Strategic integration of the arts and
business partnership is at the heart of the recently launched Business and Arts
South Africa’s Artist Sponsorship Toolkit which is set to significantly
strengthen role of arts in business.
The Artist Sponsorship Toolkit provides a
way for the management team of an arts organisation to review, refresh and
enhance their sponsorship practice – and acts as a complement to the Business
Sponsorship Toolkit that was launched by BASA in 2012.
Conceived as a step-by-step way for arts
organisations to engage in the sponsorship environment, the Artist Sponsorship
Toolkit was created by Michael Goldman, Senior Lecturer at the Gordon Institute
of Business Science, in partnership with the BASA team.
“South African arts organisations and
projects continue to have a significant impact on our society, although many of
the leaders of these organisations are less familiar with the marketing and
sponsorship management practices required to access the financial and other
resources needed to sustain and grow their organisations,” explains Goldman. “The
Artist Sponsorship Toolkit provides arts organisation managers with a set of practical
templates, exercises and techniques that can be used to develop more successful
sponsorship-raising strategies.”
Goldman points to the fact that the
sponsorship environment is becoming more competitive, requiring arts
organisations to be more clear and strongly define their value to audiences,
participants, sponsors and society: “Arts organisation managers therefore need
to demonstrate how their proposed partnership with a corporate sponsor will
provide specific and relevant value to the company's business,” he adds.
The Artist Sponsorship Toolkit provides a
way for arts organisations – particularly those with less of an established
track record - to build a long-term relationship with corporate sponsors.
Arts organisations are now able to use the
toolkit to guide a more strategic integration between the partners involved in
a sponsorship relationship. This includes a fusion between the core values of
the arts organisation and the sponsoring business, and an exploration of the
areas and functions of the sponsoring business in which the involvement in the
arts can have an impact.
The Artist Sponsorship Toolkit now acts as
a superb complement to the Business Sponsorship Toolkit.
Launched in 2012, this toolkit is already
being used by many South African businesses as a way of navigating through a
sponsorship cycle and, ultimately, the ability to measure the effectiveness of
an arts sponsorship as a strategic part of any business.
Both toolkits are available for free
download off the BASA website as part of Business and Arts South Africa’s
commitment to stimulating excellence, innovation and value in the business and
arts partnership.
For more information on BASA visit www.basa.co.za