How Culture Impacts Art and Business

Art is a term that describes a diverse range of human activities, as well as the products of those activities. Art is the appreciation of beauty, reflecting the society the art is produced in. Art isn’t an isolated burst of creativity – it’s a mirror of the beliefs surrounding it. And, of course, in addition to all of these things, art is a business.

Artists today face the same types of challenges that entrepreneurs and other startup businesses face. Much like businesses, artists have to take into account the cultural context of different societies. In order to create a successful piece that will sell, artists must be able to create a connection with the viewer, just like businesses have to create a connection with potential clients in order to cultivate a customer base.

The most important factor to both an artist starting a new piece or an entrepreneur embarking on a new business venture is being able to evaluate culture. Businesses and artists must be able to understand the market they want to enter because they’ll gain valuable clues about potential customers. Culture is extremely important when evaluating a market because it’s one of the biggest factors that can sway the market’s customer base in any direction. Different factors can influence the culture at any time, including:

● Popular trends – people’s tastes change with the changing trends in fashion. It is important to know which trends are popular in different cultures so that your art or business tactics match these trends – and don’t appear outdated.

● Demographics – as cultures grow, change, and shrink, the people within the society change. It is important to know what groups make up the majority and minority of a population because different groups of people will have different tastes. In addition, a niche group may truly be a better match for your product, service, or artwork, but you’d miss that group if you only focused on the majority.

● Environment – the physical environment of a culture is extremely important because it tells a lot about the tastes of the people living there. People who live in Alaska usually like the cold and find snow beautiful. A picture featuring a snowy winter horizon or a team of sled dogs will tend to be much more successful in this culture than a painting featuring different types of tropical fish. Likewise, a business selling bikinis is going to meet with less excitement in Alaska than a company specializing in down jackets.

An area’s culture isn’t created overnight; it develops over a long period of time. Culture is complicated and sometimes flexible. It affects our daily decisions. For example, to buy a house, we should first think about the culture surrounding it. This culture is made up of the environment: whether there are public libraries, the types of supermarkets, any sports centers, what types of schools are in the area, etc. Each of these different cultural factors will impact our decision to buy the house or not.

Creating art is no different than the housing business. Art should cater to the culture in which it will be sold, just as houses should cater to the culture in which they are built. A successful piece will use cultural context, therefore making the piece relevant and relatable to consumers. For example, a piece of art featuring a sacred animal, like a cow, may be wildly popular in India, while a piece of art featuring a sports mascot, like a tiger, may sell well in Detroit.

In the end, art is a business, and business is just as impacted by culture as art. Artists want people to appreciate their work and buy it; businesspeople want people to find their products or services useful and invest in them. In order to make your art or business successful, remember to soak in the cultural clues of your target audience. You will find yourself with many more happy customers – and a lot more revenue.