It examines how the concept of fundraising is understood and what forms of fundraising the dance companies practice outside of public funding. It also asks how Finnish cultural policy, the reform of the state support system for the performing arts and the criteria for public funding are perceived by the dance companies.
B ACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
According to the report by Oinaala and Ruokolainen (2013), the Finnish independent dance field rarely collaborated with state-subsidized dance companies. The focus in this study is to find out how contemporary dance companies are adapting to the requirements of Finnish cultural policy strategy, reform of the state subsidy system for performing arts, decreasing public funding for dance and demand for fundraising from private sources.
A IM OF THE STUDY
How the requirements of the strategy of Finnish cultural policy and decline of public support for arts are perceived by the contemporary dance companies, and how these requirements affect the fundraising practices of the contemporary dance companies. Similarly, how the reform of the state subsidy system for the performing arts is viewed by the contemporary dance companies and how it affects their fundraising.
R ESEARCH A PPROACH
The third and fourth questions provide an additional perspective on dance company fundraising, focusing on the challenges and development ideas of both public and private funding. With these main research questions, the study aims to discover possible existing good fundraising practices of Finnish contemporary dance groups and suggests alternative perspectives for the development of fundraising from private sources outside of public support.
S TRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
This is followed by a description of different interpretations of the concept of fundraising in section 4.2, practical forms of private fundraising (4.3) and views on Finnish cultural policy and public support for the arts (4.4). The first part presents a picture of the different circumstances of dance companies in terms of their location, the scope of financing and employment, the form of organization and the composition of the board of directors.
F INNISH CULTURAL POLICY AND FUNDING SYSTEM FOR ARTS
- Developing Finnish cultural policy
- The strategy of Finnish cultural policy 2025
- Funding for (performing) arts and dance
- The reform of state subsidy system for performing arts – VOS
- Local and global influencers increasing uncertainty
The concepts of cultural democracy and democratization of culture formulated the main objectives of cultural policy. At the beginning of 2020, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science published the contents of the reform of the state subsidy system for the performing arts.
F INNISH CONTEMPORARY DANCE
The development of Finnish contemporary dance scene
In the 1990s, the first six professional dance companies became state-supported VOS dance theaters, new modern dance festivals appeared, and the number of Finnish dance artists exploded. Dance House Helsinki was one of the concrete goals already mentioned in the Vision and Strategy for Dance 2010-2020, which was initiated by the National Council for Dance.
VOS dance theatres and independent dance
Other proposals included, for example, creating a national touring network for dance, introducing dance into the curriculum of basic education, and reforming the funding system for dance to improve conditions for both state-subsidized dance theaters and freelancers. In addition, the strategy emphasized bringing the expertise of the dance artists not only to healthcare, but also to other sectors of society to create new income opportunities for dance artists.
F UNDRAISING
- Philanthropy – motivations for supporting art
- Fundraising from private sources
- The cycle of fundraising process
- Examples of private fundraising in dance organisations
- Earlier research of private fundraising in Finnish dance companies
Illuminating the dance company's mission and values and learning about different forms of fundraising is one step toward starting a private fundraising process. In addition, a separate side group may be formed to support the functions of the dance company, as described in the next paragraph.
M ETHODOLOGICAL A PPROACH OF THE S TUDY
The thematic interview results from the so-called focused interview: the researcher previously collected essential information about the structures and processes of the phenomena, which together form the basis for the interview. The interview is based on carefully selected topics that are the same for all interviewees, but the order and format of the questions may differ, additional questions may be asked, interviewees are encouraged to talk freely about the topic.
D ATA C OLLECTION AND THE STUDIED CASES
- Aurinkobaletti
- Dance Theatre Minimi
- Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth
- Tero Saarinen Company
- Pori Dance Company
- Routa Company
- Kinetic Orchestra
We asked the interviewees and agreed if their name and the name of the dance group they presented could be included in the study. Since 2004, the Tero Saarinen Company has received regular support from the state as one of the VOS dance groups (Jyrkkä, 2020).
D ATA A NALYSIS
Sometimes direct quotes from the interviewees were collected to emphasize the message or how it was expressed in the responses. In addition, the possibility of checking quotes and correcting possible misunderstandings became particularly important in this research, as the interviewees were introduced by their own names as representatives of the studied dance groups.
C RITICAL R EFLECTIONS ON THE R ESEARCH P ROCESS
The primary data collected in the interviews is supported by the data collected from the 2017–2019 websites and annual reports of the dance companies surveyed. At the same time, the possible influence of these dimensions on the fundraising of the dance companies is discussed.
S TRUCTURAL BASIS OF THE DANCE COMPANIES
Organisational forms
Therefore, the analysis sometimes highlights practical and quite detailed examples of fundraising by some dance groups instead of generalizing the issue at hand. The structure of Chapter 4, Results and Analysis, follows the order of the interview questions, which were drawn up under the relevant themes for data collection.
Location – mission – board
Similarly, a locally active dance company included in its decision-making members of the dance company, representatives of the city and local people interested in promoting the dance. A year later after the interviews, many of the dance companies had stated and clarified their missions, visions and values on their websites.
