blues and business by nelson mendoza

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1 “Blues and Business”: A profile of the Mahindra Blues Festival audience Nelson Mendoza March 2014 Introduction The Mahindra Group has a tradition of supporting arts initiatives, including the Mahindra Blues Festival, a blues music festival in Mumbai. Although Mahindra backs these initiatives because the company believes they are inherently good for society, recent research on corporate philanthropy reveals that arts and social initiatives like these can actually create business value for those companies that support the arts. I set out, through a survey, to profile the Mahindra Blues Festival audience and understand if the audience develops positive perceptions about companies that support the arts, and whether the audience believes that Mahindra’s giving would influence their purchasing decisions. These are important questions because corporatephilanthropy research shows that support for the arts and for other social initiatives benefits companies via the positive impact on those companies’ reputation. Though I cannot establish here that Mahindra’s sales benefit from Mahindra’s arts giving, I do establish that the Mahindra Blues Festival audience’s views of a company’s reputation are shaped by that company’s backing of the arts. We can therefore suggest that the Mahindra Group likely gains business value from its arts giving. Background Several studies have found that corporate giving to the arts and other social initiatives can increase a company’s revenues by influencing consumer behaviors, such as customer loyalty and recommendations. 1 Giving can also help protect a company’s share price 2 and revenues from a negative event and the subsequent negative publicity. 3, 4, 5 Support for the arts might even create positive press: Humana, the American healthinsurance company, sponsors a fiveweek theatre festival in the U.S., from which 3 plays have gone on to win Pulitzers and which generates media buzz in which the festival and the Humana name are mentioned. 6, 7 In all these studies, giving to the arts or to broader social initiatives benefits the company by creating a positive reputation and positive perceptions about 1 Lev, Baruch and Petrovits, Christine and Radhakrishnan , Suresh, “Is Doing Good Good for You? How Corporate Charitable Contributions Enhance Growth”. 2 Lim, Terence, “Measuring the Value of Corporate Philanthropy: Social Impact, Business Benefits and Investor Returns”. 3 Godfrey, Paul C., “The Relationship between Corporate Philanthropy and Shareholder Wealth: A Risk Management Perspective” 4 Lev, Baruch and Petrovits, Christine and Radhakrishnan , Suresh, “Is Doing Good Good for You? How Corporate Charitable Contributions Enhance Revenue Growth.” 5 Wang, Heli and Cuili Qian, “Corporate Philanthropy and Corporate Financial Performance: The Roles of Stakeholder Response and Political Access”. 6 “Actors Theater of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays,” Humana Foundation. 7 Kramer, Elizabeth, “Humana Festival of New American Plays: By the numbers.”

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Page 1: Blues and Business by Nelson Mendoza

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“Blues  and  Business”:  A  profile  of  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience    

