Who Pays for the Arts?

as much as art needs money, money also needs art. The popes and kings of the world are indebted to artists for preserving their legacies via portraits and tombs and all kinds of art. Art and business have always needed each other and worked together over the years. The world we live in today is the result of such a timeless marriage.

Museums need to think desperately about their revenue models. We have retail businesses. We sell things in shops and cafés. And maybe it was you who once said this: “The best retailers in the world can’t do retail, so what makes museums think they can do retail?” When you look deeply, these functions almost never pay.

People need to eat and pay the rent. “An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint,” said artist Ben Shahn. “A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.” Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust f

The other story comes from artists themselves, especially musicians but also writers, filmmakers, people who do comedy. Sure, it goes, you can put your stuff out there, but who is going to pay you for it? Digital content has been demonetized: music is free, writing is free, video is free, even images you put up on Facebook or Instagram are free, be