The dramatic haemorrhage of corporate support for the arts, revealed this time last year in a research report published by Arts & Business (A&B), has slowed to a trickle. Its latest survey of business investment in the arts, which is widely regarded as the UK?s annual barometer of the financial relationship between the corporate and arts sectors, has found that levels of business support have all but stabilised, with the UK figure for 2001/2002 estimated at £111m, just 3% down on 2000/2001.
The news has, to some extent, allayed fears held by many across the sector that business sponsorship and other forms of partnerships with the arts are in rapid decline; but there are no signs that business cash for the arts is set to return to the all-time high of over £150m, reached in 1999/2000. Also, Colin Tweedy, A&B?s Chief Executive, has been quick to point out that it is too early yet to feel the impact of the current economic climate. He has warned that there is still a danger that the arts will be perpetually sidelined by the huge number of conflicting demands on the corporate purse. Commenting on the results, he said ?Major Lottery and millennium projects began to generate big investment opportunities for business in 1998. The market now looks to be settling down to pre-1998 levels of between £96m and £115m.?
Only three categories of business support for arts showed an increase on the previous year, the largest of these being sponsorship of capital projects, which rose by £5.5m having fallen by £36.7m the previous year. Corporate memberships rose for the second successive year, this time by £3.6m, with the Royal Opera House, the London Tate galleries and Glyndebourne receiving the lion?s share of this. Corporate donations, which saw an £8.3m drop in 2000/2001, rose by £2.3m. General business sponsorship continues to decline, down by a further £4.3m following a fall of £2m the previous year; and sponsorship in kind, which has performed well in recent years, is also down by £4m.
The experiences of different regions and artforms have been mixed. Investment in London, which still accounts for over half of the total business support for the arts, grew by 5%, and 12 of the 18 organisations receiving business investment of £1m or more are based in London. Significant increases in investment were also reported in the South West, the East, Northern Ireland, and the North West, but the West Midlands experienced a 48% fall. Crafts, photography and film/video reported increased levels of investment, while drama/theatre, visual arts and music reported an overall drop in the level of funding they received, and support for heritage organisations declined by over a third.
A report giving full details of the 2001/2002 Survey of Business Investment in the Arts will be published later this month. To order a copy, register online at http://www.aandb.org.uk