Managing Leisure 15, 237 250 (October 2010)

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens: a case study of business sponsorship at the Henley Festival
Rebecca Finkel
School of Business, Enterprise and Management, Queen Margaret University, Queen Margaret University Drive, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Edinburgh EH21 6UU, UK
This paper explores the impacts commercialisation processes have on contemporary arts festivals by analysing their increasing reliance on private sector funding sources, such as business sponsorship. A case study of the Henley Festival demonstrates the effects that being primarily dependent on corporate subsidies can have on the look and feel of a festival. Research methods include a survey sent to 117 UK arts festival organisers to discern audience demographics, programming, funding and future plans. Case study methods include in-depth interviews with the Artistic Director and Marketing Director of the Henley Festival, as well as participant and direct observation of the festival, which was recorded in a personal research diary. Main conclusions suggest that the Henley Festival is exclusionary for many of the local population and classical arts enthusiasts, who are often alienated from the festival as a result of its emphasis on garnering corporate support and providing corporate entertainment. Keywords: arts funding, business sponsorship, arts festivals, commercialisation, classical arts, corporate subsidy

INTRODUCTION It has widely been accepted that there has been an overall commercialisation of many cultural forms and leisure activities in recent years (see Bayley, 1989; Beck, 1990; Bennett et al., 1998; Caves, 2000; DuGay and Pryke, 2002; Rohter, 2003), and this can be seen to include UK arts festivals. The degree to which an arts festival is commercialised depends not only on the activities conducted by the festival (Mittila, 2003, p. 17), but also the ways in which the festival is constructed and utilised by its nancial supporters. Although some commercial elements, such as hiring venues and artists, are standard for most festivals, other commercialised activities, such as implementing business techniques and accepting

sponsorship, have been adopted on a wider scale fairly recently (Mittila, 2003, p. 17). The majority of contemporary arts festivals in the United Kingdom are not prot-driven, but many can been seen as commercial entities because they are being used to create nancial gain for places and often indirectly communities or individuals, and because some are increasingly associated with commercial enterprises and commercial practices. This paper explores the effects that commercialisation processes have on arts festivals in Britain by analysing how the private sector sponsors the arts, in general, and arts festivals, more specically, and the inuence this support has on the content and organisation of the arts festivals. For some

Managing Leisure ISSN 1360-6719 print/ISSN 1466-450X online # 2010 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/13606719.2010.508664

238 arts festivals, which receive business sponsorship, this often means catering to their programming preferences and striving to match festival audiences with sponsors target markets. This is exemplied by a case study of the Henley Festival, which examines the effects that being primarily dependent on corporate sponsorship can have on priorities and programming of a contemporary arts festival. It is suggested that arts festivals are affected by commercialisation processes in three different key ways: (1) when they are organised principally for nancial gain and when revenue generation becomes the principal aim, (2) when they are sponsored by a for-prot enterprise and (3) when they become vehicles for executing economic agendas. The rst of these has the potential to arise when there is a primary emphasis on funding the festival from the box ofce. The second form can be associated with funding from business sponsorship, even if the supporting business does not gain nancially from the partnership. It can be argued that an association with business strengthens the likelihood of making the festival into a commercial entity. The third way is a more recent phenomenon and suggests that the economic motivations behind public subsidies are contributing to the increasing commercialisation of festivals in recent decades. Public subsidy once was a reliable way of guaranteeing that commercial inuences would not affect the arts (Mittila, 2003, p. 17). However, this can be seen to be no longer the case in many instances in Britain, due mainly to the governments managerialist tendencies to measure the worth of artistic output in economic terms (Holden, 2004). The beginning of the escalation in the number of arts festivals adopting commercial practices and the widespread use of arts festivals for commercial gain in the United Kingdom can be traced to the late 1980s. Prior to this, in the late 1960s and

