Entrepreneurial ventures for nonprofit arts organizations

This paper provides the basic information necessary for the manager of a small to medium-sized nonprofit arts organization to complete a preliminary evaluation of whether or not to embark upon an entrepreneurial venture. Issues are discussed. The history of nonprofit arts involvement in entrepreneurial ventures is described and three examples are examined. Conclusions are drawn from questionnaires completed by fifty managers of nonprofit arts organizations in the Washington, D.C., area. Three are interviewed in order to form case studies of their successful involvement in entrepreneurial ventures. The purpose is to determine the methods undertaken in these ventures and the steps that were necessary for their success.