The research assesses the role of event centre in the development of state economics. Most studies of arts and culture in urban and regional development thus apply the simple measures of economic growth such as income and employment, but... more
The research assesses the role of event centre in the development of state economics. Most studies of arts and culture in urban and regional development thus apply the simple measures of economic growth such as income and employment, but the linkage effects or customer effects have not been calculated in common impact analyze. This research includes the analysis of short run spending effects – the direct effects, the induced effects and the indirect effects. The research object is Dzintari concert hall, event centre of international significance in Jurmala, Latvia, one of higher indexes after main criteria regarding the activities of event centre.
Political, socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place in the world during the last years have influenced all the spheres. Constant improvements are necessary to sustain in rival and shrinking markets. This sets high quality... more
Political, socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place in the world during the last years have influenced all the spheres. Constant improvements are necessary to sustain in rival and shrinking markets. This sets high quality standards for the service industries. Therefore it is important to conduct comparison of quality criteria to ascertain which practices are achieving superior performance levels. At present companies in Latvia do not carry out mutual benchmarking, and as a result of that do not know how they rank against their peers in terms of quality, as well as they do not see benefits in sharing of information and in benchmarking. The purpose of this paper is to determine the criteria of qualitative benchmarking, and to investigate the use of the benchmarking quality in service industries, particularly: finance and culture sectors in Latvia in order to determine the key driving factors of quality, to explore internal and foreign benchmarks, and to reveal the full potential of inputs’ reduction and efficiency growth for the aforementioned industries. Case study and other tools are used to define the readiness of the company for benchmarking. Certain key factors are examined for their impact on quality criteria. The results are based on the research conducted in professional associations in defined fields (insurance and theatre). Originality/value – This is the first study that adopts the benchmarking models for measuring quality criteria and readiness for mutual comparison in insurance and theatre industries in Latvia.
The skills and knowledge of the owners and employees of cultural enterprises on economic use of financial resources do not guarantee valuable artistic results. Therefore, a substantiated question has arisen: how to evaluate management in... more
The skills and knowledge of the owners and employees of cultural enterprises on economic use of financial resources do not guarantee valuable artistic results. Therefore, a substantiated question has arisen: how to evaluate management in enterprises with bad financial ratios and outstanding artistic indicators. The existing definitions of cultural management (Aageson, 2008; Hagoort, 2007; Klamer, 1999; Stam, 2006; Nordman, 2003) also do not provide precise suggestions for determining the most important indicators in the evaluation of cultural management. The question is how to evaluate management in cultural entrepreneurship by determining the most important indicators for a cultural enterprise's performance improvement. In order to define the goal of the stakeholders' (artists, clients, media, arts scholars, third parties providing funds, cooperation partners) engagement, it is necessary to analyse the area of an enterprise's activities, and in what way and by what kind of activities it is possible to engage the stakeholders. During the course of empirical research, it is planned to disclose, analyse and interpret the subjective reasons of pursuit. Although a numerical evaluation of stakeholders was obtained during the research and data analysis performed by Spearman's rho correlation calculations, the obtained results during the interpretation have not been generalised. The research results reveal the role of the cultural enterprise's stakeholders' engagement in the evaluation of management, point to the importance of the goals' analysis as well as the analysis of each stakeholder's engagement, and define the criteria for evaluating the activities in cultural entrepreneurship.
TJARVE BAIBA, ZEMĪTE IEVA. 2016. The Role of Cultural Activities in Community Development. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 64(6): 2151–2160. Culture has a critical role in transforming localities... more
TJARVE BAIBA, ZEMĪTE IEVA. 2016. The Role of Cultural Activities in Community Development. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 64(6): 2151–2160. Culture has a critical role in transforming localities into more attractive places to work and invest. Cultural activities and facilities significantly affect the development of the physical environment of cities. But what does it all mean for the local residents of the neighbourhoods? How do they feel or participate in cultural activities organized for them? The overall aim of this study has been to evaluate participation effect on the development of Riga's neighbourhoods during the year of The European Capital of Culture. During the research, the authors have used the mixed research methodology. The qualitative analysis of the Riga 2014 programme has been done based on the qualitative interviews with the artistic team, project managers and entrepreneurs from Riga's neighbourhoods; besides, a detailed analysis of Riga 2014 programme events has been performed. The main findings show that cultural life in the neighbourhoods is among the most important factors determining the satisfaction with life by the neighbourhoods' inhabitants. Personalities, not infrastructure have a crucial importance in the development of neighbourhood cultural life. Cultural activities in neighbourhood should be carried out in close cooperation with the stakeholders from different sectors. This can bring to sustainable and long‑term effects.
