ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the effectiveness of arts funding system intervention in mixed arts markets that have matured over decades, perhaps longer; markets where only a little of the business done between art producers and consumers seems to need input from funders to keep it going. In a stable business environment, arts and other organizations can be run in much the same way year after year. Funders will want to give the clients that they do support predictably sized grants from year to year, so as not to disturb stability. The belief that nothing will ever need to change is illusory however. Funders must stay alert for signs of decline and be prepared to manage decline if nothing can be done to reverse downward trends. (Chapter 9 is all about decline.)
New entrants must be admitted to the old stable sector—young artists in particular, needed to replace retirees. But far more young professionals want work than mature rather than expanding markets can possibly absorb. Gatekeepers have a crucial selection-and-rejection role, which this chapter discusses at length. Funding techniques that make use of gatekeepers’ accumulated expertise and try to correct for gatekeeper bias are particularly recommended.
