Introduction

This book focuses on the on-going process of marketization of cultural institutions. Marketization, as expressed through market orientation, is no longer an unfamiliar concept, but is now common among cultural institutions. Ideas of a market economy have changed the role of the state versus the role of the private market in the cultural sector during the last decades. There are an increasing number of private museums, but also state-funded museums that are expected to operate in a market-oriented manner. Rather than giving an explicit definition of what characterises a cultural institution, this book includes art, literary, film and museum businesses funded in a variety of ways. A range of hybrid organisations working within commercial markets as well as within the constraints of state funding and cultural policies are presented. The authors represent a variety of disciplines. The book aims to be of use to students, researchers, cultural institutions, organisations, businesses, authorities, politicians, artists, designers, consumers and the media.