February 7, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Managing Innovation in the Arts: Making Art Work
by Marian Fitzgibbon
In the debate over public funding of the arts, such support is often justified by the need to protect culture from the marketplace in order to ensure innovation. In Managing Innovation in the Arts: Making Art Work, Marian Fitzgibbon reflects on the innovation process, about which, she says, little is known. She explores the issue by examining three highly innovative performing arts companies in Ireland.
She writes that no recipe exists for innovation in the arts, but that “it is possible to lift the veil, to distill common features and processes, and to help both policy makers and practitioners alike towards a better understanding and even a conceptual reframing of the innovation issue.”
Written primarily for arts managers and policy makers, the book points out factors that bear heavily on innovation, such as the structure of an organization and the impact of an organization’s reputation.
Ms. Fitzgibbon has worked in arts management in Ireland, primarily with the Arts Council, a government agency.
Publisher: Quorum Books, 88 Post Road West, Westport, Conn. 06881; (203) 226-3571; http://www.quorumbooks.com; 232 pages; $64.95; I.S.B.N. 1-56720-434-2.