It is considered that amateur artists perform or produce strictly for their own satisfaction and quite often that of other members of the local community, while making their living some other way (Elkington and Stebbins 2014). However,... more
It is considered that amateur artists perform or produce strictly for their own satisfaction and quite often that of other members of the local community, while making their living some other way (Elkington and Stebbins 2014). However, researchers have discovered that amateur art has significant social (Matarasso 1997), educational, cultural and even economic impact (Bronner 2009). So who is responsible for financing amateur artists: state, region, municipality or is it the third sector? Moreover, what are the most efficient public incentives to sustain social and economic effects in the long-term? The overall aim of this study has been to analyse public incentives for amateur arts and to assess their impact on the development of amateur art in the long-term. First, we look at social and economic impact of amateur arts, as well as arguments that can be used for justification of introducing public incentives to support amateur arts. Second, we briefly analyse fiscal measures, which can be applied to amateur arts in Europe. Third, we discuss in detail participation in amateur arts in Latvia and fiscal measures that are applied on a national and local level. Finally, we discuss the most efficient public incentives to sustain social and economic benefits in the long-term.
The authors analyse the concept of fiscal decentralisation in culture. The funding model of the Song and Dance Celebration movement in the period 2011–2015 has been chosen as a case study. Three criteria to assess the level of fiscal... more
The authors analyse the concept of fiscal decentralisation in culture. The funding model of the Song and Dance Celebration movement in the period 2011–2015 has been chosen as a case study. Three criteria to assess the level of fiscal decentralisation are introduced: 1. The equalisation of public expenditure regionally; 2. The ratio between central and sub-central authorities in total public expenditure; 3. Distribution of public subsidies among different groups of cultural producers. Qualitative and quantitative analysis has been used for conducting the research: analysis of documents and of the budgets in 11 municipalities around Latvia. Conclusions show that although the division of competence between the state and local governments meets the principles of decentralisation, strengthening the non-governmental sector and individual financial contributions would increase the level of decentralization and foster sustainability of the amateur arts sector and the tradition of the Song and Dance Celebration in the long term.
The proposed article takes a closer look at economic factors that are crucial for the development of the Song and Dance Celebration in a long-term. Individual contributions of amateur artists are essential for sustaining the tradition... more
The proposed article takes a closer look at economic factors that are crucial for the development of the Song and Dance Celebration in a long-term. Individual contributions of amateur artists are essential for sustaining the tradition because of several reasons. Firstly, amateur arts in its essence are oriented at self-initiative. Therefore, certain financial responsibility should be taken at the lowest, individual level. Secondly, as amateur art in Latvia is strongly supported by the public authorities, stronger emphasis on individual contributions is a way to share risks and strengthen diversity of funding sources, which is especially significant in the context of negative demographic tendencies and uncertainty of economic developments. Quantitative survey of amateur artists in 11 municipalities and 4 focus group discussions were conducted. The survey results confirm the opinions expressed in the focus group discussions that the amateur art community in Latvia is not ready to increase their financial contributions for participatory activities. In their opinion, public funding should cover costs for rehearsal venue, salary of the leader of the amateur art group, transport costs for the tours in Latvia and costs for concert costumes. The key argument is the public responsibility for safeguarding the tradition of the Song and Dance Celebration. The participants are willing to finance by themselves informal events and participation fee that covers small everyday expenses. The authors can assume that participants feel comfortable with and can justify such expenditure that increases their social capital and strengthens their belonging to the community (amateur choir or dance group).
The paper explores cultural entrepreneurship practice through the theoretical lens of the paradox. Cultural entrepreneurship is a relatively new research field, and it focuses on practices of individuals creating, recognizing and pursuing... more
The paper explores cultural entrepreneurship practice through the theoretical lens of the paradox. Cultural entrepreneurship is a relatively new research field, and it focuses on practices of individuals creating, recognizing and pursuing business opportunities in the production of original cultural/artistic content. Prior research shows that cultural entrepreneurship differs from "traditional" entrepreneurship along several lines. This paper explores paradoxes as interlinked contradictions, manifested in the process of creating new products by nascent cultural entrepreneurs. The study follows an inductive, iterative and qualitative approach. The analysis identified four paradoxes and responses to these. The study demonstrates that transcendence of contradictions between commercial and cultural/ artistic goals and identities is often achieved by referring to social, ethical, aesthetic and authorship-related rationales.