Finkel 1970s, the majority of arts festivals could be categorised into two different ways. There were classical arts festivals, which were organised by and for the cultured middle classes, often with Arts Council support, to enable them to see and hear a wide variety of work. Also, there were primarily locally-based community celebrations (Bianchini and Parkinson, 1994), which relied on community volunteers and local council assistance. Both kinds of festivals still exist, to an extent, today. However, the degree and nature of public subsidy has been a key variable that has changed through the years (Beck, 1990), and this has had an effect on the development of arts festivals. Public support was once considered by arts festival organisers to be more favourable than business sponsorship because it allowed the festival to experiment with more creative ideas and to operate without the necessity for so many measurable outcomes (Gardner, 2006). However, the increasing politicisation of arts funding in contemporary Britain has somewhat reversed this trend, and many arts festivals are unable to programme with the luxury of reliable and secure public funding or even manage to get a foot on the funding ladder (Gardner, 2006). Arts festivals have a responsibility to cover their costs and are increasingly seeking alternative ways to do so in the light of current public funding situations, such as increased competition for funds and restrictive guidelines for eligibility. As public funding becomes more complicated and more uncertain as a primary source of nancial support for many arts festivals, government funders have encouraged arts organisations to increase their earned income through the box ofce and retail sales and to seek corporate sponsorship (Caust, 2003, p. 55). However, the pursuit of these private methods of funding can also be seen to be having an impact on the programming decisions and operations of arts festivals. It is suggested that the main

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens factors affecting many arts festivals as they enter into the arena of private support are: increasing competition for funds, potential loss of creative control over programming, increasingly target-driven approaches to operations and increasing commercialisation of the festival. The cultural sector faces a funding landscape that is increasingly competitive (A and B, 2005) due, in part, to arts market saturation and the increase in the number of other public sector organisations seeking to partner with businesses (A and B, 2004, p. 2). Although business sponsorship for the arts has increased 8% in the previous year and three-quarters of arts organisations that applied for private funding were successful, private sources typically make up no more than 13% of their overall revenue (A and B, 2004). Arts festivals are not only competing with each other for such funding, but also with other events, art forms and modes of entertainment. Many also do not know how best to position themselves to successfully compete in an environment that requires a business-oriented approach (Evrard and Colbert, 2000, p. 4). The added pressures of becoming more strategic can be a nancial drain, as it often requires hiring staff with management or grant writing expertise. The critics of business intervention in the arts believe that such measures have the potential to commodify artistic output and turn arts organisations into commercial entities (Clark, 2004, p. 34). However, before condemning arts organisations for engaging in business practices and associations, it is necessary to pause and consider if commercialisation is necessarily such a bad thing for them in practice. From an artist perspective, private funding can often allow artists to pursue innovative activities that they would not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue. Also, many artists accept corporate funding in order to afford to perform at smaller events without having to charge

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charities or publicly-funded organisations as much. However, it is important, especially in the current strings attached climate of arts subsidy, that artists and arts administrators retain creative control despite funding pressures (Gardner, 2006). DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS SPONSORSHIP FOR THE ARTS The concept of business sponsorship for the arts can be traced to the American tradition of business philanthropy implemented by Carnegie, Rockefeller and other industrialists of the nineteenth century. By the 1950s, it was an established function in many large companies in the United States and the Great Britain. The idea was to demonstrate that the companies cared for their employees by giving back to the communities in which they lived (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 68). Business sponsorship was seen as an advantageous proposition for both the company and the arts. As Chong put it, big business feels comfortable supporting the arts; arts organisations deem support by big business as an essential ingredient for nancial success; and target audiences are made aware of the corporate contribution to cultural life (2002, p. 47). In the 1980s, corporate support for the arts became a wider phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic aided by the Reagan and Thatcher governments direct encouragement (Wu, 1998, p. 28). At the time, the Conservative government in the United Kingdom wanted businesses to fund the arts, in order to make up for the decrease in government support (Beck, 1990, p. 393). Unlike the nineteenth century philanthropists, however, business sponsorship of the arts in recent times should be partly considered as a commercial undertaking and not a purely altruistic activity. The Association for Business Sponsorship in the Arts in the United Kingdom states that sponsorship is part of a calculated promotion and

