The emotions we feel at the end of a movie, listening to the lyrics and melody of a song, or sitting in a theater seat, challenged by that story we experience so closely, how much are they worth? How much is everything that is not seen worth, but that makes us feel good? What would we give to spend a couple more hours laughing with that comedian's monologues? Music, theater, cinema, dance..., culture is a beneficial balm and stimulus that improves personal well-being. But how is that measured in figures? How much is the profit for those who make it possible?
Now a study tells us, with numerical data. The intangible weight of culture has been translated into monetary value. This has been done jointly by the Reina Sofía School of Music and the international consultancy EY. The music school wanted to publicize its own example, as a high-performance music training center, which trains 150 international musicians each year and holds more than 300 concerts. "We live the paradox of knowing, all of us, firsthand, that culture is a lifeline, but artists barely survive," explains the director of the Reina Sofía School of Music, Julia Sánchez. She explains that "after the pandemic, cinemas, theaters, concert venues began to fill up, reading and music had helped us a lot, and we ended up naming the right to access culture as a necessary good. But, how can it be that what we value so much is so fragile and unsustainable?"
Based on this reflection, the music school set out to initiate research that would help "to highlight the value of culture as food for the soul, but not as a philosophical thought, but by explaining it, demonstrating it with data," says Sánchez.
To unite culture and economy, demonstrating that both need each other and can greatly enhance each other, they proposed their challenge to the consultancy EY, specialized in finance and investments, which identifies interesting businesses in which private capital can enter. "It seemed to us that there was really a great opportunity in the cultural sector, which was the great forgotten in the economic context, despite leaving so many positive impacts on society, helping to improve education, quality of life and the happiness of people," explains Cecilia de La Hoz, partner at EY, who accepted the proposal to focus on cultural entities.
Applying economic metrics, they have been able to show that culture can be an attractive and profitable sector for businesses. They demonstrate this in the report The value of culture. The role of Performing Arts and Classical Music in the impact economy, which has been presented these days at CASA SEAT, in the heart of a city full of cultural proposals. The cultural sector contributes 2% of GDP in Spain, and employs 3.5% of the population (2020 data). These are some of the figures collected in the study, because the first thing they saw when they started working, according to Julia Sánchez, "is that there was no data to defend the economic and social contribution of culture. And we started reading reports, because we had to rely on scientific research and data, instead of using philosophical phrases, like culture is the food for the soul."
The Fundació Catalunya Cultura, an entity created to build bridges from culture to businesses, and vice versa, wanted to bring the presentation of this pioneering report that unites economy and culture, as sectors that need each other, to Barcelona, because demonstrating this is precisely the purpose of the foundation. "In the cultural world, we are neither united nor do we know how to explain the value of the work we do," says the director of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, Maite Esteve. And she reminds us that "in school, culture subjects are the Marías, the ones we least regret if one day we can't do them." In her presentation of the report, in the auditorium of CASA SEAT, Esteve also reproached that too often "we ask artists to perform for free, in exchange for giving them visibility. As if we could do the same to a lawyer." The comparison appealed to the path that still needs to be traveled to value everything that those who strive to live by making cultural activities that enrich society a reality contribute to us.
Two years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) already recognized performing arts and music as valuable preventatives of mental illnesses. The EY report includes this and supports it with studies carried out in different countries. "It often costs us to find the language and reasons to convince entrepreneurs to join our project," expressed Eloi Planes, executive president of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, at the presentation of the report. Hence the importance of the work that has been done, because it gathers and documents the reasons and the language that were missing, at an opportune moment, moreover, as explained by the director of the Reina Sofía School of Music. "It is a very good moment for culture, from the investors' point of view, because companies no longer seek only financial gains, they also want to see a return of social impact from their actions, as requested by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "If entities are capable of being sustainable, we can generate attractive models for sponsoring companies and patrons that help to further activate the potential of cultural entities. More and more companies are betting on projects that report more than money."
Eloi Planes: "It often costs us to find the language and reasons to convince entrepreneurs to join our project"For this reason, the report highlights everything about culture that targets the impact economy, "one that seeks economic growth and development, but, at the same time, contributes to solving social and environmental problems," explain the study's promoters. "When will we realize the impact of culture on improving education? We have millions of examples, such as learning languages and better orality through theater, which at the same time strengthens personality and works on shame," explains the director of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, Maite Esteve. She thanks them for carrying out the study, "because everything we were explaining to companies, we have now given it a scientific basis, because everything you want to have value in the market you need to explain well and demonstrate. We translate the business world and the cultural world, so that both understand and get closer," she says.
For this reason, according to the promoters of the study, "a lot of pedagogical work is needed in the business sector, but also in cultural companies." Hence, the report, in addition to results from studies on the real impact of culture on health, education, employment, or productivity, also includes a roadmap to audit, detect strengths and weaknesses of companies and freelancers in the cultural sector. They too must lose their fear of implementing business growth strategies to become sustainable.
The presentation of the study preceded a debate on the necessary tandem of culture and economy. Participants included Sílvia Martí, corporate vice president of Moventia; Alicia Rubí, partner at Attalea Partners; Esther Sarsa, sustainable investment partner at Miura, and Valeri Viladrich, manager of the Fundació Teatre Lliure.