Christophe Mazurier lobbies for U.S. model for financing arts

Europe has served as the birthplace of innumerable artistic icons over the centuries, from Mozart to Flaubert to Picasso. Many of these and other artists’ lasting works were funded, subsidized, made possible by public, government funding. But times have changed says Swiss banker Christophe Mazurier.

Unlike the United States, in Europe, the governments’ sponsorship of the arts is just as widespread and entrenched as other social programs, like universal healthcare and social security. In the U.S., however, these subsidies are nearly non-existent, with the ideals of privatization and free-markets translating to a complete privatization of the arts, as well.

Many in Europe argue the American approach limits artistic output to the whims of a few private, wealthy benefactors, and it is true that in Europe there are, per capita, exponentially more opera houses and symphonies than in the U.S. Moreover, cultural and artistic education for Europeans is far more comprehensive than its American counterpart.

Still, Europe’s system not without fault. Specifically, there are fewer private citizens willing to fund art education and infrastructure since many assume that it is the responsibility of the government. And with many of Europe’s economies at a standstill, funding for the arts requires a significant chunk of the national revenue. Austerity and arts just don’t mix.

Christophe Mazurier, chairman of Banque Pasche in Geneva, Switzerland and a known patron of the arts, argues that Europe is at a crossroads. With many individual governments mired in budget deficits and saddled with enormous debt, Mazurier thinks more private philanthropists — individuals and corporations, both — should assume partial responsibility for the upkeep of the European arts.

It is a solution, Mazurier says, which would both help governments better battle the budget while also ensuring that the continent’s artistic community remains healthy and vibrant even during an economic downturn.

This transfer of responsibility from public to private is already occurring. Hermes established the Hermes Corporate Foundation to promote creative learning and display art and sculpture; likewise Cartier with its Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. Mazurier himself teamed with other influential patrons, including Jean-Paul Herteman, Cecilia Bartoli and Philippe Sollers, to preserve the Venetian Center for Baroque Music.

These are just a few high-profile examples of companies and individuals financing art outside of culture ministries and government intervention. In Europe’s age of austerity (and beyond) Mazurier lobbies for a continuation of this privatized approach to arts philanthropy.