Nelson  Mendoza  March  2014  

 Introduction    The  Mahindra  Group  has  a  tradition  of  supporting  arts  initiatives,  including  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  a  blues  music  festival  in  Mumbai.  Although  Mahindra  backs  these  initiatives  because  the  company  believes  they  are  inherently  good  for  society,  recent  research  on  corporate  philanthropy  reveals  that  arts  and  social  initiatives  like  these  can  actually  create  business  value  for  those  companies  that  support  the  arts.    I  set  out,  through  a  survey,  to  profile  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  and  understand  if  the  audience  develops  positive  perceptions  about  companies  that  support  the  arts,  and  whether  the  audience  believes  that  Mahindra’s  giving  would  influence  their  purchasing  decisions.  These  are  important  questions  because  corporate-­‐philanthropy  research  shows  that  support  for  the  arts  and  for  other  social  initiatives  benefits  companies  via  the  positive  impact  on  those  companies’  reputation.  Though  I  cannot  establish  here  that  Mahindra’s  sales  benefit  from  Mahindra’s  arts  giving,  I  do  establish  that  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience’s  views  of  a  company’s  reputation  are  shaped  by  that  company’s  backing  of  the  arts.  We  can  therefore  suggest  that  the  Mahindra  Group  likely  gains  business  value  from  its  arts  giving.          Background      Several  studies  have  found  that  corporate  giving  to  the  arts  and  other  social  initiatives  can  increase  a  company’s  revenues  by  influencing  consumer  behaviors,  such  as  customer  loyalty  and  recommendations.  1  Giving  can  also  help  protect  a  company’s  share  price  2  and  revenues  from  a  negative  event  and  the  subsequent  negative  publicity.  3,  4,  5  Support  for  the  arts  might  even  create  positive  press:  Humana,  the  American  health-­‐insurance  company,  sponsors  a  five-­‐week  theatre  festival  in  the  U.S.,  from  which  3  plays  have  gone  on  to  win  Pulitzers  and  which  generates  media  buzz  in  which  the  festival  and  the  Humana  name  are  mentioned.  6,  7  In  all  these  studies,  giving  to  the  arts  or  to  broader  social  initiatives  benefits  the  company  by  creating  a  positive  reputation  and  positive  perceptions  about                                                                                                                            1  Lev,  Baruch  and  Petrovits,  Christine  and  Radhakrishnan  ,  Suresh,  “Is  Doing  Good  Good  for  You?  How  Corporate  Charitable  Contributions  Enhance  Growth”.  2  Lim,  Terence,  “Measuring  the  Value  of  Corporate  Philanthropy:  Social  Impact,  Business  Benefits  and  Investor  Returns”.  3  Godfrey,  Paul  C.,  “The  Relationship  between  Corporate  Philanthropy  and  Shareholder  Wealth:  A  Risk  Management  Perspective”      4  Lev,  Baruch  and  Petrovits,  Christine  and  Radhakrishnan  ,  Suresh,  “Is  Doing  Good  Good  for  You?  How  Corporate  Charitable  Contributions  Enhance  Revenue  Growth.”  5  Wang,  Heli  and  Cuili  Qian,  “Corporate  Philanthropy  and  Corporate  Financial  Performance:  The  Roles  of  Stakeholder  Response  and  Political  Access”.  6  “Actors  Theater  of  Louisville  Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays,”  Humana  Foundation.  7  Kramer,  Elizabeth,  “Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays:  By  the  numbers.”    

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  2  the  company  in  stakeholders’  eyes.  In  order  to  reap  those  advantages,  therefore,  corporate  philanthropy  must  create  positive  perceptions  about  the  company  overall.      Many  businesses  have  caught  on  to  this  strategy:  over  41%  of  the  600  companies  surveyed  by  the  Business  Committee  for  the  Arts,  an  American  council  that  promotes  the  intersection  of  business  and  the  arts,  gave  money  to  or  led  their  own  arts  initiatives.  8  Additionally,  over  47%  of  companies  with  revenues  of  $50  million  or  more  gave  to  the  arts,  9  suggesting  that  all  types  of  companies  detect  the  benefits.  In  fact,  only  12%  of  executives  or  representatives  of  the  companies  surveyed  said  that  supporting  the  arts  “does  not  suit  business  interests/  is  not  a  priority.”  10      There  is  a  growing  trend  for  arts  giving  in  India  as  well.  For  example,  the  Tata  group  of  companies  helped  found  Mumbai’s  National  Centre  for  Performing  Arts  as  far  back  as  1966,  in  order  to  promote  and  preserve  the  arts  in  India.  11  More  recently,  India’s  YES  Bank  sponsored  New  Delhi’s  huge  India  Art  Fair  2014,  and  ZEE  TV  supported  the  Jaipur  Literature  Festival  (For  more  information  about  the  arts  abroad  and  in  India,  see  Appendix  2).  Clearly,  businesses  across  the  world  of  all  shapes  and  sizes  seem  to  have  established,  or  are  convinced,  that  giving  benefits  their  business.        Objective    

1) To  determine  if  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  has  positive  perceptions  about  companies  that  support  the  arts.    