Budgets and fundraising
Budgets of the studied dance groups (year 2019): distribution of state subsidies, municipal support and funding collected from other sources. The sufficiency of future funding seemed more uncertain for dance companies receiving operational support from Taike.
U NDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF FUNDRAISING
Views to fundraising from private sources
In Finland, private fundraising on the dance floor was estimated to be at the very beginning, 'in its infancy'. The interviewees agreed that each dance company must find their own suitable methods and ideas to develop private fundraising.
P RACTISED FORMS OF ( PRIVATE ) FUNDRAISING
Horizontal collaborations – strong networks between
Unfortunately, this collaboration ended when Riihimäki Theater was sold to another theater, which was neither interested in the concept nor in the content of the model. This collaboration happens at various levels with other arts organizations in such a natural way that it is not understood as an important role in overall fundraising.
Project-funding from private foundations
With the help of project grants from private foundations to this independent choreographer, the international co-production took over Finnish dance companies and there were performances not only in Berlin, but also in Kuopio, Riihimäki, Jyväskylä and Turku. 91 Unlike most of the dance companies studied, for the Tero Saarinen Company project grants from private foundations constituted an important part of fundraising.
Sponsoring, co-operations or value-led partnerships with business sector
In return, PDC shared the sponsor company's logo or other information on PDC's websites or in a manual of the production. 97 that sponsorship or partnership with businesses will interfere with the artistic freedom or image of the dance company.
From memberships to supporters
Membership program participants after an open rehearsal of third exercises by Tero Saarinen Company (Into liikkeessä ry, 2019, p. 11). For smaller dance companies, the challenge may lie in the investment of time, money and effort compared to the financial results of the membership program.
Donations
When only a fraction of the tickets were bought a few days before the shows, the dance company was close to bankruptcy. The donations were crucial for the renovation of the dance company's premises and rehearsal studio in Cable Factory.
Increasing sales and arts-based learning methods
Minimi and Routa Company arranged similar dinner and performance packages in collaboration with restaurants (M. Kauppinen, personal communication, March 22, 2021; R. Puumalainen, personal communication, February 1, 2021). However, art-based learning methods were only consciously practiced by Routa Company in connection with local congregations.
Crowdfunding
At one time, arts-based teaching methods were expected to require a certain type of personality, knowledge and skills that current dance troupe artists were thought to lack. However, a cleverly conceived idea with a clear goal and broad awareness of the crowdfunding campaign would be worth trying out by contemporary dance groups as well.
V IEWS TO F INNISH CULTURAL POLICY AND PUBLIC SUPPORT OF ARTS
Assessments of public funding for arts and contemporary dance
The Finnish model of public support for the arts was judged to be more equal for artists than the "American model". Despite unanimous support for the "Finnish model" of stable public funding for the arts, some suggestions for improvements were made.
The reform and criteria for receiving public support for dance
For Aurinkobaletti's annual budget, the share of public funding was estimated to remain significant, although the share of own income should be increased and other methods of collection from private sources should be found in the future (S. Skantsi, personal communication, February 2 2021). The criterion for obtaining public support – to whom, or rather based on which criteria and why the grants should be directed – raised discussion and divided opinions.
External influences and the future
Nevertheless, the Covid-19 pandemic also activated the dance companies to do things differently and develop new concepts. 114 Furthermore, after the initial chaotic period, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the dance companies to stop and reconsider their ways of working and fundraising.
U NDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF FUNDRAISING
Lack of time and personnel prevents especially smaller contemporary dance companies from professionally developing their private fundraising. There were also some fears that collaborations with businesses would compromise the artistic freedom of dance companies—namely, the.
O RGANISATIONAL MODELS , BUDGETS AND THEIR IMPACT ON FUNDRAISING
Dance companies with larger annual budgets have more funds available and more opportunities to hire dedicated management and fundraising personnel. In this study, dance companies had verbally expressed the emphasis of their operations in their annual reports, but rarely presented their mission, vision and values statements openly for example on their websites.
L EARNINGS FROM APPLIED FORMS OF ( PRIVATE ) FUNDRAISING
- Volume, lifetime, income and savings through horizontal collaborations
- Private foundations funding projects, co-productions and
- Collaborations with business sector
- From memberships to donations
- Targeting to increase sales
Most dance companies have some experience in this category, but few have value-based partnerships. 128 Nevertheless, one of the dance companies studied had received substantial donations from private individuals to support the company's activities.
F INNISH CULTURAL POLICY –
The reform of the state subsidy system for the performing arts entered into force in January 2022. Public support must be predictable and significant enough to free up fundraising efforts from other sources.
M ANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
Clarifying the mission, vision and values of the dance company will crystallize the goals of the organization. Benchmarking, looking at examples of others and studying already existing practices of (private) fundraising at other arts organizations creates awareness of the dance company's own unique possibilities.
S UGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Kultuurbeleidnavorsingsentrum Cupore.https://www.cupore.fi/images/tyldotot/2020/taiteen_ja_kulttuur in_barometri_2019.pdf. Onttrek 10 Junie 2022 van https://www.kineticorchestra.fi/post/spring-break- valloitta-stoan-t%C3%A4ll%C3%A4-viikolla?lang=fi.
