A welcome from our Chair
“”The arts and culture sector has long had a significant role to play within the fabric of our society. Spanning a wide range of different art forms, and offering opportunities for enjoyment, enrichment, participation and education, arts organisations across the country offer a rich and varied palette of activity, exhibitions and performances.
The sector has traditionally been funded through a blend of public and private funding, and many arts organisations enjoy longstanding relationships with their patrons and supporters. As activity increases, arts organisations are seeking to deliver ever more sophisticated outcomes, often with a wide social remit. I believe that philanthropy will have an increasing role to play, to help drive practical change and achieve sustainability for the sector.
I hope you will enjoy reading some of the many articles and case studies on this website, and that you will consider joining us in our mission to increase philanthropic support for the arts.
© The Foundling Museum
What is NPAC?
New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture (NPAC) was established as a cause-related network in June 2019, under the chairmanship of Sir Vernon Ellis. Our work focuses on researching and developing means of attracting new philanthropy into the arts and culture sector, alongside supporting arts leaders to feel confident developing a range of funding sources for their work and growing their confidence and skills in seeking philanthropic giving.
NPAC is proud to be a founding pillar of the newly formed Figurative – an independent not-for-profit, driving impact, investment and innovation in the cultural and creative sector. Figurative believes in the power of cultural and creative organisations to benefit society, and we connect them with the people, funds and resources they need to succeed.
Incorporating Arts & Culture Finance (formerly part of Nesta) and New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture, Figurative has a proven track record of bringing new capital to the cultural sphere and designing sector-leading innovation programmes that provide the structure, resources and intensive support necessary to develop game-changing ideas.
The founder members of the NPAC network are generous supporters of the arts, aware of the significant potential of new sources of private funding, in particular from individual donors, to support and sustain the arts and culture sector.
As our work has developed we have created three resource hubs:
Support for the arts and culture sector, which provides some resources to assist in attracting gifts for your organisations
Support for arts supporters and would-be supporters through the formation of a series of regional partnerships
Research into arts philanthropy; what motivates arts donors and how the sector model might evolve to attract new supporters
We have also developed a rich resource of 40 case studies across the arts and culture sector which together make a powerful case for support for the sector. We hope you find these both interesting and useful in your exploration of the sector.
Testimonials from partners
“NPAC have been invaluable to Culture Central in providing their expertise and networks in the development of Philanthropic activity in Birmingham. They have an excellent ability to identify opportunities and are bold and ambitious.”
Erica Love, CEO Culture Central, Birmingham
“We’ve really valued the encouragement and expertise we’ve received from NPAC in developing a plan to grow philanthropic support for arts and culture in Middlesbrough. Anna and Michael have a wealth of experience in this field, bring with them useful examples of good practice in other parts of the country and have a real passion for culture which is helping us to navigate untested waters for us and make real progress.”
Gaye Kirby, Creative Programmes & Partnerships Manager, Middlesbrough Council
What do we mean by ‘arts and culture’?
When we talk about arts and culture we mean art in all its forms. From performing arts such as dance, theatre and music to visual arts such as sculpture and painting. Arts and culture includes literature and filmmaking, textiles, architecture and more.
Arts and culture is an enormously versatile and wide-ranging sector, and can be created by anyone, for anyone.
What do we mean by philanthropy?
The original meaning of the Greek word philanthropy is ‘love of humanity’ but today it is more commonly understood as the desire to promote the welfare of others, often (but not exclusively) through the donation of money.
Philanthropic gifts can be of any size. Philanthropists often also give of their time and talents to support a charity.
