Culture is future »

Contribution: "Enterprising culture" by Hervé Rony

What does enterprising culture mean for you?

Culture does not exist without creation, but this creation only becomes real if entrepreneurs (no matter whether public or private) invest in it, guide creators and guarantee an access to the public. Money is necessary. From patronage to private producer, diffusion actors, gallery owners, as well as the State and local public actors. Enterprising culture is first of all taking risks, then associating art and management without sacrificing creation for financial motives. Squaring the circle! But it’s a great ambition. 

What is a cultural entrepreneur?

In the same direction as the previous question, a cultural entrepreneur is someone who knows how to detect talents, how to develop them and enhance creation. He can be either private or public, as long as he is carrying out the function. A museum curator as well as a CEO who sponsors culture, a music or a film producer, a National Theatre director or a private theater one, they are all, in their own way, cultural entrepreneurs. Some obviously have to face a certain financial viability. The important thing is to serve art and creation. We have to be at their service I think.

What kind of advice would you give to young cultural entrepreneurs? 

First of all, and maybe most importantly, you need to have a strong taste for risk, and also some modesty before thinking about becoming rich! I have met in those jobs passionate people, and they are the one to succeed. Those who think, deep down, that investing “in culture” is the same as investing in any other “flourishing” sector with ideas learnt-by-heart at school generally fail miserably. I think that in a way, they need the soul of a craftsman, and accept more than anywhere else the uncertainty regarding a potential success, as it can be incredibly random.

About Hervé Rony, Chief Executif Officer at Scam