BUILDING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN COLLABORATIONS: A Case Study on the Finfringe Festival

Abstract

Collaborations are increasing between cultural organizations and businesses, as cuts in arts funding force cultural operators to think about how to cope with future challenges. However, it is not always easy for small operators to find and sustain collaborations, due to a lack of resources or the feeling of not being able to offer, as a small-scale organization, collaborators enough in return for their support.

Building a sense of community is important as it deepens collaborations and can benefit the surrounding society. By understanding value creation, a sense of community can be built and collaborations developed. This research aimed to shed light on how a sense of community can be strengthened and identify the types of value created in the collaborations of a small arts festival.

For a deeper understanding and tangible information on a grassroots level, this research was a qualitative in-depth single-case study. It was conducted through six semi-structured interviews of the collaborators of the performing arts festival, Finfringe. The selected perspective of the research was from the business collaborators’ point of view. The framework of this study lay in the Collaborative Value Creation framework, the definition of a Sense of Community and research around these topics.

The research indicated that the sense of community was seen as important and offered ways on how the sense of community can be built within a collaboration. The findings revealed that a small arts festival created value for its collaborators. According to the study, the benefits of the collaborations align with previous studies and therefore did not significantly differ from those of bigger arts organizations. The study concluded that whatever the size of the organizations involved, similar factors can be seen influencing success.

The objective of this study was to obtain information for art managers of small arts organizations to utilize when establishing and conducting collaborations. The study concludes that small arts organizations should not underestimate their ability to provide value to their collaborators. They should carefully evaluate their resources and approach potential collaborators boldly to establish collaborations that bring value and build a sense of community within the surrounding society.