Business Sponsorship of the Arts: Corporate Image and Business Policy

Arts sponsorship is very much a Cinderella sister of sports sponsorship. The amounts involved are vastly different, media exposure is much smaller and advertising opportunities are less. Major objectives of arts sponsors are promotion of the corporate image, enhancement of community relations, and, to a certain degree, the promotion of brand awareness. An in‐depth case study by Middlesex Business School of the Peterborough Festival of Country Music revealed four main types of sponsors. Sponsorship was identified as coming together in a field of flux rather than a strict matching. Characteristics of both the Company and Event were identified which were influential in determining the process of sponsorship. When identified, these characteristics enable an accurate picture of the sponsorship relationship to be drawn. With this in focus, wider issues of control and policy, social influences and ideology in relation to cultural issues may be considered.