Private support for the arts reaches £376 million
Howard Lake | 20 April 2004 | News
Arts & Business reports that business investment in the arts in 2002/3 increased to £120 million, and individual giving rose to £256 million.
Business investment in the arts rose by 8% from last year and individual giving rose by 20% in the same period. The latter figure is expected to rise further with the work of Arts & Businesses new Maecenas initiative.
Total public support of the arts in 2001/02 reached £957.83 million.
This is the first time that Arts & Business has reported on business investment and individual giving together. Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive of Arts & Business, said: “Arts & Business makes the UK the only country in the world to produce these figures on an annual basis and this is the first time we have consolidated the figures for private support of the arts.
Advertisement
“The Business Investment in the Arts” report, the annual barometer of the financial relationship between business and the arts in the UK, reveals mixed results, both regionally and by sector. Investment in London, which still accounts for over half of the total business investment, dipped under £50 million for the first time in six years. Thirteen of the 20 organisations receiving business investment of £1 million or more are based in London. However, significant regional increases in investment were reported in the North East (200% – 60% from one organisation), East of England (87%), West Midlands (31%) and Wales (24%).
Dance, drama/theatre, music and photography achieved the greatest increases in investment, while opera, museums and galleries and visual arts reported an overall drop in the level of business investment they received.
The individual giving figures show the continuing importance of individual and trust income to the arts, with these income sources, when combined, generating more than twice the amount of business support. Unlike business giving, the individual giving figures show an increasing concentration of monies raised going to London arts organisations (up from 75% to 78%). Heritage remains a significant recipient of individual giving, receiving almost 60% of the total, with Museums & Galleries and Drama/Theatre a rather distant second and third. Three of the smaller art forms (Arts Centres, Dance and Festivals) more than doubled their income from individuals & trusts and only literature suffered a significant decline.
According to Arts & Business, “these individual figures highlight the continuing need for the Maecenas Initiative, which is focusing on developing sustainable income at all levels from individuals for the small to medium size cultural sector outside of London.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.