{"id":40836,"date":"2024-03-28T13:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8581c053-be37-410a-8cbd-0e5a4db39dca"},"modified":"2024-03-28T14:39:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T13:39:57","slug":"will-wigmore-halls-new-private-funding-model-convince-britains-wealthy-elite-to-rethink-how-we-should-subsidise-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/will-wigmore-halls-new-private-funding-model-convince-britains-wealthy-elite-to-rethink-how-we-should-subsidise-the-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Wigmore Hall’s new private funding model convince Britain’s wealthy elite to rethink how we should subsidise the arts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 12:05 PM<\/p>

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The new Wigmore Hall season just dropped<\/a><\/strong>, and as you\u2019d expect, it\u2019s mouth-watering. More than 550 concerts, including Judith Weir<\/a><\/strong>, Birtwistle<\/a><\/strong> and Helen Grime world premieres; a Schumann<\/a><\/strong> series with Christian Gerhaher, a Beethoven<\/a><\/strong> cycle from the Jerusalem Quartet\u2026are you reaching for your credit card yet? Well, keep it handy, because the Hall\u2019s director John Gilhooly would also like to talk about money. He\u2019s announced the launch of the Director\u2019s Fund: a \u201cstatement of intent to secure the future of chamber music in the UK and for the hall itself\u201d. Supporters have already pledged \u00a37 million; the aim is to reach at least \u00a310 million by 2027 and \u00a320 million within a decade.<\/p>

Does Wigmore Hall’s new private funding model herald in a new era of philanthropy in the UK?<\/h2>

It’s impossible not to wish them well, and equally impossible not to suspect that we\u2019ll be seeing a lot more of this sort of thing in the very near future. Sizeable endowment funds \u2013 allowing an arts organisation to earn an annual income from interest alone \u2013 are a feature of classical life in the USA. They\u2019re more common than you might think in the UK too, but compared to America, the sums involved have historically been pitifully small. <\/p>

Philanthropy has never been terribly fashionable over here. Big donors in the States splash their names all over major concert halls, but we\u2019ve always found that sort of behaviour a bit\u2026well, vulgar, wouldn\u2019t you say? Meanwhile corporate sponsors who believe they\u2019re helping the arts are increasingly likely to find themselves with a pot of orange paint in their face.<\/p>

A response to dwindling public funding of the arts<\/h2>

Regardless: musicians need to be paid, and if ticket prices are to be affordable to every level of society \u2013 and I don\u2019t know a single music-lover who disputes that \u2013 they need to be subsidised. This isn\u2019t time to debate the mistaken belief, in some spheres, that public money comes with fewer strings attached than the privately-raised variety. Or, indeed, to discuss why local government and the national Arts Councils are slashing subsidies to classical music and opera. The fact is, they\u2019re dwindling, and they\u2019re not likely to bounce back any time soon.<\/p>

So there\u2019s an urgent need to swell those endowments and get fundraising (or in any case, to put rockets on the fundraising efforts that almost every classical music organisation already has under way). \u201cWe are currently 97% self-funded\u201d says the Wigmore Hall, adding that \u201cthis target will allow Wigmore Hall to become 100% self-sufficient, if necessary\u201d. Good on \u2018em, and who can doubt that an institution as beloved and excellent as the Wiggy will succeed?<\/p>