Entrepreneurship or Cultural Darwinism? Privatization and American Cultural Patronage

Abstract

The concept of the entrepreneur as an artsadministrator is developed as a person serving as a contractual intermediary,bringing together the government, the private sector, and the public for acultural good. The arts administrator functions as an entrepreneur who mediatesthe funding triad of earned income, philanthropic donations, and governmentsubvention. Using empirical evidence from both American and Australian systems ofpatronage, the role of philanthropy and the perils of privatizations arediscussed, given some uncritical approaches to privatization such as: theuniqueness of philanthropy in the American system of cultural patronage; thelimited potential for increase in Australian philanthropy, calling for themaintenance of all parts of the funding triad; the risk that commercializationmay dictate aesthetic decisions when profit becomes an end in itself; and theinevitability of Cultural Darwinism without public support. The cultural entrepreneur, as an advocate for culture, should function as acultural intermediary, facilitating a dialogue between art and society, artistand public, arts, organizations, and government, artistic production and publicfinance, aesthetics and politics.(CBS)