Corporate giving: A look at the arts

The private sector is being asked to take up the slack of government cutbacks. This article reviews the development of corporate giving. The arts are identified as an area that needs a defined rationale to justify corporate contributions. A historical review of private support of the arts is presented. International and national support levels are examined. Pragmatic and idealistic reasons for needing the arts are listed. Strategies are suggested to aid business implement successful support programs. A model for corporate images for corporate giving to the arts is also presented.Bette Ann Stead is Professor of Marketing at the College of Business Administration of the University of Houston. Previously she was Assistant Professor at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas. She is the editor of Women in Management,Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1985) and wrote several articles in the Library Quarterly, Business Horizons, Academy of Management Journal, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management,and Vital Speeches of the Day.