Art Management Entrepreneurial Style
By Giep Hagoort (Eburon Press, 2001, ISBN 90 5166 802 3 £17.50 [£21.50 inc. p&p*])
This is a worthy complement to the small collection of books on general arts management. Written by a man who has been teaching arts management for a number of years in Utrecht and has undertaken formal studies in corporate management in the USA, the author has done his homework. He draws on up-to-date examples of practice and current theory from the corporate management sector: nice to have it that way round. He does, though, give a health warning, reminding the reader that general management theory is focused on large scale, profit-driven organisations. As he puts it, “The prime concern is that arts managers will make a lot of flawed decisions… if they ignore this tacit weakness in general management theory”. A man after my own heart! In particular,Hagoort identifies a new organisational form, which he calls Intercultural Network Organisations (INOs).These INOs are made up of core teams, an irregular workforce and strategic alliances and are not dissimilar to the organisational patterns identified by Sue Kay and myself in the UK.
While this book will be particularly useful for anyone involved in teaching and training using an international approach, it has wider relevance and offers some practical tools and frameworks for thinking and action. It is replete with diagrams through which Hagoort sets out to depict our amorphous and ambiguous field. He encourages us to think, and highlights many questions, paradoxes and dilemmas. Nothing new there then, but with his guidance we can feel a little more sure of our own patch of ground.
Janet Summerton is a researcher, writer and consultant who leads the Arts and Cultural Management Programmes at University of Sussex.
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