• Korean Association of Arts Management
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• no.53
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• pp.153-177
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• 2020

Arts organizations commonly face a range of operational challenges, from a lack of skilled workers to limited financial resources and thus are dependent on subsidies from the government. Yet, to fully realize their mission arts organizations must both develop strategies to effectively utilize government support and seek a way forward that does not depend on public subsidies. Business diversification, a strategy from corporate management, entails the expansion of products and services, and entry into new industries, enabling companies to disperse risks and increase profits. We propose that business diversification can be effectively applied to arts organization to address the myriad operational difficulties they face. To understand how an arts organization might deploy business diversification we conducted a case study of an organization that is actively pursuing the strategy: Sanwoollim Theater. We interviewed staff members of Sanwoollim including the executive director, as well as selected audiences, to understand how the business diversification model was being applied at Sanwoollim. Our findings indicate that, in a complex arts and cultural space, business diversification is a fresh and flexible new strategy that can enable private cultural arts organizations to thrive sustainably. It is also evident that government support in the initial stages of the process encourages diversification and that successful private arts organizations will leverage government subsidies into a sustainable business plan.