240 publicity campaign for the business name, products and services (Wu, 2002, p. 128). Along with providing innovative status for associating themselves with the arts, sponsorship provides positive branding for businesses (Gardner, 2006). However, as well as the results of Thatcherism, there are other reasons why sponsorship has grown. Growth in business investment in the arts in recent years is attributed to the increasing importance of corporate social responsibility for businesses, the increased awareness that afliations with the arts stimulates creative business cultures, regeneration projects, European City of Culture bids, growth of cultural tourism and renewed popularity of certain kinds of art forms, such as visual arts (A and B, 2004, p. 2). OHagan and Harvey (2000, p. 222) list ve primary motivations for contemporary businesses to sponsor the arts. In order of importance, these are:
. . . .

Finkel The traditional partnership of art, money and social status can be seen to exist at certain high-prole festivals and cultural events, and many companies want not only to advertise to that target audience, but also have their name associated with such prestigious events in order to strengthen their brands (Zukin, 1995). These types of events are also good arenas for corporate entertainment. Not only do sponsors receive free tickets or reduced ticket prices for employees and clients to attend prestigious events, they are also provided with heavy exposure of the companys logo for clients to see (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 69). As the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas Hoving put it in more basic terms, Art is sexy! Art is money-sexy! Art is money-sexy, social-climbing fantastic! (Wu, 1998). This may help to explain why business sponsorship is sometimes criticised for using the arts for corporate propaganda (Hewison in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 29). On a less strategic level, sponsorship is also a way for companies to be seen giving back to the community. Businesses seek to create positive environments in which they can operate more effectively. Sponsoring artistic activities shows that they maintain a social responsibility to the community and care about their customers, which in many instances they do. As Murray Bring, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Philip Morris, puts it, Selling a product is not the principal motive for giving to the arts, and if it were, it would fail (in Robinson et al., 1994, p. xvii). Corporate leaders believe that when people feel good about what a corporation is doing for the community, they will feel better about the corporation and buy from it (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 70). In recent times, there has been more pressure on companies to demonstrate their social responsibility. The arts comprises about 11% of most major companies

Promotion of image/name Supply-chain cohesion1 Corporate entertainment for clients Non-monetary benet to managers or owners Enhancing good will/corporate responsibility

In terms of promotion, well-known arts events attract certain audiences that t many corporations socio-economic marketing targets, and sponsorship is considered to be a relatively inexpensive and effective advertising tool for the companies involved (Wu, 2002, p. 129). For example, tobacco companies have been known to use arts sponsorship as a way of getting cheaper advertising and sometimes as a way of getting any advertising since cigarette advertising is illegal in many places (Wu, 2002, p. 129). Sponsorship of the arts can often help change the image of a product or corporation that may have negative connotations.

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens overall contributions budget (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 68). Also, there are global-local linkages that many multi-national corporations take into account. A company that deals in the global marketplace can demonstrate its good will and connection to a local area where the rm has an ofce or a plant, by helping to support local celebrations and traditions. A festival can be viewed as a means for the company to market their products without as much competition from other brands, as well as embed themselves locally, despite being a company with national and international business interests. Businesses do not often give directly to artists or to all types of arts evenly, or to all places geographically (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 72). In the past, what was sponsored was determined by the chairmans taste in art (Laurie in Robinson et al., 1994, p. 69). However, decisions about what to sponsor are becoming increasingly pragmatic and focussed to capitalise on name association and branding potential benets. Banks tend to prefer arts programmes that bolster regional development; publishers fund literary projects and so on. For example, The Guardians sponsorship of the Hay Festival of Literature is a strategic move, given the connections between the topic of the festival and the sponsors industry, as well as the overlap of the newspapers readership and the festivals attendees. Perhaps due to alignment issues driving partnerships, community arts organisations and activities tend to be more disadvantaged when seeking business sponsorship. Their narrow audience reach and the marginal groups on which they tend to focus are often seen as unattractive to businesses, and, despite growth trends in support for other art forms, total business sponsorship in community arts decreased 15% in 2003 (A and B, 2004, p. 3). There is the danger that this may lead to a gap in arts provision