2) To  determine  if  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  believes  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  would  influence  their  purchasing  decisions.  

 Methodology    To  determine  if  a  company’s  support  for  the  arts  influences  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience’s  perceptions  of  a  company,  we  conducted  a  three-­‐question  survey  (Appendix  1)  in  two  locations:      

1) The  Mahindra  Blues  Festival.  15-­‐16  February,  2014.  Mumbai.  2) The  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  Facebook  page.    

 The  survey  asked  customers  to  state,  on  a  scale  of  1-­‐7,  how  strongly  they  agreed  or  disagreed  with  3  statements  (1=Strongly  Disagree;  7=Strongly  Agree).  The  first  two  statements  (Q1  and  Q2)  tried  to  determine  if  a  company’s  support  for  the  arts  would  create  positive  perceptions  about  that  company.  In  Q1,  if  an  audience  member  agreed  that  companies  should  support  the  arts,  then  indirectly  we  assumed  that  a  company  that  supports  the  arts  meets  that  expectation,  and  thus  creates  a  positive  perception.  In  Q2,  we  directly  asked  if  a  company’s  support  for  the  arts  creates  a  positive  perception.        In  Q3,  we  asked  if  an  audience  member  will  consider  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  specifically  when  making  a  purchase  in  the  future.  A  positive  response  supports  previous  research  that  corporate  philanthropy  can  influence  a  company’s  sales,  whether  positively  or  negatively.  However,  our  survey  did  not  determine  the  type  of  impact;  that  is  a  question  for  future  study.      At  Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  a  surveyor  had  a  table  during  the  festival’s  two  days,  and  offered  passerby  the  chance  to  enter  a  contest  to  meet  the  festival’s  artists  backstage  by  taking  the  paper  survey.  On  the                                                                                                                            8  “The  BCA  National  Survey  of  Business  Support  for  the  Arts,”  Business  Committee  for  the  Arts.    9  Ibid.  10  Ibid.  11  “TATA  Group:  Our  Commitment:  Sports  and  Arts,”  TATA.    

 

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  3  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  Facebook  page,  people  who  took  the  survey  by  clicking  a  link  on  a  Facebook  post  were  offered  the  chance  to  win  one  of  5  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  merchandise  packages.  The  survey  was  available  for  7  days,  and  paper  and  online  surveys  were  identical.      Note:  Although  in  the  online  survey  there  was  a  chance  for  people  who  did  not  attend  the  2014  festival,  or  who  perhaps  had  never  attended  any  of  the  previous  festivals,  to  take  the  survey,  the  number  of  people  who  had  never  attended  any  festival  was  only  17,  less  than  10%  of  the  total  sample  size  of  280,  so  we  do  not  feel  like  we  have  to  isolate  them  from  our  results  because  of  their  small  numbers.      Results:    Total  sample  size:  280  surveys  Questions:  Q1    I  believe  it  is  important  for  companies  to  financially  support  the  arts.  Q2    I  have  positive  thoughts  about  companies  when  they  support  the  arts.    Q3    I  will  consider  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  (Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  Excellence  in  Theater  Awards,  etc.)  when  making  purchases  in  the  future.    1  =  Strongly  disagree      2  =  Disagree      3  =  Somewhat  disagree      4  =  Neutral      5  =  Somewhat  agree      

6  =  Agree      7  =  Strongly  agree    

 Average  Answer    

 

 Q1  and  Q2  received  a  high  average  answer  (6.46  and  6.29,  respectively).  Therefore,  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  believes  strongly  that  companies  should  support  the  arts,  and  the  audience  has  good  

thoughts  about  those  companies;  therefore,  the  audience’s  perception  of  a  company  is  positively  enhanced  if  that  company  supports  the  arts.  

