Economic Development & Social Investment with Arts and Culture
Over the years, organisations have awoken to the potential of engaging with their local communities through art, not just for the benefit of society, but with real, tangible returns for all involved.
When organisations and communities are united together through arts and culture, the result is a better localised regeneration, an increase in tourism, greater business innovation, patronage, and brand recognition… to name but a few.
At WeTheSeeds, we know just how significant the impact can be when an organisation integrates itself with the surrounding culture and local community. A proactive, community-led approach to arts and culture leads to the growth of the community, the growth of the organisations involved, and the growth of the resident.
Art, culture, and social value
Welcome Mural for Harrow Council
Art is essential, yet it is also difficult to quantify its value in terms of raw data, due to the holistic impact it has on the myriad dynamics of communities and businesses. Oscar Wilde famously said, ‘All art is useless’, but this wrong on a variety of levels, as it doesn’t account for art’s crucial importance for human flourishing. All cultures value art – if not always knowingly – and when it’s neglected, societies often begin to fray and unravel. The same can be said for organisations and local communities who fail to nurture this most undeniable and universal human necessity.
Numerous reviews and studies have been conducted over the years which demonstrate the civic, business, and individual outcomes of arts engagement. When different organisations work with a community through art, the holistic improvements on all levels are massive. The communities become stronger whilst the businesses show more stable and robust growth. The people involved on both sides are healthier, happier, more fulfilled, and willing to participate within the community itself. The knock-on effects benefit everyone and create a feedback loop for years to come.
The value of arts engagement for business
Hand-painted window display too boost high street engagement
To quote the Arts Council, ‘When we talk about the value of arts and culture, we should always start with the intrinsic – how arts and culture illuminate our inner lives and enrich our emotional world.’ If marketing is the way of changing someone’s feelings or perceptions towards an organisation, then art could be considered the most powerful way of affecting these changes.
The possibilities for a business to improve their standing within a community through art are limitless. Art humanises its subject, and as such, it humanises the organisation or business it represents, developing a more powerful and tangible relationship with both the audience and the players, from engaged shoppers to youth organisers.
This fortified relationship between business and community can be measured by the concrete returns on investment for the business involved, but there are also many other ‘soft returns’ which should be considered as well. Although less tangible in the immediate term, they are still of vital importance:
‘Hard’ Return Measurements
ROI assessments
Performance assessments
Stakeholder perception surveys
Case analysis and project evaluation
‘Soft’ Return Measurements
Enhanced reputation
Addressed community needs
Delivering on company values
Addressed employee needs
New opportunities for innovation
When added together, all these factors can improve both the internal and external overall health of an organisation’s anatomy.
Approaches to arts and culture
Inspiring others and creating safer neighbourhoods
The old ways of engaging with the arts through philanthropy are still there and still have their merits. But there are a vast number of new ways for organisations to develop their standing within the community.
Community engagement is a form of marketing in a practical, real-world, and hands-on sense. A community is made up of humans and organisations with shared relationships, and the process of community engagement through art helps to strengthen these relationships, build upon them through action, and promote solutions to their shared needs and values.
Community art engagement could be anything artistic where community dialogue is at the forefront, from creating an inspired mural to enabling a space for a local workshop through a network of cultural development.
The heart of the community is the public square, and it has been for centuries. Initiatives like creative placemaking help communities to rethink these established yet often underused spaces in modern society, serving their interests by transforming them from the inside out.
The re-imagination of a space, whether it’s through inner city regeneration, murals, playgrounds, commercial spaces, or window art advertising, turns an environment from a mere place into a portal of growth and opportunity, a vast ocean of potential with no bedrock.
A dynamic business has the conceptual ability to create something from nothing, and it is this type of professional acumen which makes business such a valuable player in the world of community art.
For use and ornament
Turning daily routines into inspiring journeys
It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the arts, and nor can we imagine a world without them. In fact, the arts are so intertwined with social value that it is sometimes difficult to see just how important they are, the way a fish cannot tell how important water is to its existence.
As Plato remarked, ‘Beauty is the splendour of truth’, and if he is correct, it is one of the most valuable assets to a society. Beautiful art is recognisable by everyone, and it elevates all those who aim towards and work among it, both businesses and communities alike.
If your organisation wants to utilise the potential of arts and culture to build a better relationship within the community, then visit our website to learn more about how you can get involved.
At WeTheSeeds, we recognise the significance of bringing art to the heart of a community for the benefit of all.
So why not find out more?
So why not find out more about our London-based Creative Art Agency, specialising in public art marketing and public realm arts management?
Find out more about how we can help you connect with your community, we work throughout the 32 London boroughs and throughout the United Kingdom so why not find out more today?
