Author: Kushner, Roland J.

Publication Year:

Media Type: Periodical (article)

Summary:

Abstract:

This essay is one of five articles in the summer 2003 issue of The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society that poses the question, "do arts intermediaries always create positive value; and what criteria can we establish to judge their current and future utility?"

{From the Journal's Introduction by Arthur Brooks) "Arts intermediation is not limited to the public sector, of course. Indeed, profitable industries have arisen around the arts and entertainment to promote and facilitate the exchange of artistic services between artists and their publics, whether live or electronic. Roland Kushner writes about for-profit arts intermediaries as an essential link in the arts delivery system, focusing in particular on the role of agents and managers for the live performing arts."

"In this article, I explore the self-interested behaviors of artists and other participants in the supply chain of services that bring them to audiences, and I explain them with stylized descriptions for the behavior of economics actors. These behaviors, and the market institutions that emerge from them, fit a range of performance markets in popular, jazz, and classical music. In particular, I focus on the functions, roles, and decision processes of go-betweens and facilitators in these markets. I examine them by considering the musical performance industry as a set of interconnected decision doamins that link performing artists to audiences through actions and services of intermediaries. In this article, I:

* describe the functions of ultimate producers (artists), ultimate consumers (audiences), and the intermediaries ﾝthe presenting organizations and artists' representatives.
* detail the choice and criterion variables for these market participants.
*analyze the optimization problems faced by the market participants that need joint solutions; and
* consider a framework for these joint optimization problems to help policymakers and decision makers in these markets."

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Participation