The Art of Giving - celebrating 20 years of the cultural gifts program

Review

Bilums, botanical watercolours, butterflies, bark paintings, Malcolm's car, Muriel's wedding dress, furniture, flying machines, jewellery and comic books - they have all been donated to public collections through the Cultural Gifts Program.

The Art of Giving celebrates 20 years of the program showcasing some of the donated works and profiling some of the collections that have been built as a result.

Some of Australia's regional collections are profiled, like the Endemic Flora of Tasmania watercolour series at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Tasmania, and the Max Jost collection at the Horsham Art Gallery in Victoria. Some of the fascinating specialist collections housed in universities are also featured.

The range of cultural heritage items in these public collections is quite surprising, and thanks to the Cultural Gifts Program, they are all accessible to the public.

The book contains background on the program's purpose - to encourage owners of significant cultural materials to donate these to the nation's public collecting institutions, with illustrations in full colour of some of the treasures that have been donated.

The Art of Giving has been produced by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Copies are available from Val Hodgson on 02 6271 1680.

 

Business Sponsorship of Arts and Cultural Activities 1996-97

This is the second report on corporate sponsorship of arts and cultural activities and is part of the Cultural Trends in Australia series. Produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, it builds on the earlier 1993-94 study.

There are more than 30 tables of information including:

• breakdown of sponsors by industry type;
• sponsors by business size;
• stated benefits received by sponsors;
• sponsorship as a proportion of total expenses and profit of industry;
• sponsors' reasons for sponsoring arts and cultural activities;
• types of activities sponsored;
• comparison of arts and cultural activity sponsorship compared with other activities such as sport or education; and
• comparison of government funding and private sector support of arts and cultural activities.

Arts and cultural organisation seeking to build business partnerships with the private sector will find it a useful tool in building the case for such arrangements. Business representatives too will find much of interest - the many benefits outlined by their industry colleagues are a strong recommendation for supporting the arts and cultural activities.

The report is available from Val Hodgson on 02 6271 1680.