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on a local level if grass-roots arts are increasingly under-funded and nancially forgotten. It is unlikely that the funding situation will improve in the future, given the competition for funds posed by the Olympics, among other new programmes (Serota, 2006), and will probably get worse for those at the bottom of the arts festival hierarchy as competition keeps increasing. However, as demonstrated in the following case study of the Henley Festival, relatively little known, mid-level arts festivals can attract business sponsorship by positioning themselves strategically to cater to their corporate audiences needs. The Henley Festival relies almost wholly on corporate funding and corporate attendance, and, therefore, owes its continued existence on establishing a suitable arena for corporate entertaining. This decision by Henley Festival management to actively seek out corporate sponsorship and a primarily corporate audience can be viewed as an interesting tactic to ensure continued support of the festival and the mainly classical arts it presents. Most other surveyed arts festivals, which feature mainly classical arts often have difculty sustaining their festivals from one year to the next due to changes in the public funding environment and variable interest classical arts performances. Henley Festival can also be considered as hitting the spatial lottery jackpot with regards to its proximity to London, its situation in a wealthy county and its relationship with the well-known Henley Regatta, which are a few of the factors facilitating its initial appeal to business sponsors and classical arts enthusiasts. Henleys location by the Thames is also very attractive. These can be viewed as advantages that Henley Festival has over many of the other surveyed arts festivals seeking business sponsorship, who often have a more difcult time attracting big business sponsors on a regular basis.

242 RESEARCH CONTEXT AND METHODS This case study is part of a larger research project, which examines social, economic and political impacts of UK combined arts festivals on communities and places. Combined arts festivals are dened by the Arts Council as those containing more than one genre of artistic performance, i.e., music, drama and visual arts events, as opposed to those presenting events in only a single genre of arts, such as lm festivals (Casey et al., 1996, p. 93). Research methods include a 42-question mail-back survey questionnaire sent to 117 combined arts festivals in the United Kingdom, in December 2003 and January 2004, to obtain festival demographics, programming history, funding and future plans. The questionnaire was adapted from a survey published in a 1992 study conducted by the Policy Studies Institute, concerning both single-genre and combined arts festivals in the United Kingdom (Rolfe, 1992). The 117 combined arts festivals represent the total number of combined arts festivals in the United Kingdom in 2003. A listing of these festivals was compiled from the Arts Council of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland arts festivals lists, as well as the British Arts Festivals Association membership list, European Festivals Association membership list, British Federation of Festivals membership list and International Festivals and Events Association membership list. The data are based on a 56% response rate. A majority of the major cities in England (Birmingham, Liverpool), Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow), Wales (Cardiff) and Northern Ireland (Belfast), which have combined arts festivals, responded to the survey. A majority of combined arts festivals in Greater London responded; these are primarily organised by local neighbourhoods or councils, as there is no major London-wide combined arts festival. The 51

Finkel combined arts festivals that failed to respond are similar in size variation and geographical area to those that did respond. Case studies were selected for this research because they were viewed as the best means to obtain a holistic understanding of cultural systems of action, which are sets of inter-related activities in which actors in a social situation are engaged (Tellis, 1997, p. 5). The Henley Festival was chosen as a focus in order to discern a more in-depth understanding of the aims and goals, audiences and content inuences of a combined arts festival that is primarily funded by business sponsorship. A variety of methods were implemented, including semi-structured and open-ended, in-depth interviews with the festivals Artistic Director, Marketing Director and the Henley-on-Thames Tourist Information Ofce. Informal interviews and casual conversations with festival participants and local business people in the town contributed to the participant and direct observation and recording of the festival experience in a personal research diary. Field work for the Henley Festival took place from 8 to 11 July, 2004. All interviews took place during the festival visit in the day, when there was not as much happening to distract the interviewees. Interviews were recorded and conducted face-to-face in one of the champagne tents on the festival site. Attendance at multiple festival events was facilitated by location because all of the events took place in the same area of enclosure separated from the town by the river.

