Arts & Business Award

For companies who have developed a sustained partnership with a cultural organisation that demonstrates significant benefit and engagement with local communities and its own employees.

The aim of the Arts & Business Award is to recognise companies that have shown a long-term commitment to use arts-based initiatives to engage their employees and support local communities. Companies will need to demonstrate that this sustained cultural partnership has created tangible benefits for both their employees and a wider community. Within the context of this award communities can be local or thematic groups of interest.

Background: This award aims to recognise companies who have demonstrated the role that the arts play in creating and sustaining vibrant healthy local communities. Or those companies who have used cultural projects to address issue-based problems and create greater engagement and attitude change within a community. The award also recognises that significant benefit is to be gained in using the arts to engage a company’s employees and raise the positive profile of the business through this association.

For an introduction to the benefits of employee engagement see The Value of Arts-Based Initiatives. For more information on how companies are using the arts to address their CR challenges see Corporate Social Responsibility and the Arts.

Example case studies: Craftspace & VSM Sewing Machines, Ekspan & Open Door Theatre  and Siemens plc & the Halle Concerts Society

Additional Guidance: This form must be completed from the perspective of the corporate partner. If you are the arts organisation please liaise directly with your corporate partner to ensure that the application is completely correctly. Additionally we would expect any programmes entered to have been operating for a reasonable length of time (e.g., at least a year) as we will want to see actual evidence of the positive impact the programme has had on employees as well as the wider community.