Abstract

Dance organisations face many artistic and management challenges in today’s highly globalized world. In this chapter, Farooq Chaudhry, creative producer and artists’ manager of the award-winning company Akram Khan, shares his practical insight into the issues and opportunities that lie at the heart of creating, organising and managing an arts organisation that operates both locally and internationally. By discussing the company’s trajectory, the role of the creative producer and the adopted business model, the chapter shows how the commercial discipline of business is not counter intuitive to dance creation and distribution in the arts sector. To the contrary, it optimizes practice, offering a dynamic, resilient and enterprising framework in which tangible and intangible artistic value can flourish. Overall, the chapter demonstrates how re-thinking and going beyond traditional business models has proven to be an integral catalyst in the artistic success of this contemporary dance company worldwide.