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

Nasser Alshawaaf, Soo Hee Lee

Dr. Nasser Alshawaaf is an assistant professor and researcher at Arab Open University, Kuwait. His research focuses on the role and interrelation of micro-level mechanisms in the emergence of macro-level organisational outcomes. The study is comparative by investigating institutional change of art museums towards commercialisation and globalisation.
Soo Hee Lee is a Professor in Organisation Studies at the Kent Business School since July 2012. He has previously worked at Birkbeck, University of London, Cass Business School, and University of Sheffield. He also had visiting appointments at University of Science and Technology of China, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Syungkyunkwan University, ESSEC Business School, and TiasNimbas Business School.
ABSTRACT
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.
KEYWORDS
Sponsorship; Arts Sponsorship; Sponsorship Effects; Art Museums; United Kingdom; France; Tate Modern; National Gallery; Louvre; Centre Pompidou