IJAM Volume 22 Number 3 (PRINT)

FROM THE EDITOR

The current pandemic has not decreased researchers’ appetite for sharing the results of their work. This issue of the Journal, even if delivered a little late, brings you a wealth of unique points of view in the area of arts and culture management.

The authors of the first article, Antonio C. Cuyler, Victoria Durrer and Melissa Nisbett, found that 86% of graduates surveyed were either very satisfied or satisfied with their arts management degree. However, educators should refrain from celebrating. When it comes to demographic profiles, the study found that arts management graduates self-identify primarily as white, female, able-bodied, heterosexual millennials. Graduates themselves would like to see more curricular content on diversity, equity, inclusion and intercultural relations. Educators should increase their recruitment of more diverse students, as a lack of demographic diversity among graduates will diminish arts management’s ability to effectively serve the most culturally vulnerable populations in our societies.

Serge Poisson-de Haro and François Normandin are the authors of the second article, which focuses on identifying three periods of transition in the life of cultural organizations. The results show that organizations transitioning from birth to growth tend to work on strengthening their customer value proposition; when transitioning from growth to maturity, organizations work on formalizing and professionalizing their activities and practices, while when transitioning from maturity to revival they redefine their proposition value, their customer relationships and key activities.

The third article could not be more topical, as it examines how digital technology changes the way that art is sold and consumed in the contemporary art market. Chiara Piancatelli, Marta Massi and Paul Harrison examine how artists and art galleries face digitalization through the example of Artvisor. The authors find that if digital technology is reifying and making art accessible, both managers and galleries wish to preserve the idea of art as something “exclusive” and “elitist,” to be “handled” by experts in the field. The results also show that customers value the expertise offered by the digital platform and wish to engage in co-creation practices.

In the following article, Stefania Masè, Elena Cedrola, Cristina Davino and Geneviève Cohen-Cheminet examine business commitment to the visual arts as a strategy for luxury brands to strengthen brand equity from a consumer perspective. The way in which the visual arts impact luxury brand value is tested based on the strategy implemented by Louis Vuitton, the world’s top luxury brand. The results show that active collaboration between the brand and the art world positively affects brand association by sidestepping any loss in perceived quality and brand awareness. Brand loyalty is stimulated instead by a thorough explanation of the art-based collaboration.

The fifth article, contributed by Joshua Fogel and Kara Criscione, deals with the role of demographics and female gender role variables with traditional, Internet and social media advertising for a new movie. A survey by the authors found that passing the Bechdel Test and woman in a leading role were each positively associated with Internet advertising and social media advertising influencing consumers. However, race was found to be a negative moderator for both Internet advertising and social media advertising. No variables were found to be associated with traditional advertising influencing consumers.

In the next article, Fatma Abdellah Kilani, Intissar Abbes and Meriem Aouadi study consumers’ preferences in a context where the spread of counterfeit goods is threatening traditional handicrafts. The results indicate that the label is the most important of the three attributes of these products, while price is the least relevant. Novices and low-involved consumers perceive price as a more relevant criterion, while experts and high-involved consumers attach greater importance to the label and the region of origin, two high-scope signals of product authenticity.

The seventh article, authored by Jennifer Murphy and Annmarie Ryan, explores liminal discourse in the narratives of individuals involved in collaborations between business and cultural organizations during events taking place in a year-long National City of Culture in Ireland. This case study employs critical discourse analysis to understand how business managers use language to create and enact identities, and how these identities can be shaped through conversation to allow for new ways of understanding and enacting business–art relationships. The inherent fragility that is revealed in these positions points to complexity in the process of sponsorship organization in this context.

The last article is a Company Profile contributed by Claire Roederer, Robert Revat and Jessie Pallud on Museomix, a device used in the archaeological museum in Lyon-Fourvière. Data were collected via individual interviews in order to explore how digital mediation changes the museum-going experience. The findings show that mediation devices affect one’s experience in a variety of ways. Some technologies, such as virtual reality and multimedia content, make the visit more meaningful. The benefits of other technologies appear to be more questionable in that they simply convert text into script or reduce the authenticity of the displays.

These articles promise to bring you great reading this summer.

André Courchesne
Editor