European Museums Moving Toward “Americanizing” Their Funding

A recent article in the New York Times discusses how the museums of Europe have recently been “Americanizing” by relying more on private contributions and less on government spending.

The culture secretary for Britain’s Conservative Party, Jeremy Hunt, announced that a new, U.S.-style “culture of philanthropy” would be implemented if the Tories take power in the coming election.

Hunt spoke before the State of the Arts Conference in London about a future of tax breaks to encourage private donations and help cut back on government spending. While he assured the audience that he did believe in government spending, he said he remained committed to a mixed-economy funding model for the arts.

In Paris last month, the Pompidou Museum was shut down by a strike for more than two weeks because France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, also wants to reduce government support for the arts. He has proposed making cuts in the entire nation’s workforce, including at cultural institutions. French museums are supposed to raise money if they want more workers, or “Americanize” as Hunt wants to do in Britain.

Dider Alaime, who represents France’s biggest union, worries that the more public institutions are dependent on outside financing, the less they will be able to control the policies that are financed. For example, a few years ago the Louvre Museum relied on a gift from Total, an oil company, to finance the restoration of its Apollo Gallery, where the name of the sponsor is now displayed more visibly than the name of the gallery.

In European nations where the government currently picks up the tab for culture, there is no tradition of private giving. There are few tax incentives to entice private donations, and volunteer work at museums is even frowned upon because paid employees consider it a threat.

A disadvantage of government-sponsored culture is that in many cases, political figures have opened cultural institutions merely to stamp their names on them; politics can also twist how objects are displayed and how history is represented. While strings are usually attached to private patronage as well, having a variety of donors tends to allow museums more independence and flexibility.

For now, European museums seem to be caught in the middle between dependence on private contributions and government funding, but the system seems to be moving toward the “American way” of relying on private contributions.