Piano, with Harmony: Analysing the Imola Academy from a Management Study Perspective

The extension of an economic and managerial discourse to non-business organisations is becoming increasingly common in the modern-day world. This is also true of arts organisations (museums, opera houses, etc.) where considerable conflicts and misunderstandings can be found between the different cultural matrices of art professionals and management specialists. The Imola Piano Academy is a happy exception in this respect, and therefore warrants the analysis set out in this paper which is based on a strategic change perspective. The evolution of this 'excellent' organisation is reconstructed, its performance is analysed and, against the background of the modest level of resources that this growth has required, the reasons underpinning its success are investigated.