Sponsored by the Business Committee for the Arts. The creation of the Business Committee for the Arts in 1967 reflected the belief of several of the nation's leading businessmen that a slowly emerging trend toward the involvement of corporations in the arts could, through an energetic and imaginative program of persuasion, be transformed into a strong, permanent alliance of the worlds of business and the arts.

No one could have anticipated then how swiftly examples of corporation and arts collaboration would proliferate or how sharply business financial support of the arts would begin to rise. Between 1965 and 1970 alone corporate support increased by 150 percent, to a total of $110,000,000. Measured against even a conservative estimate of what the arts need to exist at present levels, this is inadequate. However, combined with the contributions of individuals and of government at all levels, it is a significant sum, sufficient, at any rate, to make the difference in many instances between an arts organization's survival and extinction. But survival at present level is, for most arts organizations, precarious at best. Inexorably rising operating costs due to inflation will widen already inescapable annual income gaps. These in turn will lead to further curtailment of programs, reductions in staff and, inevitably, to a serious erosion of the nation's precious resources of talent and creativity.

Clearly the solution will be found in greatly increased financial aid to the arts from every possible public and private source. Support from all sectors of society is needed because it is unlikely that either the public or the private sector by itself will provide the necessary funds. Under a pluralistic support system the arts will enjoy greater freedom than under a single source of patronage.

The Partnership for the Arts, a nationwide joining of people who work for a new priority for art in our country, has concentrated its efforts on persuading Federal and state governments to increase their share of the needed support. The Business Committee for the Arts has focused its energies on generating broad support of, and involvement in, the arts on the part of all business corporations, large and small, in every field of enterprise. The results to date are highly encouraging, but there is still a long way to go before support of the arts is regarded by the majority of business corporations as an important and permanent feature of their philanthropic, public relations or advertising programs.

The New Patrons of the Arts is the fourth in a series of books written under the auspices of the Business Committee for the Arts in an effort to provide current information about the state of the arts and the amount and kind of support contributed to the arts by business. The current volume has a dual purpose: first to demonstrate to corporations the direct, practical business benefits to be derived from the arts and the long-range benefits that the arts can confer on business as a result of their contributions to an environment favorable to business generally; second, to arm spokesmen of arts organizations and individual artists with information and a rationale for their quest of corporate support.

CONTENTS
Foreword.
The traditional patrons.
The arts in crisis.
The corporate patron.
Forms of support.
Conclusion.
Index.

Sponsored by the Business Committee for the Arts. The creation of the Business Committee for the Arts in 1967 reflected the belief of several of the nation's leading businessmen that a slowly emerging trend toward the involvement of corporations in the arts could, through an energetic and imaginative program of persuasion, be transformed into a strong, permanent alliance of the worlds of business and the arts.