Corporate Sponsorship a Growing Area of Arts Concern.

There was a period in the development of the arts industry, the early Post NEA days, when corporate support of the arts most often meant corporate philanthropy. Although the quid pro quo for business support was hardly hidden, it seldom was blatantly commercial. Times have certainly changed.

Corporate sponsorship today has replaced corporate donations as a major funding vehicle for many arts organizations. A study earlier this year by IEG Sponsorship Report projected a growth of arts sponsorship by North American companies from the $468 million in 1999 to $548 million this year. In other countries the growth of sponsorship dollars has been on the rise as well. In the U.K. corporate arts sponsorship last year grew by 23 percent over the preceding year.

On a visit this past summer to Istanbul, Turkey, where I presented a seminar on arts funding and marketing to a group of Turkish arts administrators and educators, I learned just how significant sponsorship is to the financial health of the local cultural industry. According to one participant, Mehmet Ulug, his company, Pozitif Productions, which produces and promotes more than 50 concerts a year, covers only 25 percent of production costs for top international attractions from ticket income. Without significant government or private dollars, most of Pozitif's concerts and festivals are sponsored by private firms, which according to the organization, "gives us a chance to achieve higher artistic levels." Another participant, Serhan Ada, program coordinator of the Istanbul Bilgi University performing arts management program, one of several arts management programs in Istanbul universities, indicated that sponsorship, along with governance and trusteeship, is included in his course curriculum.

My personal involvement with arts sponsorship in Istanbul came on the evening following my seminar when my wife and I were invited to attend a heralded concert at the Istanbul Jazz Festival featuring one of Turkey's top artists, classical pianist Fazil Say. Along with flutist Kudsi Erguner, he was to appear in a crossover concert with their group, the Fazil Say and Kudsi Erguner Jazz Quartet. The event was a sell-out and as we found our way to our seats we were treated to a double dose of sponsor exposure. On every seat was a plastic bag within which was an attractive T-shirt bearing the name of the artists and below it in smaller type the name of the sponsor, Beyman, one of Turkey's leading department store chains. The gift didn't hold our attention for long, however, because a show of beaming lights directed our attention to spots all over the hall where, from curtain to walls, four or five beams of flashing lights spelled out the Beyman name and logo. Certainly, there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to t he identity of the concert sponsor.