Anarcakes

Open Call

Politics, culture, and community collide in independent cultural centers throughout Europe.  These eclectic arts spaces shape and foster contemporary art, arts practices, and artists in all its various disciplinary forms.  The goal of the research project is to understand how these organizations maintain financial independence relying little or without relying at all on private or public funds to cover operational costs.  With a management and economic lens, we will produce a series of case studies.

Criteria

We are looking for participating organizations that fulfill the following criteria:

1. A legal entity (non profit, charity, cultural association, etc.)
2. Culture is the primary activity: Concerts, poetry, exhibitions, etc.
3. Contributed income to cover operational costs from either public or private sources is zero or minimal, but contributed income for non-operational costs (projects, renovations, etc) is okay.
4. Willingness to share financial and organizational information and engage in semi-structured interviews.

Interview Template

These questions offer guidelines per interview:

 •   Do you have a mission?  If so, what?

•   What is the history of the space?

•   What is your impact (local/national/international)? And how do you determine it?

•   What is the management structure?

•   Budget? Costs and revenues.

•   Do you do fundraising? If so, what kind?

•   Do you receive government or county assistance?

•   Who is your audience? Profile, demographics, if available.

•   What kind of community outreach do you do? 

•   How many and what kind of events do you do? (Programming/Calendar)

•   What are your biggest challenges?

•   Where do you want to go in the future?