HENLEY FESTIVAL: A CASE OF CHAMPAGNE WISHES AND CORPORATION DREAMS The Henley Festival of Music and the Arts seeks to be a glamorous event that requests its female attendees to wear evening dresses and its male audiences to wear at least jacket

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens and tie, with black tie optional. The arts festival is ve-days long and is held the week after the famous Henley Regatta in July. The festival uses the same site and tents along the river as the regatta, which are physically set apart from the town of Henleyupon-Thames. One of the reasons for the creation of the arts festival was to get more use out of the regatta site and tents. The other reason was the director of the regatta 28 years ago was an opera fan and wanted to bring more opera to Henley-uponThames, which is a town two hours west of London. The festival began as an opera festival and grew throughout the years to include other art forms. It now hosts performances spanning all types of music (orchestra, choral, chamber, opera, jazz, folk, world, rock), contemporary dance, folk dance, reworks displays, stilt walkers, performance artists within the tented festival area, comedy acts, non-ction and poetry talks, visual arts exhibitions (painting, crafts, sculpture, installation) and childrens events. The childrens events, however, are all held on a Sunday afternoon Family Fiesta and are very much separated from the main festival events, which do not allow children in the audience. The Henley Festival is, for the most part, representative of the local environment due to its regatta legacy and wealthy communities. As they share the same site, many people confuse the arts festival with the regatta, but the two events are separate entities. However, the festival does benet from the regattas renown and exclusive reputation. The Manager of the Henleyupon-Thames Tourist Information Centre suggested that the energy level of the town is raised by the regatta, and the festival maintains that for a longer period of time. He also notes that although the festival is not as popular as the regatta, it does help keep visitors in the area. It is uncertain what percentage of regatta attendees are also festival

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attendees, but it is estimated by the Tourist Information Centre that there is some cross-over in event audiences. Accommodation, e.g., is very difcult to nd during the festival due to regatta attendees staying through the weekend. It is worth noting that the accommodation in Henley-uponThames is relatively expensive during this period, which is in keeping with the audiences for the regatta and festival, who can afford such prices. This can be seen to be one of the many ways in which the Henley Festival attracts a self-selecting group for its audiences. In this way, access is restricted to those who can afford to attend and stay over in the town. Tickets are not sold for specic events, as is the case with most other arts festivals. Instead, each person buys a ticket for an evening (or a series of evenings), which includes admission to all the events on that specic date. To make up a part of its budget of 1.6 million, ticket prices are not subsidised and they range from 35 for a family to attend the day-long Family Fiesta to 178 for Lawn tickets for all ve evenings. The average Promenade ticket costs 37 for the evening (plus 7 parking). The average Grandstand A ticket costs 64 for the evening (not including parking). Wednesday and Sunday evenings are less expensive. The Marketing Director interviewed for this research noted that this is done specically to encourage more local participation on those evenings, which are usually quiet. The majority of the festival events could be categorised as classical arts, with an emphasis on classical music. The Henley Festival presents some famous names in music, such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Jools Holland, along with smaller ensembles and experimental works. This varied classical content focus can be seen to be constructing new hierarchies of taste and discrimination (Bassett, 1993, 1974). As the Artistic Director interviewed for this research says, I think you have to ght

244 harder for attention, therefore, youve got to be seen these days. There needs to be more of a buzz. The stakes are higher for entertainment these days. The Henley Festival is a prestigious arts event with audiences who would also be at home at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera or Cartier International Polo. However, there are a number of arts festivals in high income areas that do not have the same luxurious trappings and corporate connections as the Henley Festival. It is suggested that it is primarily the way in which the festival is funded that has the most impact on the festivals content. The Henley Festival can afford different and top-quality arts events because of the patronage of its wealthy audiences and the sponsorship they attract. It also has a history of business sponsorship, perhaps linked to the regatta. The lack of dependency on public funding means that the festival is able to programme without adhering to arts organisations or local councils social inclusion or diversity agendas. The Artistic Director says there are no boxes to tick in his decision making, although he does say that the corporate entertaining element has an indirect impact on programming. For example, there is no samba parade and no amateur performers, as can be found at many arts festivals across the United Kingdom. On the whole, business sponsorship funding gives the Artistic Director the liberty to present unique performances that other organisers may not have the luxury or budgets to present. The Artistic Director usually adds a quirky event to the festival programming to keep people interested, entertained and returning each year. He says, We give people what they want, but not what they expect. For example, the 2004 festival featured the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, who use vegetables as instruments and then make soup with them at the end of the performance (Henley Festival programme, 2004). These types of events

