Pina Bausch, who died a few weeks ago, was a German choreographer of international standing and, more importantly, an artist who managed to make three hours seem like 20 minutes.
The performing arts, as with most things, vary enormously in quality and mind-blowing experiences sit side-by-side with less-than-mind-blowing experiences. Of course, one person’s Theatre de Complicite is another’s Disney on Ice so, with quality and taste combined, it’s pretty clear that something as broad and diverse as the creative and cultural industries is a concoction of so many niche markets as to make a single definition seem rather ridiculous.
What it all does have in common, however, is the notion of craft. What drives this sector is making things, and marketing these things has always come second (sometimes too much so, but that’s for a different entry). But what is the state of this in 2009?
Wally Olins’ excellent branding book, On Brand, talks about the idea of the marketing-driven business and how these often evolve from other types of business, such as the craft-driven one. Is there a danger of that in the creative and cultural sector? The explosion of the internet and the increasing adoption of digital platforms mean that the lines between making and selling are continuously blurring.
We’re certainly not arguing against new channels for technology and marketing, it’s our business, but it would be a tragedy if finding new ways to sell things became more important than making things to sell. We’re excited by all the new platforms for engaging people but we’re even more excited by what we want to engage them with.
Pina Bausch has a Facebook Page, which, of course , lives on after her, and has become a kind of memorial in its own right. As a testament to her brand the Facebook Page seems, somehow, right. By having a strong brand and using the communications to fit with that her company gets away with it. But it all depends on the strong brand and, of course, her craft. She even pulled off a MySpace page. That’s quality.
Photo by Joao Barata.