The authors discuss the role of participatory governance in safeguarding and developing intangible cultural heritage using the Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration (SDC) tradition as an example for an analysis. Although the surveys of... more
The authors discuss the role of participatory governance in safeguarding and developing intangible cultural heritage using the Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration (SDC) tradition as an example for an analysis. Although the surveys of the community show that the SDC tradition maintenance is considered to be satisfactory and the organisational system at the moment is working fine, for fostering the tradition and increasing the role of the tradition bearers' stronger involvement and support for the bottom-up activities of the community would be recommended. This is also needed to develop a more democratic and sustainable approach to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, as recommended by the international standard setting instruments that introduce the concept of participatory governance. Moreover, occasional dissatisfaction with authoritarian and top-down governance of the SDC emerges in public and social media, implicitly indicating the need for a more bottom-up approach and greater involvement of community members in the decision making. In addition, the principles of participatory governance should be incorporated in the Song and Dance Celebration Law to be in line with the more recent Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage. Taking into account the activities of the most powerful NGO Latvian Song Celebrations Society, the overall direction can be considered as positive, although there is still a need for improvements.
Cilvēki pārāk bieži uzskata, ka tradīcijai vienkārši jānotiek ar viņiem bez padziļinātas izpratnes par šo tradīciju vai racionālas iejaukšanās, raksta Saimons Bronners savā pētījumā par tradīciju (Bronner 2011: 5). Vēl retāk tradīcijas... more
Cilvēki pārāk bieži uzskata, ka tradīcijai vienkārši jānotiek ar viņiem bez padziļinātas izpratnes par šo tradīciju vai racionālas iejaukšanās, raksta Saimons Bronners savā pētījumā par tradīciju (Bronner 2011: 5). Vēl retāk tradīcijas nesēji vēlas racionāli analizēt un izprast principus un priekšnoteikumus šīs tradīcijas finansiālai uzturēšanai – vai tā būtu kordziedāšana, rokdarbi vai dejošana. Tradīcija vienkārši notiek ar viņiem – ļaudis sanāk kopā kultūras centrā uz mēģinājumiem vai priecē citus, uzdziedot svētkos. Nereti sastopams uzskats, ka tradīcijas nesēji (t. sk. amatiermākslas kolektīvu dalībnieki) savu nodarbi finansē paši un viņu pamatmotivācija ir sanākt kopā, lai gūtu prieku (Hill, O’Sullivan, & O’Sullivan 2011). Šo uzskatu labi raksturo komentārs laikrakstā pie raksta par Dziesmu un deju svētkiem: Arī es biju iedomājusies, ka dziesmu svētku dalībnieki ir amatieri un paši maksā par saviem vaļaspriekiem. Savukārt cits komentētājs iebilst: Tev nešķiet, ka tādā gadījumā vaļasprieks dziedāt korī vai dejot var kļūt pārāk dārgs? (Paiders 2017). Diskusija par to, kam un kādā mērā Dziesmu un deju svētku kustības aktivitātes un pašu svētku norise jāfinansē, nerimst gan dalībnieku, gan tradīcijā tieši neiesaistīto iedzīvotāju, gan politikas veidotāju vidē. Jautājumus par Dziesmu un deju svētku kustībā iesaistīto māksliniecisko kolektīvu darbības finansējumu aktualizē šīs tradīcijas īpašā nozīme Latvijas kultūrtelpā un nacionālās identitātes veidošanā. Dalība kādā no Dziesmu un deju svētku mākslinieciskajiem kolektīviem, atšķirībā no citiem brīvā laika pavadīšanas veidiem, bieži tiek uztverta ne tikai kā individuāla, bet arī politiska atbildība un ieguvums.
It is considered that amateur artists perform or produce strictly for their own satisfaction and quite often that of other members of the local community, while making their living some other way (Elkington and Stebbins 2014). However,... more
It is considered that amateur artists perform or produce strictly for their own satisfaction and quite often that of other members of the local community, while making their living some other way (Elkington and Stebbins 2014). However, researchers have discovered that amateur art has significant social (Matarasso 1997), educational, cultural and even economic impact (Bronner 2009). So who is responsible for financing amateur artists: state, region, municipality or is it the third sector? Moreover, what are the most efficient public incentives to sustain social and economic effects in the long-term? The overall aim of this study has been to analyse public incentives for amateur arts and to assess their impact on the development of amateur art in the long-term. First, we look at social and economic impact of amateur arts, as well as arguments that can be used for justification of introducing public incentives to support amateur arts. Second, we briefly analyse fiscal measures, which can be applied to amateur arts in Europe. Third, we discuss in detail participation in amateur arts in Latvia and fiscal measures that are applied on a national and local level. Finally, we discuss the most efficient public incentives to sustain social and economic benefits in the long-term.