Finkel also give the festival recognition and set it apart from the increasingly similar arts festival environment in the United Kingdom (Finkel, 2009). This particular event was highlighted on the BBC website and the TV programme, Richard and Judy, which provided national exposure for the festival. The festival mainly advertises in national and regional newspapers, BBC Proms Guide, Opera Now magazine and on the radio station Classic FM, according to the Marketing Director. This emphasis on classical arts advertising gives the festival exposure to the kinds of people who would be interested in attending the performances and also helps attract sponsors who are interested in reaching to those types of audiences. The reputation of the festival as an upmarket event facilitates obtaining luxury goods and corporate sponsorship because its audiences t many businesses socioeconomic marketing targets. Indeed, involvement in cultural activities of this calibre to display status, education and good taste, which Bourdieu (1992) suggests is a motivation for high arts participation, may be a key concept upon which many companies are depending, when they decide to sponsor and be associated with this event. According to Blau (1996, 1161), Support for the arts has conventionally been part of the very process whereby social elites dene themselves as a dominant class and establish social distance between themselves and the populace, drawing on the distinction between popular and high culture to bolster class differences. Although the boundaries between the so-called high and popular culture have become increasingly blurred in contemporary UK society (Gans, 1999; McGuigan, 1996), the Henley Festival has retained the traditional perceptions of exclusivity of the classical arts by fostering perceptions of elitism despite the encroachments of a political correct society. Bourdieu (1989) argues that consumption functions as a source of social distinction

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens and fulls the social function of legitimating social differences. With this kind of cultural accumulation, the cultural elite can be seen to exert their social distinction and dominance (Bourdieu, 1989, p. 7). Corporate entertaining and relatively expensive admission prices are barriers to establish social distance in this instance, as unconnected arts enthusiasts may not be able to afford to attend or are intimidated by the corporate business nature of the event. Furthering the exclusionary nature of the festival space, the majority of the festivals sponsors are either corporations, such as Invesco Perpetual, Simmons and Sons, Johnson Service Group and Sackville Properties, or luxury goods companies, such as Lexus, Courvoisier, Whittard of Chelsea and Sothebys. The website informs prospective sponsors that every concert and performance is available for sponsorship, along with the restaurants, resident artists and visual art displays. Sponsors are offered the best seats in the Grandstand and dinners at Albert Roux at the Riverside. Most of all, sponsors have the ability to associate themselves with an upscale arts event that gives them exposure to people with high spending power. The festival marketing material states, Sponsorship can ensure that you stand out from the crowd, creating visibility, prole and status with your clients and peer group. It opens up new commercial and social opportunities, allows you to meet new clients, forge new business relationships and reach new audiences. This demonstrates more than an appeal for the appreciation for the classical arts; support for the arts in this instance is part of a process to legitimise an elite by establishing social distance through shaping norms of public discourse within the festival environment (Waterman, 1998, p. 57). Reduced public subsidy or public subsidy that comes with socio-economic directives and targets has increased the search for

