Engagement is everywhere in the arts. Organisations talk about connecting with audiences, increasing attendance or building community relationships.
But in practice, engagement is often loosely defined and driven by short-term goals rather than meaningful collaboration.
In August 2025, the Bendigo Writers’ Festival faced backlash when a last-minute code of conduct was introduced that many felt silenced certain voices.
More than fifty writers withdrew, and dozens of sessions were cancelled.
Similar tensions have emerged around the Australian representation at the Venice Biennale, where questions about consultation and transparency in curatorial appointments sparked significant debate.
These cases show that when engagement is reactive rather than planned, it can damage trust and overshadow creative aims.
Proactive engagement helps organisations test guiding values like artistic freedom, cultural safety and inclusivity before flashpoints occur.
Our research suggests that many arts organisations take a fragmented or reactive approach, missing opportunities to strengthen relationships and create lasting impact.
By approaching engagement strategically, arts organisations could foster collaboration, build trust and cultivate enduring partnerships, learning from how other industries involve and listen to their stakeholders.
Inconsistent approaches mean that many initiatives focus narrowly on ticket sales or programming outputs rather than encouraging genuine, two-way interaction with artists, communities and funders.
As a result, the full potential of engagement is lost, along with the trust and bonds that sustain creativity over the long term.
The power of stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement has long been championed in business.
First popularised by R. Edward Freeman in the 1980s, it involves building relationships with anyone who affects or is affected by an organisation’s activities.
Freeman argued that companies focused only on shareholders missed opportunities.
By collaborating with employees, communities and other stakeholders, organisations can create shared value.
Similarly, artists and arts organisations depend on a wide web of relationships to create work, connect with audiences, attract funding and make their work accessible.
However, engagement efforts in the arts are often ad hoc or inconsistent, focused on marketing or programming activities rather than integrated into broader organisational strategy.
Strategic engagement begins by mapping stakeholders and identifying what matters to them.
It moves beyond transactional activities like ticket sales or social media outreach to transformational collaboration, where stakeholders are partners in shaping values, priorities and governance.
This requires time and trust, but it also yields stronger legitimacy and organisational resilience.
Lessons from other industries
Other industries show how engagement can be used more effectively to achieve strategic outcomes.
Government and infrastructure sectors, for example, use engagement to build social license, demonstrate accountability and ensure that projects reflect community needs.
Engagement exists on a spectrum from communication to shared decision-making, including co-design and deliberative processes that give communities a real say.
The arts often misses these opportunities.
Recent controversies like the Bendigo Writers’ Festival and Venice Biennale highlight the risks of weak engagement.
How engagement adds value
Engagement allows arts organisations to have inclusive conversations with artists, curators, funders, community representatives and advocacy groups.
It can identify potential political or ethical tensions, create shared protocols for transparent responses and strengthen relationships across the ecosystem.
For those who have faced controversy, engagement also provides a path to rebuild trust and demonstrate accountability.
Arts organisations operate under unique pressures. They must balance creative autonomy with financial stability and respond to increasing demands for efficiency and measurable impact.
Over recent decades, the push to adopt corporate management models introducing business metrics and board representation from outside the sector has often been met with resistance.
But better management does not have to mean managerialism.
When engagement is treated as a shared responsibility rather than a compliance exercise, it supports both artistic freedom and organisational strength.
By adopting clearer, more strategic engagement processes, arts organisations can realise the full value of their relationships.
Doing so strengthens management practice, enhances cultural experiences and aligns operations with the sector’s inherently multi-stakeholder nature.
Ultimately, better management can mean better art.
When relationships are cultivated intentionally, engagement becomes more than a marketing task; it becomes a creative practice in itself, one that sustains both artists and the communities they serve.
This article was written by Kim Goodwin and Andi Pekarek and was published by Pursuit.
