Author: Business Committee for the Arts

Publication Year: 1974

Media Type: Directory

Summary:

Listed in the pages of this directory are the names of business corporations honored for noteworthy programs in support of the arts during the years from 1966 through 1975. They formed the vanguard of a remarkable movement in the business world that has seen the emergence and the rapid proliferation across the country of alliances of individual businesses and arts organizations.

Abstract:

Listed in the pages of this directory are the names of business corporations honored for noteworthy programs in support of the arts during the years from 1966 through 1975. They formed the vanguard of a remarkable movement in the business world that has seen the emergence and the rapid proliferation across the country of alliances of individual businesses and arts organizations . While some businesses had contributed generously to the arts in earlier years, it was not until 1966 that corporate support of the arts became the object of organized national effort. In that year, Esquire Magazine established an annual series of Business in the Arts awards to provide a national platform to honor those companies whose contributions to the cultural environment of our cities and towns merited special recognition.

The long-range goal of the Awards was to spur many more business firms, regardless of size, to assume comparable responsibilities, thereby broadening the base of needed support for artists and arts groups. 1967 saw the creation of the Business Committee for the Arts, a national task force of distinguished corporate heads to persuade the business community of the importance of assuming a share of the responsibility for the health and growth of the nation's artistic and cultural life. Because the purpose of the Awards competition and the general objectives of the Committee coincided, BCA, at the invitation of Esquire Magazine, became the co-sponsor of the Awards in 1968.

During its first decade, 217 individual companies received Awards for their imaginative and generous support of the arts; 262 more received Honorable Mention. Several in both categories were honored more than once. The companies selected were found in 177 cities in 48 states and in six cities in England, Canada, Japan and the Republic of South Africa. They included giant, multi-national corporations and small businesses in thinly-populated areas. 85% of the companies that received recognition in the competition were not members of the BCA. Financial aid was obviously a factor in the selection of winners and honorable mentions, but equally important was the direct participation of a company in developing and promoting programs designed to reach new or broader publics, the contribution by company executives of marketing skills for use in audience development, the provision of assistance in improving the administrative and fiscal practices of the arts organization, the donation of equipment and space...in brief, ingenuity and closeness of company participation counted as much as financial support.

During the first three years of the Awards, most of the entries were submitted by the arts organizations the corporations had helped. This may have been partly the result of corporate diffidence about publicizing their involvement in the arts, a diffidence reflecting uncertainty that contributions to the arts would be appreciated either by shareholders or by the general public. By 1969, the diffidence had been replaced by eager, wholehearted involvement in the arts on the part of a rapidly growing number of businesses and entries submitted directly by companies themselves began to far outnumber those submitted by arts organizations.

The diversity and range of corporate patronage is obvious even from the brief citations in this directory. Also, a recent survey by The Conference Board shows that business support of cultural activities has become the fastest growing area of corporate philanthropy. There is little doubt now that business has become a major source of support for the arts in the .

CONTENTS
Section 1. Winners of awards 1966-1975.
Section 2. Honorable mentions 1966-1975.
Section 3. Index - Geographical location of award winners and honorable mentions.
                            

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Private Sector