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RE: Who's Paying? Funding Sources in the Cultural Sector
You raise some important questions at the end @charliehersh. I think you are correct in that museums and historical institutions must find their own particular balance in order to succeed. I think such a balance will be easier to find when there is more collaboration between and innovation from the relationship between the cultural and private sector. I am just not sure how it is possible to get the private sector more interested in the cultural sector. Whether or not the public is comfortable with the Coca-Cola Philadelphia History Museum might be less important than if Coca-Cola is comfortable or interested in such a museum.
I think that the private sector is becoming more interested in philanthropy in general. Maybe not in actually useful public service like using clean energy or reducing waste, but appearing to be considerate, like the Pepsi commercial with the protesters, or Budweiser's recent Superbowl commerical about their disaster relief. I don't think it will necessarily be difficult to make the jump from "helping" in this regard to the cultural sector, as long as it comes with enough opportunity for advertising. I know that NMAJH at least has recently started a Corporate Partnership program (though more with local businesses than large conglomerates), though I'm not sure how common that model is.