Jerry Blackett: Arts needs benefactors
Jul 16 2010 By Jerry Blackett
Last week, the Government called representatives from the arts in the UK and told them to embrace US-style fund-raising techniques to tackle spending cuts of up to 40 per cent. This makes the work of the Creative Birmingham Board urgent.
The CBB was reconstituted about six months ago, with me as chair. Our mission is to introduce good business practice to the creative industries, to maximise the potential of what are often micro-businesses.
The CBB will not be constrained by the Government’s definition of creative industries; we want to see all businesses with a high reliance on creative input flourish, including industrial businesses.
In this month’s edition of Fortune, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet are reported as asking the USA’s billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity in their lifetimes or at death.
If this campaign succeeds, it is considered it will change the face of philanthropy. Fortune estimates around $600 billion will be captured although since no one knows how much is being given at the moment, the figure is no more than an educated guess.
The USA has a well-established culture of philanthropy which is encouraged by the tax system.
Research commissioned by Arts & Business in the UK showed that 40 per cent of arts bodies receive no private income at all and of those that do, private investment accounts for just 15 per cent of their income. This compares to an A&B ideal which would see income coming in equal amounts from private sources, public funds and earned revenues, such as box office receipts.
According to the Rich List for the West Midlands, the total net worth of the 50 richest people is £20 billion. So these 50 West Midlanders would need to give only 3.28 per cent of their total net income to match the £655 million donated by businesses to the arts in the whole of the UK in 2008. We need to create the right conditions for those who have prospered in our economy to have confidence to give much more back and to feel good about doing so.
* Jerry Blackett is chief executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