   

Q3  has  a  high  average  answer  (5.94)  meaning  that  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  agrees  that  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  will  influence  its  purchasing  decisions.  However,  the  audience  agrees  

less  strongly  with  this  statement  than  with  Q1  and  Q2  (6.46,  6.29).  

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 Average  Answer    

 Middle-­‐aged  people  agree  most  strongly  that  companies  should  support  the  arts  (6.6).  Young  people  

(6.3)  feel  less  strongly  than  the  middle-­‐aged  group,  but  still  agree.          

 Average  Answer    

 

Middle-­‐aged  people  also  agree  most  strongly  that  they  have  positive  thoughts  about  companies  that  support  the  arts.  Young  people  agree  with  the  statement  (6.19),  but  feel  least  strongly  of  all  the  age  

groups.    

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 Average  Answer  

 Middle-­‐aged  people  feel  most  strongly  of  all  age  groups  that  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  will  influence  their  purchasing  decisions  (6.28).  Young  people  agree  (5.76),  but  dramatically  less  than  

middle-­‐aged  people.  The  difference  of  .52  is,  notably,  the  largest  difference  in  answers  between  all  age  groups  and  genders.  

         

 Average  Answer  

 

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 Average  Answer  

 

 Both  females  and  males  agree  strongly  that  companies  should  support  the  arts  (6.62  and  6.42,  

respectively)  and  both  agree  strongly  that  they  would  have  positive  perceptions  about  those  companies  (6.36  and  6.29,  respectively).  However,  females  feel  slightly  more  strongly  about  both  statements.  

       

Average  Answer  

     

Males  believe  slightly  more  strongly  than  females  that  support  for  the  arts  would  influence  their  purchasing  decisions  (5.96  vs.  5.88).    

     

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  7      Conclusion    Based  on  our  results,  we  conclude  that  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  will  develop  positive  perceptions  of  companies  that  support  the  arts,  and  that  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  will  influence  their  purchasing  decisions.  On  Q1,  the  audience  expressed  the  expectation  that  companies  should  support  the  arts;  therefore,  companies  that  do,  win  the  approval  of  the  audience.  In  Q2,  the  audience  very  clearly  agreed  that  they  have  positive  thoughts  about  those  companies.  We  can  therefore  infer  that  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience  most  likely  develops  positive  perceptions  about  the  Mahindra  Group  itself,  since  Mahindra  supports  the  arts.  Additionally,  though  we  cannot  confirm  this  with  our  survey,  it  is  likely  that  Mahindra’s  arts  initiatives  activate  the  benefits  of  corporate  giving,  via  an  enhanced  corporate  reputation,  as  discussed  in  our  introduction  (i.e.  higher  revenues,  insurance  against  loss  in  share  price,  etc.).      We  discuss  a  few  interesting  results:      

1) The  audience  agreed  least  with  Q3:  I  will  consider  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  (Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  Excellence  in  Theater  Awards,  etc.)  when  making  purchases  in  the  future.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  clear  if  the  agreement  was  lowest  because  it  mentioned  Mahindra  specifically,  or  because  people  are  generally  skeptical  that  corporate  giving  would  influence  their  buying  behavior.  However,  even  if  the  audience  does  not  believe  Mahindra’s  giving  would  influence  their  purchasing,  the  positive  reputation  and  brand  positioning  created  by  the  arts  initiatives  might  indirectly  or  subtly  factor  into  their  decisions,  as  suggested  by  the  background  research  we  discussed.  We  must  follow  up  on  this  with  further  study,  perhaps  by  tracking  purchases  made  by  people  who  participate  in  or  know  about  Mahindra’s  arts  initiatives.  Of  course,  perhaps  people  who  view  the  Mahindra  brand  favorably  already,  or  who  often  buy  Mahindra  products,  are  probably  more  likely  to  engage  with  the  arts  initiatives,  so  it  is  important  to  control  for  that  factor  in  studies  that  track  purchasing  decisions.  

