Everyday art as an innovation and integration factor in companies in the Lake Constance region - an illustration using the example of music

Sponsoring cultural events is a trend in all countries in the Lake Constance region. In Switzerland, Migros Genossenschaft is one of the main sponsors of the well-known Openair St.Gallen Festival. Coop supports Openair cinema events and at the Tennis Swiss In-doors Navyboot, Manor, Peugeot, Emirates and the private bank Sarasin appear as main sponsors. In Germany, for example, the Würth Group supports numerous projects in the field of art and culture with a major financial commitment. At the Bregenz Festival in Austria, the BMW Group has recently become one of the main sponsors. The question arises as to what reasons motivate companies to spend sometimes large sums on cultural causes.
In business enterprises, cultural sponsoring is usually the term used when talking about promoting art and culture. As part of their commitment to sustainability, however, some companies go one step further. The term "corporate cultural responsibility" (as part of corporate social responsibility) refers to a company's responsibility for culture that goes beyond its core business and is anchored in strategic concepts and measures. A good example of this is Migros' cultural percentage. Here, the cooperative spends a certain portion of its profits on cultural purposes.
However, art also holds enormous potential that can be used profitably by companies. This is confirmed by the experience of companies that make targeted use of art and artists, for example, to improve corporate communications, or by empirical studies that have been conducted on this topic in recent years (cf. e.g. Schmid 2009, Fenkart 2014). More recent studies state that so-called "arts-based learning" can positively influence soft skills in particular; these are primarily creativity, imagination, risk-taking behavior, improvisation, observation skills, critical faculties, awareness, flexibility, and energization (Schiuma 2011). The possibility of specifically conceiving and using art as a driver for economic change creates a multitude of fields of application in which art can make a lasting contribution. In 2010, for example, an interdisciplinary symposium was held in Dortmund as part of the activities for the Capital of Culture on the question of transferring artistic thought processes and methods into non-artistic fields for the purpose of gaining knowledge. The focus was on art as a motor of scientific and economic processes. Since 2010, the St.Gallen-based Atelier für Sonderaufgaben der Gebrüder Riklin has been demonstrating the innovative impact that art can have outside of art halls in social and economic contexts with projects such as the Null Stern Hotel or the Insect Respect campaign (http://www.insect-respect.org/respekt/ursprung.html). Conversely, the initiative can also come from the artists. The central question here is what kind of business enterprises offer themselves for cooperation under what conditions.
The Lake Constance region has always been known as an innovation region, particularly because there has always been an above-average amount of migration. It can therefore be called a place of transfer with good conscience. Moreover, art is predestined to act as an integration factor in society in general and in companies in particular. Artists from the region meet immigrant artists, which leads to a lively exchange. Art can also have an innovative effect in all fields of action of companies, for example in the research and development departments as well as in marketing or human resources. These aspects are to be taken into account in the planned project. Using the example of "music" (representative of other forms of art), it is to be shown (and demonstrated in companies) how it can contribute to integration, product and service innovation, as well as overarching corporate development.