The Art of Framing : To what extent does framing affects the acquiring of financial support for art and culture projects?

Abstract: Researchers and practitioners have both acknowledged the importance of framing when presenting novel ideas, considering that the right type of framing can generate a favorable outcome especially when applying for financial support. Yet, there has been limited research about the correlation between framing and funding. This quantitative study makes an attempt to lessen this research gap by investigating how four identified framing labels namely – opportunity, threat, novelty and commonality – imbedded in three hypotheses have affected the acquiring of financial support for novel art and culture projects. The data comprises a large set of applications from individuals requesting funding for various art and culture projects. A content analysis was applied, followed by a logistic regression to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that specific types of framing can increase the possibilities of receiving funding, as commonality was identify as an important aspect of framing. This study is only at the infancy of investigating how framing is connected to the chances of getting financial support, and further empirical research is recommended for a better understanding of the subject.