2) Middle-­‐aged  people  agreed  most  strongly  out  of  the  three  age  groups  with  all  statements.  Youth  agreed  least.  We  can  only  speculate  about  these  differences:  perhaps  youth  know  less  about  Mahindra  products  because  most  Mahindra  products  are  geared  towards  an  older  crowd  with  more  purchasing  power  (auto,  tractors,  real  estate,  etc.).  However,  youth  may  also  be  more  skeptical  of  companies’  intentions  behind  corporate  giving.  Perhaps  the  Mahindra  Group  should  consider  this  implication  when  deciding  which  arts  initiatives  to  support  (i.e.,  focusing  on  arts  initiatives  for  an  older  audience),  or  which  products  to  promote  at  these  events.  The  Skoda  Prize,  a  large  monetary  award  for  young  artists  sponsored  by  the  Skoda  auto  company,  is  a  cautionary  tale;  many  artists  publicly  resisted  and  were  opposed  to  a  company  promoting  its  name  by  supporting  an  art  prize.  12  Skoda  decided  to  discontinue  its  sponsorship  in  2013.  

3) Men  agreed  slightly  more  than  women  that  support  for  the  arts  would  influence  their  purchasing  decisions.  Although  the  difference  was  slight,  we  should  conduct  further  studies  to  determine  which  demographics  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  or  Mahindra’s  other  arts  initiatives,  should  target.    

 Some  people  may  claim  sample  bias  in  our  survey,  and  therefore  question  our  results,  because  all  of  our  audience  participated  in  or  was  interested  in  the  festival  in  some  way.  The  audience’s  participation  would  suggest  that  it  could  not  possibly  be  opposed  to  corporate  support  for  the  arts.  However,  the  most  important  question  for  us  was  whether  arts  initiatives  influence  participants’  perceptions  of  the  

                                                                                                                         12  Kramer,  Elizabeth,  “Name  dropping”.    

 

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  8  companies  that  support  those  initiatives.  We  cannot  clearly  determine  that  simply  by  looking  at  whether  people  attended  the  festival  or  not,  and  therefore,  we  needed  to  conduct  the  survey.      Additionally,  we  decided  not  to  ask  the  audience  in  Q1  and  Q2  if  they  believed  Mahindra,  specifically,  should  support  the  arts,  or  if  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  influenced  their  perceptions  of  the  company  (instead,  we  asked  about  companies  in  general).  Although  asking  a  more  general  question  limited  our  conclusions  (we  cannot  decisively  say  whether  the  audience  develops  positive  perceptions  about  Mahindra  based  on  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival),  this  was  a  deliberate  decision;  we  do  not  wish  to  make  our  audience  skeptical  about  the  blues  festival’s  intentions  by  asking  such  specific  questions.  Also,  asking  the  questions  in  such  a  way  would  not  have  been  in  the  style  of  our  other  communications  with  the  blues  festival  audience.  Therefore,  we  must  be  satisfied  with  hypothesizing  that  because  our  audience  develops  positive  perceptions  about  companies  in  general  that  support  the  arts,  they  most  likely  now  think  positively  about  Mahindra’s  reputation.    Although  many  questions  remain,  we  established  quite  firmly  with  this  survey  that  for  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  audience,  corporate  support  for  the  arts  creates  a  positive  reputation  for  a  company.  By  extension,  this  may  mean  that  Mahindra’s  reputation  benefits  from  its  arts  initiatives,  and  that  probably  its  sales,  share  price,  customer  loyalty,  and  other  business  measures  may  benefit  as  well.  We  also  established  that,  overall,  the  audience  believes  that  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  would  influence  their  purchasing  decisions.  In  further  studies,  we  should  determine,  by  tracking  their  purchases,  whether  this  influence  is  positive  or  negative.  However,  this  survey  suggests  that  the  Mahindra  Group  is  not  only  creating  social  good  with  its  support  for  the  arts,  but  is  enhancing  and  protecting  its  reputation.    

