ARTSblog

Max Donner

Art is more than beautiful. It is profitable.

Challenging economic times have sent financial experts back to the drawing boards. Impressive results from centers of excellence in the creative economy offer a vision for sustainable economic growth.

Arts administrators who need to convince their supporters and their communities to advance the programs that make creative economies work also need to understand what works best and why. These success stories can invigorate this dialogue.

While much daily businesses news is bad news, firms that have chosen art as a core competence and engaged many artists and designers continue achieve impressive profits and growth:

1. Swiss timepiece and design firm Swatch Group reported this summer that annual sales increased 11% and profits grew by 22% over the same period in 2010. Swatch introduced its first “Art Special” at the Pompidou Centre in 1985. Since then, it has continued to commission innovative art by leading contemporary artists such as French painter Grems and sculptor Ted Scapa. The Swatch corporate strategy of building a company on a foundation of artistic talent has also built expertise in art business, for example, using sophisticated models to calculate limited edition amounts.

2. BMW employs more artists than all other auto manufacturers combined. The results speak for themselves. While General Motors and Chrysler have experienced chaotic bankruptcies and Toyota reported its first losses in decades, BMW sales and profits have continued double digit growth. This summer the company launched the BMW Guggenheim Lab together with curators from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to learn more about the foundations of the creative economy. BMW also reported record financial results: annual sales increased 17% while net profits nearly doubled to $2.5 billion for the spring quarter, the equivalent of $10 billion a year. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8%

There are now 33.4 million people living with HIV and AIDS.

Each year, two million die from AIDS-related illnesses.

Thirty years ago, the disease had not yet been named, but friends were sick: lingering flus, ongoing fatigue, night sweats, and purple lesions overtook and obliterated my generation. We all thought another shot of penicillin would take care of it.

Fear mongering and prejudice greeted those who were ill.

The media talked about “gay cancer scares.”

Politicians called for quarantines.

By 1982, the illness was named; AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Scientists identified the HIV virus. Three thousand cases had been reported in the U.S.; one thousand had died.

By the end of the ‘80s, eight million people were living with AIDS worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 6%