The Paradox of Corporate Sponsorship of Arts in the Age of Austerity

Previous researchers have examined the motivations and effects of arts sponsorship from the perspective of the sponsor, but without a clear aggregate implication on the sponsee. This study examines the development of arts sponsorship with reference to cultural policies, and identifies the rationale and effects on art museums. Building on marketing and arts literature and a comparative case study of the United Kingdom and France, this study shows that marketization policies and volatile public funding are pushing art museums to focus on self-funding sources including corporate sponsorship as a private funding source. Arts sponsorship has become more commercial than philanthropic because it carries institutional, stakeholders, and corporate social responsibility objectives. The positive effects of arts sponsorship on the sponsee are financial support for arts and enhancing cultural enrichment, while the negative effects include diminishing artistic autonomy and a contradiction between the type of sponsor and the mission of the sponsee. The study proposes a way forward to mitigate damages through cultural policies, as arts sponsorship is becoming an inevitable source of funding for arts.