           

   

Stage  at  Mahindra  Blues  Festival  2014                

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  9  References    “Actors  Theater  of  Louisville  Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays,”  accessed  February  11,  2014,  http://www.humanafoundation.org/partnerships/actors_theatre.asp.    “The  BCA  National  Survey  of  Business  Support  for  the  Arts,”  Business  Committee  for  the  Arts,  accessed  February  20,  2014,  http://www.partnershipmovement.org/upload/web-­‐files/BCA_Survey_V6_Single.pdf.    Ghose,  Anindita,  “Name  dropping,”  The  Caravan,  August  01,  2013,  accessed  February  28,  2014,  http://caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/name-­‐dropping.      Godfrey,  Paul  C.,  “The  Relationship  between  Corporate  Philanthropy  and  Shareholder  Wealth:  A  Risk  Management  Perspective,”  The  Academy  of  Management  Review,  30.4  (2005):  777-­‐798,  accessed  February  12,  2014,  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20159168.      Kramer,  Elizabeth,  “Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays:  By  the  numbers,”  The  Courier  Journal,  February  23,  2014,  accessed  February  28,  2014,  http://www.courier-­‐journal.com/story/entertainment/arts/2014/02/23/humana-­‐festival-­‐of-­‐new-­‐american-­‐plays-­‐by-­‐the-­‐numbers/5683863/.    Lev,  Baruch  and  Petrovits,  Christine  and  Radhakrishnan  ,  Suresh,  “Is  Doing  Good  Good  for  You?  How  Corporate  Charitable  Contributions  Enhance  Revenue  Growth,”  (September  1,  2008).  Available  at  SSRN:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=920502    Lim,  Terence,  “Measuring  the  Value  of  Corporate  Philanthropy:  Social  Impact,  Business  Benefits  and  Investor  Returns”  (February  22,  2010).  Available  at  SSRN:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=1571910  or  http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1571910    “TATA  Group:  Our  Commitment:  Sports  and  Arts,”  TATA,  accessed  March  15,  2014,  http://www.tata.in/ourcommitment/articlesinside/A-­‐homage-­‐to-­‐heritage.      Wang,  Heli  and  Cuili  Qian,  “Corporate  Philanthropy  and  Corporate  Financial  Performance:  The  Roles  of  Stakeholder  Response  and  Political  Access,”  The  Academy  of  Management  Journal,  54.6  (2011):  1159-­‐1181,  accessed  February  12,  2014,  doi:  10.5465/amj.2009.0548.                                  

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  10  Appendix  1    

Mahindra  Blues  2014  Survey    

*Answers  DO  NOT  affect  chances  of  winning        Please                                                  your  answer:      Age:          under  30          31-­‐50          51+                                              Gender:          F          M                                              Do  you  live  in  India?          Y          N      What  years  have  you  attended  the  Mahindra  Blues  Festival?      2014      2013      2012      2011        On  a  scale  of  1-­‐7,  how  strongly  do  you  agree  or  disagree  with  the  following  statements.    1  =  Strongly  disagree      2  =  Disagree      3  =  Somewhat  disagree      4  =  Neutral      5  =  Somewhat  agree      

6  =  Agree        7  =  Strongly  agree  

 I  believe  it  is  important  for  companies  to  financially  support  the  arts.    1                                  2                                  3                                  4                                  5                                6                                  7      I  have  positive  thoughts  about  companies  when  they  support  the  arts.      1                                  2                                  3                                  4                                  5                                6                                  7      I  will  consider  Mahindra’s  support  for  the  arts  (Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  Excellence  in  Theater  Awards,  etc.)  when  making  purchases  in  the  future.    1                                  2                                  3                                  4                                  5                                6                                  7          Please  write  your  answer:    What  activities  or  ideas  do  you  suggest  for  improving  Mahindra  Blues  Festival,  our  social  media,  etc.?      Optional:  Please  enter  your  name  if  you  wish  to  be  entered  for  gift  drawing.      

