Leslie Ramos’ Book Under Review
As expected from Lund Humphries’ Hot Topics in the Art World series, Leslie Ramos’ Philanthropy in the Arts: A Game of Give and Take is an insightful, analytical overview of arts philanthropy, looking at both giving and taking at the arts organisation level. In spite of the scarcity of data in this area, Ramos constructs clear frameworks for how philanthropy works within arts organisations at the level of ‘true’ philanthropy – what Ramos defines as extending beyond being mere patronage, or the status of being a “friend,” to an arts organisation, which is typically associated with receiving perks like free exhibition entry. Instead, she focuses on a true philanthropist’s engagement with organisations and institutions, particularly emphasising small, local organisations rather than individual artists. Ramos clearly lays out good and bad giving and taking, explaining why getting this balance right is crucial to the future of funding within these organisations.
Data, particularly the challenges associated with it, both in philanthropy, and more significantly, in assessing the impact of art on society, stands out as one of the most urgent takeaways from Philanthropy in the Arts. This issue can be broken down into three key parts. The first is that the data itself is often scarce, incomplete, and inconsistent across organisations, let alone globally. Analysing the role philanthropy plays, the culture of giving in any particular context, and the funding mechanism itself is complex – conclusive results are rare, if not impossible to achieve. While Ramos goes well beyond speculation, she is right to supplement her research with extensive interviews from key philanthropists and arts organisations working in the space. The second and third data ideas are interrelated. Ramos describes a new wave of philanthropy, driven by tech innovation, trying to rationalise philanthropy. Art, and its benefit on society, is not simply measurable by some data metric. Ramos reminds us that one role of art is to make us uncomfortable, to challenge us, not merely to entertain. The benefits of a flourishing arts eco-system is impossible to capture in the same concrete, numeric way as education, or health, or poverty. As long as purely tech and data-driven philanthropists seek to rationalise their giving, they will not look to art. This is not to undermine the importance of these other causes, but rather to raise the point that art organisations are necessary to a flourishing society, yet their impact and cultural importance cannot be neatly captured in a spreadsheet – but they must not be forgotten.
An offshoot of this data problem leads to perhaps the one omission from Philanthropy in the Arts. Ramos sets a stringent moral standard on what makes philanthropy something distinct from art-washing, or simply a social status based transactional behaviour – it has to be about the love of the art, and support for the mission of the organisation. Arguably, according to these terms, those people who actually staff art organisations and their contributions need to be included in any comprehensive overview. Arts organisations, and jobs across the arts industry more generally, are notoriously poorly paid relative to their counterparts outside the industry, for the very reasons Ramos outlines. It is those same dedicated individuals across the arts industry who are truly making large financial sacrifice because of their belief in the cause and mission of arts organisations that allow any arts organisations to exist in the first place. If we could somehow calculate what they are ‘giving’ in terms of low pay, understaffing, volunteer hours, purely because of their love of art, then it would surely be clear that industry workers themselves are true philanthropists.
On the whole, Ramos provides clear strategies to better use and maximise philanthropy in arts organisations, and they are an excellent call to arms for Development teams and Culture departments across the globe. In the meantime, for the average reader – continue to buy your post exhibition coffee in the organisations own café, spend your money in the gift shop, and really use your local organisations, so they can continue their ineffable but critical contribution to making ours a richer world to thrive in, rather than simply exist.
Stay up to date with the latest philanthropic insights as the art market continues to evolve in 2024 by joining our newsletter and learn more about philanthropy in the art market by downloading some our existing reports:
- TEFAF Art Market Report 2020 – Art Patronage in the 21st Century
- India Special Report: Art and Philanthropy 2019
- South Asia Special Report: Art and Philanthropy 2020
Philanthropy in the Arts: A Game of Give and Take by Lesile Ramos is currently available for sale as part of their Hot Topics in the Art World Series on the Lund Humphries’ website.
Check out the February 2024 episode of the ArtTactic Podcast when Adam Green was joined by Leslie Ramos, author of the new book Philanthropy in the Arts: A Game of Give and Take.
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