Currently the arts may offer better opportunities than sport to strategically align brands. Yet according to those interviewed, last year only an estimated R394 million was spent on arts and culture sponsorships, compared to an estimate of over R4 304 million that went into sports funding.
The study revealed that while the diverse nature of the arts enables a greater degree of strategic alignment between the sponsor and the property and the potential for unique associations and brand engagement, the notion of the arts is often a confusing concept.
Other findings showed that music got the biggest share of all sponsorship and received an estimated 54% of the spend. Other arts showing growth included museums, theatre and ballet. An overwhelming 71% of those polled wanted business to become more involved in arts sponsorships, while they also felt it incumbent on government to participate.
Michael Goldman, senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), is leading this research project as well as the Best Practice Sponsorship Book, to be launched in the latter part of 2012.
The Best Practice Sponsorship Book will focus on 12 specific business and arts relationships, and will contribute towards a pool of research available through BASA, to assist companies who are engaged and want to engage in arts sponsorship, as well as arts organisations that are further positioning themselves as equitable partners for business.
Avril Joffe, creative industries and creative economy policy advisor, has also been commissioned to engage research around the challenges artists and arts organisations navigate in accessing corporate funding, as well as planning towards organisational sustainability.
The launch of the research start the organisations' yearlong focus on arts and business research, anchored by the 15th year of the annual Business Day BASA Awards, supported by Anglo American.
Entries for the awards, which reward excellence and innovation in the field of business support for the arts, open on Monday 19 March, with the award ceremony taking place at the end of August.
For more, go to www.basa.co.za.
