Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 15:30:00 GMT Subject: Men of Vice From: jya-AT-pipeline.com (John Young) Financial Times, July 4, 1996, p. 11. Price of beauty [Editorial] The moments when emotions are caught by a vision of beauty, when grand harmonies linger in the mind, or when deep currents in our lives are suddenly revealed: these are the business of great art and it seldom comes cheap. The Church has known this for almost 2,000 years. Its paintings and cathedrals, financed ultimately by the labours of the poor, would be hard to justify on modern utilitarian grounds. Perhaps a popular vote would have diverted the cost of York Minster into alms houses or bread and circuses. But religious art profoundly affected society and helped to Iffl people's lives out of the mire of poverty. Secular sponsors enabled Shakespeare to play to the groundlings as well as to the grandees, while great patrons bequeathed the beauties of Europe from Venice and the Rhine castles to the palaces of Paris or Blenheim. They were built for the elite, but now delight everyone. Today, Church funding has been replaced, perforce, by state subsidy. Private patrons have given way to corporate sponsors. But modern supporters of the arts are constrained by voters and shareholders, many of whom would rather have the money in their pockets than see it spent on "high" culture. The UK government has responded by setting up the National Lottery, which now faces the formidable task of spending its cash wisely. UK corporate sponsors, which have increased their support for the arts eightfold in the last 20 years, face a rather different problem. They need to justify increased spending in terms of corporate goals rather than generalised philanthropy. And a vague contribution to the company's prestige may no longer be enough: arts sponsorship must often find a place in the marketing or advertising budget. If this is the way to get more money for the arts, it should in principle be welcomed, along with the use of the lottery. But sponsorship sharply focused by corporate goals is likely to have its limitations, especially if company donations are sucked into big high profile lottery-funded projects at the expense of smaller or riskier ventures. Western culture was shaped by men of vision supporting artists of genius, a tradition which is hard to continue in popular democracies. In the UK, the corporate sector has played an increasing part, but it is unlikely ever to be a substitute for government funding and, even with the support of the lottery, ministers should resist the temptation to think that it should be more than a useful addition to the duty of the state. ----- --- from list avant-garde-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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