From government to governance. Engaging funding stakeholders through collaborative governance

Recent events have highlighted the vulnerability of cultural organisations in facing unprecedented events and effectively responding to ongoing changes while ensuring their financial viability in the short and long term. In this scenario, collaboration agreements and partnerships are considered strategic, particularly in arts and cultural organisations, which are accountable to multiple stakeholders. Inter- organisational agreements are emerging as a new governance structure for dealing with issues one organisation cannot tackle alone (Huxham et al., 2000). Collaboration can take place in the form of an inter- organisational partnership but can also stimulate participation by local communities (Berry, 2005; Cooper et al., 2006; Newman et al., 2004). For public organisations, many of which are in art finance and management, governance has changed in practice and theory. In the past, the state was the sole player in setting policy, managing and funding arts organisations horizontally and vertically influenced by other levels of command and civil society actors (Doberstein, 2016). However, different formal and informal forms of collaboration and dialogue appear in the cultural sector today. There are various forms and levels of collaboration, but this chapter focuses on collaborative governance, i.e., formal collaboration at the governance level. More specifically, this study delves into the unexplored territory of the relationship between collaborative governance, its architecture, and its ability to attract private investors in the cultural sector. This field is relatively unexplored in the arts literature (Donelli et al., 2021). Starting from these considerations, the pivotal research question of this work is whether the theoretical framework of collaborative governance can be considered valuable and effective for the study of the conditions that make effective the management of relationships with funders, as with the development of collaborative platforms or arrangements (Ansell & Gash, 2018; Lahat & Sher- Hadar, 2020). Funders and donors will be further addressed as ‘funding stakeholders’, stressing the role of donors as funders and providers of capital and values. This work aims to engage the reader in a comprehensive examination of collaborative governance as a process of managing, implementing, and funding cultural programs, using a cultural event as a case study: “Parma 2020+ 21 – Italian Capital of Culture”. Parma is an interesting case due to its characteristics and public- private synergies. Its governance architecture, based on collaborative governance, could be replicated as it shares similarities with the European Capitals of Culture, which has inspired the Italian Capital of Culture initiative. The role of collaborative governance in implementing the development plan of Parma2020+ 21 appears strategic. It represents a possible critical case study (Yin, 2018) that is valid for adopting an exploratory case study research method.