Cross-Sector Partnerships between the Business Sector and the CCSI to Enhance Societal Impact: Evidence from The Netherlands

The Netherlands is increasingly experiencing cross-sector collaborations between the cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) and the business community. Cross-sector partnerships ‘create more value together for both businesses and non-profits in the arts and cultural sector, than they could have done separately’ (Wang and Holznagel, 2021, p. 95). However, the opportunities for such partnerships in The Netherlands are not yet fully exploited. Cross-sector partnerships can have advantages for both CCSI and businesses. The CCSI is highly dependent on subsidies and very much focused on this money stream. Partnerships with businesses can create new opportunities and spaces for arts and culture and thereby mitigate this dependency on subsidies. Businesses can also benefit from a cross-sector partnership. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reporting guidelines stimulate the business community to drive sustainable and responsible business practices. However, the business community is often still looking for ways to give shape to the ‘S’ of Social. Artists and cultural organizations are often perfectly outfitted to help businesses create social value in the places where they are active, e.g. by making buildings and neighborhoods more lively, easy to navigate or safe, by building communities and strengthening social cohesion or by giving meaning and identity to the past, present and future of certain place. A good partnership concerns a transformative collaboration, in which both parties work together towards a shared goal. As a result of the current hybridization movement, organizations from different sectors are moving towards the ‘social center’. In addition to financial value, businesses increasingly pursue soft values such as diversity and inclusion, employee wellbeing and social impact on local communities. In the CCSI, ‘hybridisation debates point to the presence of social, economic, political and creative and artistic logics/goals, with different mixes’ (Ferreira et al., 2023, p 929). Consequently, CCSI and the business community increasingly use a mix of orientations with shared interests: this offers a good starting point for transformative cross-sector partnerships. This research therefore focuses on the question: in what ways can the CCSI and businesses jointly make a social impact? By studying different projects that were carried out by the Get Lost Foundation in the Netherlands, we analyze how cross-sector partnerships can be successfully formed and built. We thereby pay attention to the important ‘translator’ role of intermediaries.