Big Society – a new opportunity for brands and the arts?

It’ll be a while before the full impact of the coalition’s swingeing cuts in the Arts world are realised, but one thing is clear: it’s forcing artists’ hands. There will be little choice but to seek patronage from sources other than the Arts Council, NESTA or the British Film Institute.

Of course, brands have been supporting the arts for ages and there have been some great examples of this, although some backfire as seen recently with BP’s sponsorship of The Tate. And there are those in the arts community who feel that corporate sponsorship has no place, that it sullies the purity of art. But the harsh reality is that the arts need funds, and the most ready source is going to come from the private sector.

At  Camp Bestival last weekend, in amongst the fun and wonder, I was struck by how much harder brands are going to have to work to engage with people, and how this has potential to benefit artists.

One of the best things I experienced at the festival was ‘The House of Fairytales’ field which was made up of a whole range of family activities.

At the entrance to the field, we walked through Passport Control and picked up a passport which gave us access to all of the activities in the field. From there, we progressed through Surrealist, Anarchist, Fabulist, Mixologist, and so on, experiencing some very cool things along the way. And if we completed enough activities in a given ‘house’, we earned the relevant medal.

At the entrance to the field, we walked through Passport Control and picked up a passport which gave us access to all of the activities in the field. From there, we progressed through Surrealist, Anarchist, Fabulist, Mixologist, and so on, experiencing some very cool things along the way. And if we completed enough activities in a given ‘house’, we earned the relevant medal.

Sounds involved? Well, yes it was. But it was also a lot of fun and a brilliant way to while away the afternoon for both adults and kids. I looked up The House of Fairytales when I got home and discovered they’re an established artists’ collective:

a child-centred artist led project which draws on an extensive team of artists, performers, writers, educationalists, designers, musicians, film makers, dreamers and philosophers to create magical, parallel worlds where learning is play and play is directed learning.

On exiting The House of Fairytales, I picked up a leaflet promoting The Family Project which turns out to be a Victorinox initiative. Without realising it, I’d been immersed in a brand experience for the past couple of hours. The only clue to it was the subtly branded passport and leaflet. This made me question the value of providing a complex experience for people that is pretty far removed from what a brand represents or usually does. Victorinox are manufacturers of the iconic Swiss Army Knife, plus watches, clothes and luggage. So The House of Fairytales wasn’t an altogether obvious thing for the brand to do, but clearly it was engaging and intriguing enough to encourage me to investigate further.

And that’s where the distinction between sponsorship and partnership comes in. If a brand is smart enough to partner with artists who can engage with the public, create intrigue, memorable experiences and conversational currency, everyone is onto a winning number.

The challenge now though is for individual artists and small art collectives to find partners and sponsors. Arts & Business exists to connect philanthropists and businesses with arts organisations; it does a great job of placing business bods on the boards of arts and cultural organisations.

I can’t help thinking, though, that unless you’re Anish Kapoor or Julian Opie, you’re not going to get very far with a big corporate sponsorship deal and that a grassroots match fund is what’s needed. A service that artists, brands and companies of all sizes can sign up to. From a quick search, I found the UK sponsorship board. Something tells me it needs to up its game if it’s to significantly help artists find sponsors and vice versa. A classifieds board does not a compelling proposition make. If you’re interested in seeing what the arts community are doing to address the cuts, check out artsfunding.ning.com