Mission-driven arts organisations and initiatives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how mission-driven arts organisations respond to the complex set of economic and social conditions that the authors here term as a significant point of rupture. Drawing on the papers that form a part of the special section of this issue, the authors critically examine how the intersection of globalisation and neoliberalism creates multidimensional uncertainty that shapes the opportunities, responsibilities, work arrangements, and lived experiences of artists and artist-led initiatives and organisations. Design/methodology/approach In this introduction to the symposium on mission-driven arts organisations and initiatives, the authors explore how the included articles question and introduce key concerns that govern, limit and support mission-driven arts organisations. Findings Drawing on the papers in this set, the authors note that mission-driven arts organisations are diverse and employ numerous organising forms. However, at their core is the pursuit of social objectives, which also requires the management of often conflicting artistic, economic, cultural and social demands. The authors explicate how mission-driven arts organisations respond to local agendas and work best at the community level. As such, they may not play a key role in tourism or large-scale cultural regeneration of spaces, but rather seek to make creative use of sunken and redundant, often inner city spaces to address local needs. Yet, the uncertainty that these organisations face shapes temporary solutions that may enhance the precariaty and pressures for artists and creative producers with likely impact on wellbeing. Originality/value This paper brings together original insights into how mission-drive organisations seek to overcome and indeed flourish in a time of rupture. It moves beyond the notion of cultural regeneration as an instrument of tourism, and tourism as a focus of regeneration, to consider the value such organisations bring to localities evidenced in both creative practices and as local cultural engagement beyond economic impact. In doing so, mission-driven arts organisations play a vital role in a time of rapid change.

A Question of Costliness: Time Horizons and Interstate Signaling

This article examines how interstate signaling processes operate under multiple dimensions of uncertainty. The existing signaling literature largely assumes that states communicate and infer one another’s intentions in a simplified context where they are only uncertain about one component of the other’s preferences. Relaxing this unrealistic assumption, I develop a model of interstate reassurance in which the receiver is uncertain of both the compatibility of the sender’s goals and its time horizons. If a receiving state is unsure of the sending state’s time horizons, it is more difficult to determine the costliness of a given signal, and thus how credible it is as an indicator of the sender’s preferences. I show that under certain conditions, shorter time horizons lead to more credible signaling as states become less willing to incur the short-term costs of misrepresentation. Under other conditions, however, shortened time horizons can incentivize hedging behavior, thus undermining a benign state’s ability to credibly signal its intentions. Finally, the model reveals that multidimensional uncertainty can actually facilitate cooperation across a wider range of conditions than one-dimensional uncertainty. I present two brief case illustrations and discuss the model’s implications for contemporary US–China relations.

Experiences with the NUSAP system for multidimensional uncertainty assessment

This paper discusses recent experiences with the NUSAP system for multidimensional uncertainty assessment, based on case studies that vary in complexity. We show that the NUSAP method, and especially the pedigree analysis part of it, is useful to assess not only parameter uncertainty but also to systematically reflect upon (model) assumptions and problem frames. A diagnostic diagram can be used to synthesize results of quantitative and qualitative analysis. It provides an analytic tool to prioritize uncertainties according to quantitative and qualitative insights in the limitations of available knowledge. We further show that extension of the pedigree scheme to include societal dimensions of uncertainty, such as problem framing and value-laden assumptions, further promotes reflexivity and collective learning. When used in a deliberative setting, NUSAP pedigree assessment has the potential to foster a deeper social debate and a negotiated management of complex environmental problems.