existence of professional theater and orchestra.

In the countries under discussion here, as well as in other Western countries with market economies, financial crisis is the rule and is characterized by two main symptoms: (1) financial difficulties of individual ensembles due to the insufficiency of income from ticket sales, resulting in dependency on transfer income (subsidies) from either public or quasi-public sources; and (2) the threat of a decay of the arts, since a sufficient financial return (that is, high enough income through ticket sales) becomes the dominating goal of and criterion for the activities of theaters and orchestras.

The underlying problems are chronic to this subsector of a market system because market forces permanently endanger the subsector, even to the point of a market failure, which calls for corrective intervention. In Western countries, corrective intervention comes through private donations and public transfer payments. (p. 224)

CONTENTS
The nature of the underlying problems.
Two systems of market adjustment: The Anglo-American and German approaches.
Bridging the gap between model and reality.
Advantages and disadvantages of the German approach.
Advantages and disadvantages of the American approach.
In quest of an optimal approach.
Notes.
References [bibliography].

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Creative Economies