Measuring the Size and Concentration of Business Funding of Culture in the UK: Closing the Gap between Advocacy and Theory

In the past few years, UK public bodies have increased their calls for cultural leaders to diversify even further their funding sources and exploit the dynamics of the mixed-economy. So far only major cultural organisations in London have been able to successfully diversify their funding portfolio. A drop in public funding is likely to make it even more challenging for a large proportion of cultural organisations to close their income gap. To ensure the successful development of policies of funding decentralisation and inform organisational strategies, more theory-based empirical research on trends, drivers and motivations, and models of funding sustainability is needed. One of the many factors preventing the development of this line of research is a wide gap between research conducted for advocacy purposes and academia in the UK. This paper illustrates the extent and implications of this gap by providing a brief summary of the academic literature in the field and reviewing methods and results of existing data collection efforts by advocacy organisations, in particular the Private Investment in Culture survey by Arts & Business UK (A&B). The scope of this paper has been limited to business funding in the form of cash and in-kind sponsorship, donations and membership, since there is relatively more cross-sectional time series data and academic and advocacy studies of this form of funding than of individual giving and trust and foundation support. The paper proposes recommendations on ways of closing this gap, in particular by improving existing sampling methodology for this type of data collection and expanding and strengthening the existing academic research on motivations, market dynamics and concentration of business funding.     

人文泰山

“会当凌绝顶，一览众山小”，这是1200多年前中国伟大现实主义诗人杜甫面对巍峨壮丽，气势磅礴的伟岸泰山，发自肺腑的千古吟诵。泰山——中华五岳之首，引无数诗人墨客流连驻足，他们以泰山为题留下了大量的人文胜迹，由此形成独特而底蕴厚重的泰山文化，。而中国现代著名文学家郭沫若的泰山是“中华民族文化的局部缩影”的高度概括，则更为精准和形象。     

河洛文化的特征

洛阳素以"九朝古都"而名闻天下,至今依然享誉国内外,其根本原因就在于河洛地区具有丰厚的文化底蕴."昔三代之居,皆在河洛之间",从此奠定了河洛文化的起源.之后,朝代兴替,中原逐鹿,河洛地区,首当其冲.因此河洛文化就是指中国古代人民在河洛地区所创造的物质文明和精神文明的总和.今天我们只能感受到它的某些气息,某些遗存,而欲观其原貌,只能望洋兴叹了.     

趣话堂号文化

在旧时中国各姓祠堂正门上方，往往有一块牌匾，上面写着“XX堂”。在海外的宗亲社团和各姓联谊会所，也往往挂有写着“XX堂”的灯笼和牌匾。这就是中国人的堂号。     

古代的烟火文化

节日放烟火在中国是有悠久的历史传统的,于新春元宵,或逢重大喜庆节日,火树银花,鱼龙夜舞,焰火与彩灯相映生辉,更添喜庆气氛,令人想起辛稼轩<青玉案·元夕>中描绘元夕夜灯彩烟火的名句:"东风夜放花千树,更吹落,星如雨",也令我们萌发起探索古代烟火文化的盎然兴致.     

The White Water Terrace and Dongba Culture

The White Water Terrace, located in a valley in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, forms the second largest natural limestone terrace in the world. When I arrived at the White Water Terrace-one of the destinations for my trekking adventure, I lodged in a resort featuring Dongba Culture. The resort is set against green-covered mountains and faces the terrace. The resort gate is decorated with Dongba pictographic characters. I walked through a winding alley and in its end are rows of woo…     

宝墩文化的发现及其来源考察

宝墩文化是成都平原的一支重要的新石器时代考古学文化.本文回顾了该文化的发现和认识过程.通过对营盘山文化和宝墩文化在陶器亲缘联系、房屋建筑、经济类型等几个方面进行的考察,认为宝墩文化可能是由营盘山文化发展而来的.宝墩文化在其自身的发展过程中,陶器制作工艺有所创新,同时还可能接受了来自其它考古学文化的影响.     

纳西文化与康巴文化

纳西族是康巴的世居民族之一。纳西文化进入康巴后，对康巴文化的形成产生了一定影响，现已成为康巴文化的一部分。康巴文化所兼容的纳西文化突出表现在语言文字及生活习俗两个方面。     

金沙江文化的性质及其特征

“金沙江化”概念的提出，是值得探索的新课题。本对金沙江化的分布范围、历史定位和基本特征，以及对金沙江化的利用与开发问题，提出了自己的看法。     

中国寿文化

“寿”字的源流。中国的“寿”字艺术源远流长。“寿”字的发展可分三个阶段。     

试论新文化运动与欧洲文艺复兴

中国从传统跨入现代有两个标志：在政治上是辛亥革命,在思想与文化上是新文化运动。辛亥革命的性质很明确,先例也很多,例如法国大革命、“土耳其青年”（Young Turk）革命,和十月革命。新文化运动就复杂多了,因此它的性质有种种不同说法。最普遍的一种看法是,它相当于欧洲“文艺复兴”。胡适很可能就是这么看或者期待的：     

姜炎文化与粟作文化

文化。上述观点中至少有两点是共同的，即炎帝部族是姜炎文化的创造者，宝鸡渭水流域是姜炎文化的发祥地。本文认为姜炎文化是姜炎部族在距今约7000年的宝鸡渭水流域创造的原始农耕文化，是新石器时代的地域文化。大约在距今6000年至5000年时，炎帝成为部落联盟的首领，姜炎文化进入兴盛期。到了距今约5000年左右时，炎帝在阪泉之战中败给黄帝，姜炎部族与黄帝部族融合，姜炎文化与姬黄文化开始交融，并形成了华夏文化的主体。再到距今约4000年左右，黄帝部族的一支后裔周人与姜炎部族通婚，姬黄文化与姜炎文化的进一步交融产生了更为先进的…