“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” Andy Warhol’s famous line lies somewhere between sarcasm and sincerity, and it’s probably best taken as a provocation: he’s trolling us, daring us to defend a belief in art as a spiritual pursuit unsullied by lucre. You don’t have to be a romantic to insist that art and business are, in fact, very different creatures, though you also don’t have to be a cynic to recognize that art’s production and circulation depend on the market—artists, curators, and gallerists still have to eat, after all. Even if business isn’t really art, art has a business side that can’t be overlooked.

Arts management, as this business side is called, is the subject of a new series of workshops put on by the Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General in Shanghai—which we’ve written about before—in cooperation with WhyWhyArt. “Arts Management and Society” pairs experts in various fields from both China and the West to inspire the next generation of cultural professionals. Free and open to the public, the workshops are especially intended for students and industry insiders, and they highlight the important role that curators, gallerists, theater managers, museum directors, and others play in the art world. Not only do such professionals educate the public, they also help to discover rising stars. “Cultural managers can be talent scouts, finding ways to give exposure to the work of a new generation,” says Zane Mellupe, founder of WhyWhyArt. (She is also a founding member of the collective Island6.)

This series of six workshops, which began in August and will run through December, explores topics such as “The Arts between Production and Consumption,” “The Impact of Arts Institutions,” and “The Functions of Culture and the Values of Art.” Each workshop consists of a recorded lecture by an European arts professional (originally part of a MOOC, or massive open online course, produced by the Leuphana University of Lüneberg) and a live discussion with one of six China-based arts experts: Gan Zhiyi, of the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum; Jin Xing, of Jin Xing Dance Theatre; Lin Hongming, from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music; Huang Rui, from Thinking Hands; Zhang Huiqing, of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre; and most recently, Venus Lau, of the Chi K11 Art Museum. The recorded lectures are delivered in English, while the live talks are given in Chinese, with simultaneous translation to Chinese sign language. These new Shanghai-based talks are available online on the platform Yizhibo, and they’ll eventually be followed by a video series on the Goethe website, establishing a sort of cross-continental dialogue with the original lectures. “I think both parties can learn from each other,” says Oliver Hartmann, head of the consulate’s Department of Culture and Education. “That’s why we’re trying to combine perspectives of cultural managers with the experiences of prominent figures from the Chinese art scene.”

Successful cultural managers need much more than an eye for art and a grasp of trends. “Creativity, sensitivity, attention to detail, planning skills, an understanding of different cultural backgrounds, and strong organizational skills are a necessity,” says Mellupe. “So are writing skills, fundraising, budgeting, and the ability to reach audiences and ideally generate revenue.” Versatility is key.

Finding ways to fund cultural projects, or even make them self-sustaining, is a central part of the profession, but that’s not to say the goal is to turn a profit. On the contrary, only when financial pressures are tamed can artists fully devote themselves to their creative work. “Since I came to China nearly 20 years ago, many artists I’ve worked with have ended their art practice,” Mellupe goes on. “And for many, the reason was societal pressure to make more money.” Arts managers can help artists realize their visions by insulating them from the vagaries of the market. In other words, a solid understanding of art’s relationship to business could serve to keep the two separate.

Hartmann concurs. “Making a profit is not the main concern,” he says. “Arts management is important not just because it supports artists in their creative work, but also because it has a social and educational value.”

In Shanghai, where the line between malls and museums is distressingly blurry, training in arts management is all the more important. Museums here sprout up like mushrooms, and while a few boast excellent collections, several more struggle to cover their walls. (A few are unabashed real estate ventures.) The past decade alone has seen the creation of the Rockbund Art Museum, the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, the Yuz Museum Shanghai, the Power Station of Art, the Long, the Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Chi K11 Art Museum, the Shanghai Center of Photography, the Fosun Foundation, the Modern Art Museum, the HOW Art Museum, the Pearl Art Museum, the Silo of 80,000 Tons, the Powerlong Art Museum, and Tank Shanghai—and that’s only to list the larger institutions for the visual arts. Theatre, music, and the performing arts are likewise developing apace.

If art is sold as a product, that’s partly because audiences seem less interested in works that challenge or move them than they are in “punching the card,” as the Chinese expression has it: posting a selfie to show that they’ve visited the same popular spots as everyone else. “Many people don’t know how to interpret or understand what they see in an exhibition, performance or play,” Hartmann says. “So I think one important role for cultural managers is to educate audiences in their habits of perception, to show them how to engage with art and how to be patient and self-reflexive, especially when dealing with serious or conceptual art that can be fairly complex.” 

For Mellupe, creating in-person experiences is an important part of the mission of arts managers. “As people spend more time online, art forms that make people move are becoming more and more important,” she says. “Physical experiences are attractive and get people to leave the comfort of living on the internet.”

The future of art in China depends not only on painters and sculptors and videographers, but also on the people behind the scenes, curating the exhibitions, organizing the tours, producing the shows, and critiquing the work. And for art to be art, rather than just business, cultural managers will have to play a decisive role. “If we understand that painting and sculpture are not purely decoration, that plays or dance performances aren’t just about filling the theatre and making a profit, then we can recognize that art institutions are for supporting artists and for appreciating and promoting their work,” says Hartmann. “They provide platforms for free expression, the exchange of ideas, and cultural education.”

Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Website: goethe.de | whywhyart.com
WeChat: AKuB_Shanghai

Contributor: Allen Young
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li