The art organisation’s societal engagement – do the artist’s values matter?

Abstract

The paper focuses on understanding the values of the artist and how they affect the art organisation, its understanding of social responsibility and related actions, especially social engagement. The values of the artist and the art organisation’s organisational identity are key drivers building social engagement with the local community. Through the lenses of institutional theory, the value concept is analysed and reflected with organisational identity and social responsibility conceptualisations. The phenomenon is examined by adopting a qualitative approach to the single case of the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia based on interviews, desk research and observations. The results point out that the art organisations may adopt the artist’s values as the basis of its own organisational values manifested from physical details to the worldviews of its staff. The paper provides new avenues for understanding how the artist’s participation in an organisation’s daily life adds complex managerial privileges and potential challenges.