             circle  

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  11  Appendix  2   Additional  information  about  corporate  arts  initiatives  around  the  world.     The  Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays,  USA  13    The  Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays  is  a  5-­‐week  theater  festival  in  Louisville,  Kentucky  that  produces  and  showcases  about  6  plays  every  year.  The  festival  is  sponsored  by  The  Humana  Foundation,  the  philanthropic  arm  of  Humana,  a  Louisville-­‐based  health-­‐insurance  company.  The  festival  intends  to  create  opportunities  for  rising  American  playwrights,  and  nourish  contemporary  American  theater.  Though  the  festival  does  not  award  prizes,  many  of  the  plays  shown  at  the  Humana  Festival  have  won  other  prestigious  awards:  3  Humana  Festival  plays  have  won  the  Pulitzer  Prize,  8  have  won  the  Steinberg/ATCA  Award  for  New  Plays,  which  comes  with  a  $25,000  award,  and  8  plays  have  been  adapted  into  film  or  TV  shows.  Such  outcomes  fulfill  the  festival’s  objective  of  opening  doors  for  new  American  plays.      The  festival  has  been  a  tremendous  success.  In  2013,  over  33,000  patrons  from  over  44  American  states  and  8  countries  attended  the  festival.  Since  1980,  Humana  has  given  over  $20.5  million  to  the  festival  in  what  is  the  longest  continuous  partnership  between  a  company  and  a  theater,  the  Actors  Theater  of  Louisville,  which  organizes  the  festival.  Though  Humana  has  not  released  studies  or  figures  that  measure  the  business  or  social  impact  of  this  festival,  international  and  national  media  outlets  cover  the  event  every  year.  This  press  likely  boosts  positive  perceptions  of  Humana  as  a  socially  responsible  company,  which  is  an  especially  important  value  addition  given  the  many  negative  associations  with  American  health  insurance  companies.  For  all  these  reasons,  it  is  no  surprise  that  Human  continues  to  sponsor  the  festival.      JSW  Foundation,  India  14    The  JSW  Foundation,  the  philanthropic  arm  of  the  JSW  steel  and  oil  conglomerate,  sponsors  many  arts  initiatives.  Perhaps  the  foundation’s  largest  project  is  Kaladham,  a  10-­‐acre  “arts  village”  in  Karnataka  meant  to  become  a  center  for  the  arts  in  India.  The  village  has  an  outdoor  theater  pavilion  for  plays,  dance  performance  spaces  and  studios,  art  galleries,  and  a  museum,  all  places  where  overseas  and  local  artists  can  work  and  exhibit  their  pieces.  JSW  Foundation  especially  intended  for  the  space  to  help  support  local  artists  in  order  to  keep  local  heritage  alive.      In  addition  to  Kaladham,  JSW  Foundation  also  sponsors  Art  India  magazine,  one  of  India’s  most  prominent  arts  magazines,  and  has  supported  the  restoration  of  the  Krishna  Temple  in  Hampi,  and  funds  Rajasthani  folk  music  workshops  for  schoolchildren  in  Rajasthan.  Finally,  JSW  Foundation  also  published  an  English-­‐language  translation  of  Chilean  Nobel  laureate,  Gabriella  Mistral’s  collection  of  poems.  The  JSW  Foundation  also  has  not  released  studies  on  the  impact  of  their  work,  but  may,  like  Humana,  appreciate  the  positive  press  around  the  initiatives  given  the  negative  associations  with  the  oil  and  steel  industries.    

                                                                                                                         13  “Actors  Theater  of  Louisville  Humana  Festival  of  New  American  Plays,”  accessed  February  11,  2014,  http://www.humanafoundation.org/partnerships/actors_theatre.asp  14  “JSW  Foundation:  Art,  Culture,  and  Heritage,”  accessed  March  11,  2014,  http://www.jsw.in/Foundation/inner_page.php?id=10&mid=2&