September 17, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Patronizing the Arts
by Marjorie Garber
Marjorie Garber, a Harvard University English professor, says patronage of the arts has caused culture to be undervalued. She criticizes corporate support of the arts, particularly that of Absolut and Philip Morris, arguing that it diverts attention from the art the companies champion and focuses on savvy marketing and celebrating the patrons themselves.
She writes that by donating to the arts, corporations “sidestep negative publicity resulting from their business activities and court the glitzy publicity of the art world, making an art form of patronage itself.”
She suggests instead that colleges take a greater role in encouraging the arts and dispensing money to artists. In that way, she says, cultural projects would be grounded in rigorous scholarship, would receive money that colleges raise from a variety of sources, and would benefit from collaborative efforts.
Publisher: Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, N.J. 08540; (609) 258-4900; fax (609) 258-6305; http://www.pupress.princeton.edu; 234 pages; $24.95; ISBN 978-0-691-12480-3.
