Arts and Culture Literary Series II

By Chief Kingsley Okafor. Ksji

Welcome to another series in our journey into the Arts and Culture of the diverse people of the world.

In our last literary series we dissected the term and content of the creative economy. Today we will discuss the term Cultural Industries.

Cultural Industry is simply a product or service that is based on the culture of a civilization, nation, society, group or place.

The example includes Tourism, Event, Publishing, Fine Art, Commercial Art, Entertainment, Sports, Crafts, Food etc. Cultural Industries as elucidated by International Organizations, such as UNESCO and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are those industries that combine the creative production and distribution of goods and services that portend culture and protected by intellectual property.

Such industries engage in film production, television, radio, music, books, press etc. The culture industry as a concept is a thesis proposed by Adermo and Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School.

The thesis contents that Cultural Industries exist to enforce (and reinforce) the capitalist ethos.

According to Brian Grant, in his essay “The Commodification of Culture and its implications for the television industry”, this thesis discusses the specifics and the ramifications of the concept for Culture and Society.

The Key claims are as follows:

• The more difficult something is to reproduce, the more it is fetishized and sustained.

• As Culture is used by Capitalism to control the individual consciousness, so too does it become “industrialized” and ‘commoditized’’.

• Where art was once also a commodity in capitalism, it is to all extent a commodity and is often successful through the evocation and manipulation of desires.

The Cultural Industries are those activities which deal primarily in symbolic goods – goods whose primary economic value is derived from their cultural value.

This definition then includes what have been called the “Classical” Cultural Industries.

These includes broadcast media, film, publishing, record music, design, architecture, new media.

While the “Traditional Arts” i.e. visual art, crafts, theatre, music theatre, concerts and performance, literature, museums and galleries – all those activities which have been eligible for public funding as “art”.

There are certainly divisions between these two categories – but a line between “art” and “commerce” is ideological and not analytical.

The Cultural Industries traces its genealogy back to earlier works in the Frankfurt School between 1930 – 1940s, which scathingly decried the commodification of art as providing an ideological legitimization of capitalistic society and the emergence of popular culture industries.

Such pessimistic views of the relation between culture and capitalist enterprise are still held by some.

By the early 1960s however, many analysts had begun to recognize that the process of commodification does not always or necessarily result in the degeneration of cultural expression.

By 1980s the term cultural industries no longer carried pejorative connotations of the earlier term and began to be used in academia and policy making circles, as a positive label.

ART BUSINESS SERIES: HOW TO SELL YOUR ART LOCALLY Many Artists have tried to sell their works in various ways but what will sale your art big time is to adopt ways that are more engaging and interactive with the public, this way you are guaranteed to sale while putting your name out for a global future recognition.

1. A simple way to put your work out in a creative manner is by offering a variety of art mediums. You can offer both paper wall art prints and stretched canvas on a wide variety of sizes, while keeping the works affordable.

2. Most first time art buyers believe that buying a cheap poster art is the only way to strike a bargain, but art on print/stretched canvas is high quality while still being affordable.

One way for people to know this is by offering them both framed and unframed works. This allows them the choice of how much to spend while getting the same quality.

3. You can display your works online, but displaying them in your local coffee shop will afford the buyer the practical knowledge of how the work might look in his space.

Almost anywhere that has walls and attracts human traffic can be a mini gallery.

Displaying your work in a coffee shop / bar / alternative gallery shows might not bring in the tons of money you expect but the goal here is exposure.

Make sure you include your business card and social media handles so that people can explore more of your works. Guest records at these locations will provide you a good email list at openings or closing gallery shows.

4. Content market. In trying to push your art avoid the obvious caption, “buy my Art” on social media, this method never works.

Most companies blogs are never directly pushy on people to buy things, rather they offer creative share on face book worthy content.

The use of contents that connect to people is always a better marketing strategy. This offers them something rather than just a product.

Another good idea is to start a blog to give your content a home or writing guest posts for sites and blogs – with the kind of audience you aim at reaching.

5. Reach out to bloggers. You could be a great writer or a poor writer, but your aim is to get your blog or contact the attention it deserves.

You can reach out to bloggers and Instagramers, social media personalities in your environment etc., especially those with the kind of audience that you target.

Offer to send them free collections of wall art from your collection, encourage them to write a guest blog post and take some photos.

This is great for cross exposure and can expand your audience.

6. Start Online Shop. When you display or sale your art locally your audience would naturally be narrow.

These days online shops have become very popular and common with artists. This will make your work more accessible and expands your audience.

It will help you in getting exposure and sales.

7. A first time art buyer is not only critical but very intense in analyzing your work. Regular shots of your works by non-professional photograph will not show off the real quality of your work.

The solution here is to take awesome professional photos of your prints and works. You can use your home or cool areas and cool backgrounds. Quality photography of your work is key.

It draws attention to your social media posts, completes your content and makes it engaging.

The quality of photography can make or break your product sales. 8. Sales on Instagram.

Of all the social media handles, Instagram offers the best platform to run your art wall and collection.

READ ALSO: Arts & Culture literary Series I

It is a visual medium and a fitting place to sale your wall art. With good photography you can offer your works for sale on Instagram on a limited sales period.

This run flash sale can be displayed on offer for a certain price at a limited time. It is always advisable to include your shop link on the instagram bio so that people can access your collection.

Most artists wish to sale their work and yet are hesitant in utilizing established social media platforms, such as instagram, facebook or pinterest.

You will become more profitable if you have your works listed in multiple sites. This is exactly why you must learn how to sell art on instagram.