‘Corporate sponsored art’ isn’t as bad as it sounds
There is a trend in the corporate world right now that’s a little more culturally enriching than say, buying another jet for executives or paying out another CEO bonus.
Some big companies, instead of sponsoring a race team or a football club, are sponsoring artists.
“Now Facebook has a residency, it’s just kind of taken over,” says Elizabeth Segran, who wrote about the phenomenon for Fast Company.
Take Amtrak for example. After a writer noted on Twitter how much writing he gets done on trains, Amtrak gave him a writing residency.
“This was kind of like a large-scale publicity stunt,” Segran says.
Segran points out how Facebook’s artist sponsorship is a little different though. “With Facebook, it’s more of a commissioning process… It’s more of an opportunity to support artists by buying their work.”
But how do the CFOs of these big companies justify the money they’re spending on art programs? Segran says there’s usually a payoff for the corporations too. In the case of software maker Autodesk, “…it allows them to see these very creative people pushing technology to the very limits of what it can do,” Segran says.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