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private or corporate sponsorship among many combined arts festivals surveyed for this research. However, the private sector also has instrumental agendas when investing in the arts. The often contentious relationship between the arts and business is seen by Bourdieu and Haacke (1995) as the exchange of nancial capital for symbolic capital because businesses support the arts primarily to strengthen their images and public relations. Indeed, the corporatelynanced festival becomes a medium for business image making (Waterman, 1998). This can be seen to be an example of commercial interests attempting to control the festival environment and highlights the latent tensions between arts festivals and the cultural economy (Quinn, 2005; Waterman, 1998). The corporate face of the Henley Festival sets the tone of the festival not just the content but also the requisite social etiquette, which restricts access to those without the specic cultural background or education to feel comfortable in such an environment. According to Chan and Goldthorpe (2007), cultural participation depends on region (provision), education, income and social status. In turn, sponsorship by luxury brands and nancial corporations reinforces the desirability of the festival to those in these groups. They may already be consumers of such brands and services and associate themselves with that particular target market; also, they may not want to miss out on something enjoyed by others in their self-perceived social strata. The eld note extract in Exhibit 1 sets out excerpts of personal observations from a research diary of attendance at the Henley Thames Festival in July 2004. The main observations from this research are: (1) the festival presents mainly national and international performers; (2) there are many luxury goods and corporate sponsors for the festival; (3) the audience for the festival is primarily white, upper middle class and

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Finkel

Exhibit 1 Research Diary (Friday evening, 7 p.m. 9 p.m.).

40 60 years old. The key point that the research diary excerpts illustrate is the extent to which corporate involvement in the festival shapes its outcomes and atmosphere. The recognition of a festival attendee based on clothing raises representational issues involved in having a dress code for the festival. It can be viewed as creating another layer of distinction between the world outside of the physical festival site and the festival world. In many respects, the dress code signies a kind of branding of festival attendees. Based on Bourdieus (1992) belief that the arts predisposes tastes to function as markers of class, it is suggested that the dress code represents a marker of belonging to one side of the river rather than the other at least for an

evening. This demarcation on an individual basis as well as on a spatial plane can be interpreted as adding to the liminal experience of the festival and creating a festival environment that reinforces its exclusive image to its corporate clientele. Place becomes a metaphor for social status, and the festival reects this (Waterman, 1998) see Exhibit 2. It is suggested that incorporating such layers of status are consistent with the general atmosphere of the festival, which is lled with advertising and promotion for expensive goods and business services. Arts festivals have been argued to transform places from every day settings in temporary environments that contribute to the production, processing and consumption of culture in a concentrated time and place

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens

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Exhibit 2 Examples of corporate branding of festival space by luxury goods companies.

(Waterman, 1998). On top of this, through its links to the regatta, use of a separate site, dress code and luxury goods branding, the Henley Festival creates a private members club atmosphere, which also distinguishes it from other arts festivals and makes it appear to some as restrictive and elitist. But then, some could argue that Henleyupon-Thames is a restrictive and elitist town, thereby making the arts festival a reection of the local environment. In many respects, it is an upmarket festival in an upmarket area. It is seeking to emulate the stylings of more renowned non-urban arts festivals, such as Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne, Tanglewood, Verbier and Aspen, which require performers and audiences to come to them from cities (Waterman, 1998, p. 69). The use of a non-urban setting can be argued to add to the image that this is a desirable event reserved for a select group due to accessibility issues. Around 23,000 people are expected to attend the festival in 2009; 30% of its audience come from London for the festival, including celebrities of the London arts scene, such as Charles

Saatchi. The Artistic Director says programming was not specically designed to attract tourists to the festival. The Henley Festival website says audiences are approximately 50% private visitors and 50% guests of companies. In terms of demographics, 42% of the festival audience is over 45 years old, and 78% are over 36 years old. (Henely Festival website, 2009). As the marketing material states, Every one of them is a potential client for you, which again reinforces the networking opportunities of the festival, making it more of a business than necessarily a leisure offering. The festival organisers commit many resources to obtaining and maintaining sponsors. For example, almost half of the permanent staff is devoted to development and marketing. Along with complimentary tickets, elegant dining options and invitations to the festival boards opening night party, the festival is also willing to brand just about anything in the festival space with sponsors logos, including stages, enclosures, marquees, car park railings, souvenir programmes and swing badges that all

