Problematising Philanthropy in the UK Cultural Sector

Abstract

This chapter outlines the post-recession funding landscape in the UK cultural sector as one view of the creative economy. Focusing on the promotion of philanthropy as a hegemonic funding model for arts organisations and a policy response to public resourcing of the arts, the chapter draws on the empirical evidence of funding changes in the East Midlands, UK, through the ‘Leadership for the Future’ programme by the Arts Council. Drawing on anecdotal evidence, the chapter notes shifting patterns in how the arts are valued in the UK, the dialectical tensions created through new funding pressures and regimes, and the eventual impact in arts curation, which arises from the involvement of private funding partners in an otherwise public art domain