The art of financing art:Attracting sponsorship
The term «privatization» seems very in these days at the Ministry of Culture. Attracting sponsors, strengthening the financial ties between private enterprises and cultural bodies and the state’s partial refusal to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining and supporting cultural institutions, appear to be the basic priorities of the tenure of Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis. Beyond the ministry leadership’s wishful thinking, there remain serious questions regarding the viability of these aims, summarized in the following: Why is Greece considered such a hostile environment for sponsors? What is the most suitable legal framework to attract sponsorships? Who will ensure that state-dependent and independent cultural bodies will continue to function properly if the state simply «retires» from the task? What happens if sponsors choose to financially bolster the more popular events in order to achieve greater publicity, leaving young artists and new events outside the loop? These were some of the issues addressed at the «Arts & Businesses – Culture Counts» forum, organized by the British Council and the magazine Highlights at the Benaki Museum last Friday. The keynote speaker at the event was Colin Tweedy, chief executive of Arts and Business – a committee that organizes sponsorship and other links between the commercial and arts worlds in Britain – and chairman of the European Committee for Business, Arts and Culture (CEREC), which is a non-governmental organization of which Greece was once a member. The reason that Greece is no longer a member is the amendment of tax laws regarding sponsorships. «Britain is considered the ideal model for sponsorships,» said Tweedy in an interview with Kathimerini. «Our committee has been around for 29 years and annual sponsorship from the private sector this year has reached 120 million pounds sterling. The state both subsidizes and gives tax incentives to businesses to become involved in culture.» For a realist like Tweedy, there is only one thing that will convince a commercial enterprise to dip into its coffers: tax breaks. «We don’t talk to them about morality or their debt to society, just about the gains to their bank accounts. On the other hand, we are experiencing a period of greater sensitivity toward businesses’ social responsibility to give a part of their profits back to society. At the same time, we must also consider the economy in the future. Production will soon pass on to China and India and European businesses have to change their mentalities. They must focus on new ideas, creativity, design. «They must go from being passive players, for example, in sponsoring an exhibition, to taking a more active role; taking advantage, to their own benefit, of the creative human dynamic of their country, such as artists, musicians, etc.,» argues Tweedy. Greece, says Tweedy, is an extremely hostile environment for potential sponsors. «It is said that this is due to poor financial management in the cultural sector by the previous government. A lot of money was laid out and not properly invested. The current government is trying to change the prevailing counterproductive mentality. The first step is to change tax laws and give businesses incentives. You live in a country whose main source of income is tourism, so culture can be a very lucrative investment.»
