Balancing artistic and financial performance: is collaborative governance the answer?
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 2 December 2019
Issue publication date: 13 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Opera houses have been traditionally publicly financed in many western countries. However, today many opera houses are facing serious financial troubles, due to the recent financial crisis. There is thus a widespread public debate on measures to ensure agency efficiency for performing arts organizations. Focusing on the reform implemented recently in Italy, which submitted opera houses that had severe financial difficulties to a recovery plan and encouraged forms of collaborative governance (CG), the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of CG on the performance of the arts sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple case studies are used, on longitudinal data from multiple sources over a period of up to five years, in order to triangulate the narrative of financial and artistic performance and ensure trustworthiness. The study thus spans the period before the Bray Law came into force (2013) and covers the entire period in which recovery plans were implemented.
Findings
The analysis explores how opera houses are building sustainability for themselves and the community in terms of financial and artistic performance through CG. Various forms of CG adopted yielded positive results. Furthermore, more robust forms of CG generated better performance, especially from a financial point of view.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the limited knowledge of CG in the non-profit sector by bridging the fields of agency performance and CG. It discusses how the introduction of forms of CG can build up long-term sustainability, solving the dilemma of how to achieve financial equilibrium without compromising artistic quality, focusing on the case of opera houses, which are notably affected by Baumol’s cost disease.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research was carried out without funding. No competing interests are at stake and there is no conflict of interest for any of the authors. The work presented in this paper was first presented at the International Symposium on Collaborative Governance, University of Palermo, October 2018. The paper builds on helpful comments of the reviewers both at the Symposium and from the Journal. The authors would like to thank the special controller appointed by the Ministry, Gianluca Sole, for his valuable assistance.
Citation
Fanelli, S., Donelli, C.C., Zangrandi, A. and Mozzoni, I. (2020), "Balancing artistic and financial performance: is collaborative governance the answer?", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 78-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-05-2019-0138
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited