Brands Must Be Patrons, Not Sponsors, of the Arts
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To be a patron of the arts has been a mark of distinction for thousands of years. In ancient Rome and feudal Japan, patronage was considered to be an intrinsic part of life in the aristocracy. Those with money must support those without who embark on artistic endeavors to better the culture. The apex of patronage came during the Renaissance, when the Medicis (who were essentially the closest thing Europe had at the time to a multinational banking conglomerate) supported the work of everyone from da Vinci to Galileo over the span of a century.
Recently, however, the role of patron has morphed into the role of sponsor, which can be best defined, to borrow the words of Samuel Johnson, as “one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help.”
Unfortunately, brand sponsors frequently abandon the causes they herald as most important as soon as the going gets tough. Social media has only expedited this process. There’s no better example of this than Delta and Bank of America’s recent ill-conceived flight from their support of The Public Theater — an organization that has produced important works of art in New York City since 1954.
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