The notion of cultural entrepreneurship is the 21st century necessity to define new trends that develop due to changes in economic and social space of life. The researchers see culture as a link between economics, society, and tehnology... more
The notion of cultural entrepreneurship is the 21st century necessity to define new trends that develop due to changes in economic and social space of life. The researchers see culture as a link between economics, society, and tehnology development that could foster research in the field of creative economy. The evaluation of cultural entrepreneurship is very topical in small and micro-enterprises in Latvia, as the small and medium enterprises form the greatest part of economy. The research question is: How to evaluate management in cultural enterprises by determining the most important indicators for a cultural enterprises's performance improvement? Managers with expierence of five years were invited for the focus-group discussion. Evaluation of cultural entrepreneurship includes art galleries, non-governmental theatres, and concert organizations. The analysises of the research results, related to particular stakeholders of cultural enterprises, reveal the role of the cultural ...
Culture has a critical role in transforming localities into more attractive places to work and invest. Cultural activities and facilities significantly affect the development of the physical environment of cities. But what does it all... more
Culture has a critical role in transforming localities into more attractive places to work and invest. Cultural activities and facilities significantly affect the development of the physical environment of cities. But what does it all mean for the local residents of the neighbourhoods? How do they feel or participate in cultural activities organized for them? The overall aim of this study has been to evaluate participation effect on the development of Riga’s neighbourhoods during the year of The European Capital of Culture. During the research, the authors have used the mixed research methodology. The qualitative analysis of the Riga 2014 programme has been done based on the qualitative interviews with the artistic team, project managers and entrepreneurs from Riga’s neighbourhoods; besides, a detailed analysis of Riga 2014 programme events has been performed. The main findings show that cultural life in the neighbourhoods is among the most important factors determining the satisfac...
The skills and knowledge of the owners and employees of cultural enterprises on economic use of financial resources do not guarantee valuable artistic results. Therefore, a substantiated question has arisen: how to evaluate management in... more
The skills and knowledge of the owners and employees of cultural enterprises on economic use of financial resources do not guarantee valuable artistic results. Therefore, a substantiated question has arisen: how to evaluate management in enterprises with bad financial ratios and outstanding artistic indicators. The existing definitions of cultural management (Aageson, 2008; Hagoort, 2007; Klamer, 1999; Stam, 2006; Nordman, 2003) also do not provide precise suggestions for determining the most important indicators in the evaluation of cultural management. The question is how to evaluate management in cultural entrepreneurship by determining the most important indicators for a cultural enterprise’s performance improvement. In order to define the goal of the stakeholders’ (artists, clients, media, arts scholars, third parties providing funds, cooperation partners) engagement, it is necessary to analyse the area of an enterprise’s activities, and in what way and by what kind of activiti...
Political, socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place in the world during the last years have influenced all the spheres. Constant improvements are necessary to sustain in rival and shrinking markets. This sets high quality... more
Political, socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place in the world during the last years have influenced all the spheres. Constant improvements are necessary to sustain in rival and shrinking markets. This sets high quality standards for the service industries. Therefore it is important to conduct comparison of quality criteria to ascertain which practices are achieving superior performance levels. At present companies in Latvia do not carry out mutual benchmarking, and as a result of that do not know how they rank against their peers in terms of quality, as well as they do not see benefits in sharing of information and in benchmarking.The purpose of this paper is to determine the criteria of qualitative benchmarking, and to investigate the use of the benchmarking quality in service industries, particularly: finance and culture sectors in Latvia in order to determine the key driving factors of quality, to explore internal and foreign benchmarks, and to reveal the full...
While sustainability is a much-researched issue, little has been written about the role of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in implementing sustainable development, specifically in small cities. The authors pose the following... more
While sustainability is a much-researched issue, little has been written about the role of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in implementing sustainable development, specifically in small cities. The authors pose the following questions: What is the interrelation between CCI practices and the four pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, cultural, and social) in small cities? What are the practices that CCIs use, and which they perceive as contributions to sustainable development? The authors use a single case study strategy, methods including a theoretical study, a quantitative pilot survey, a focus group discussion, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis. Overall, the article indicates that there is a varied and diverse repertoire of small- and large-scale practices carried out by CCIs in small cities in Latvia, and thus contributes to the existing scholarly literature by “teasing out” those practices. The study indicates that each of the practices may c...