248 patrons must wear. Also, the festival offers them access to their 12,000 person mailing list and will work with sponsors PR consultants to ensure sufcient coverage has been achieved. If requested, sponsors can be thanked over the festivals PA system during the event and are acknowledged on the festivals website. If this is not exible enough, the festivals marketing material also assures potential sponsors that other ideas within the cost parameters can be considered in order to achieve a sponsors aims (Henley Festival website, 2009). This could be interpreted as an overt commercialisation of the festival space and festival experience; however, it also could be viewed as imperative for the future sustainability of the festival due to practical nancial considerations. Indeed, satisfaction appears to be high among sponsors, as many of the festivals main sponsors have continued sponsorship for the past ve years. Another selling point for sponsoring the festival are the corporate social responsibility benets. The festival has set up a charity, the Henley Festival Trust, to help bring arts education and arts therapy to young people in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Their projects work in 15 schools with 800 students. The Marketing Director states that sponsorship money goes into the charity for workshops and does not go towards the Festival Limited. According to the Marketing Director, Southern Arts loves us! Sponsors, then, can also be seen to be helping the local community by their involvement in the festival. With this charitable element of the festival sponsorship package, the Henley Festival can be seen to full four out of the ve primary motivations for contemporary businesses to sponsor the arts, as previously set out by OHagan and Harvey (2000, p. 222), including promotion of image and name, corporate entertainment for clients, non-monetary benet to managers and enhancing good will/corporate responsibility. It is uncertain whether there

Finkel are supply-chain cohesion benets to sponsors through this event. A distinction should be made, however, between community work and community access to the festival. The closest to the festival many local young people and families get is watching the reworks from the bridge that separates the town from the festival site. However, just as the festival attendees are a self-selecting group, there is a self-excluding group in the community who purposely avoid the festival due to its cost, image and status markers. Although a large portion of those in the local area do attend the festival, it is not run by the community for the community. There are no volunteers; instead, there are eight staff members, who are professionals in events management and whose job it is to make sure the Henley Festival is the special event that corporate hospitality does not miss. CONCLUSIONS The majority of UK arts festivals have become more commercially focused due to a number of social, economic and political factors in the past few decades. There has been an active adaptation of commercial practices on the part of many arts festivals due to nancial practicalities as well as the use of some arts festivals by public and private funders for commercial gain. Due to this growing managerialist orientation of arts groups, Chong (2000) has argued that more critical perspectives on the relationship between the arts and management are needed in order to ensure artistic integrity is upheld. However, the research presented here does not identify ways in which quality is compromised by commercial funding, as the Henley Festival can be seen to leverage corporate sponsorship to maintain a high standard of performers and performances. Henley lies at an extreme and is not a typical arts festival found in the United Kingdom in this regard.

Re-imaging arts festivals through a corporate lens In the mid-twentieth century, community arts festivals as well as classical arts festivals were largely non-commercial due to their primary reliance on support from local and national councils and individuals. Today, this is becoming less of the norm because public subsidy is more difcult to acquire and also often comes with a commerciallymotivated agenda. Although the Henley Festival is similar to the classical arts festivals of the 1960s, its reliance on business sponsorship has raised its exclusive status to include the corporate upper classes while pricing out many in the community of classical arts enthusiasts. Yet, managerially, the festival is as well targeted, which is a success factor not to be ignored (even when the target is the well-off). Indeed, arts festivals in the current environment have had to become more strategic in order to survive in a competitive market place. Securing funding is a realistic imperative for continued success. Although the nature of the funding received shapes almost every aspect of the Henley Festival from marketing and design to content and entertaining, commercial sponsorship is a way of ensuring nancial viability and sustainability. This raises the question of whether or not the innocence of holding a festival for the sole enjoyment of the arts may indeed be a thing of the past (Archer, 2006). REFERENCES

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1. This is dened as, making production more efcient, linking up key suppliers, focusing on employees of rm. Its rationale is one of reducing costs by avoiding industrial relations tensions. It also occurs when a company that is competing on international markets chooses to sponsor a local arts event in the country in which it is located (OHagan and Harvey, 2000, p. 222).

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