UK Business Cut Art Giving

Farah Nayeri writing for Bloomberg states that business in the UK plan to give less to the arts, and dont plan on increasing donations until 2011.  The report is based upon a study from the London based Art and Business non-profit group.

Art and Business surveyed 240 cultural groups and 32 business this past July.  They found that 68.2% of the cultural groups reported less business investments and donations, while more that half of those reporting a decrease claimed a decreases of over 50%.

I dont know if there are any figures for cultural giving here in the US, but I would expect cultural organizations have also seen decreased in giving.  Although the news has slowed a bit, for a fair amount of time a few months back there was a regular amount of news stories on museums and cultural groups facing declining revenue.

Nayeri reports

The report showed that out of the businesses polled, which together invested 4 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the arts last year, a total of 41.9 percent reduced spending over the three-month period. One in four respondents cut funding by more than 50 percent. Overall, respondents said they didn’t expect year-on-year growth in their arts spending until 2011.

“It is the arts that give this city its unique selling point,” said Mayor Johnson. He said that the tourism industry generated 10 billion pounds a year for London and the surrounding region, and that arts institutions were a prime factor. He suggested there be voluntary contributions to London museums as there are in New York, a city he recently visited.

In a release added to the report, Arts & Business Chief Executive Colin Tweedy said the economic crisis had “radically altered the commercial and cultural landscape in the U.K.”

To read the full Bloomberg report, click HERE.