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Why are techies so averse to funding the arts?

As the guilded age came to a close in the 1900s, railroad barons, industrialists and banking kingpins put money into the arts in order to launder their image and legacies. We see no such thing today. Why is that?

I’m an independent film producer in NYC who has previously acted in Hollywood studio films and sold screenplays. I’m also extremely online. I have found that wealthy techies, in general, have little to zero interest in investing in culture. This has been a source of frustration considering the large percentage of new money that comes from the sector.

I’m not alone in feeling this way: I have a friend who raises money for a non-profit theater in Boston, another who owns an art gallery in Manhattan, and another who recently retired at the LA Opera. All have said not to bother with anyone in tech. This has always bummed me out given that I genuinely believed with all of my heart and soul that the internet was going to usher in a new golden age of art, culture, and entertainment. (Yes, I was naive as a kid in the 00s.)

Art and culture can truly only thrive on patronage, especially in times of deep income inequality. Yet there are no Medicis in 2023. So what’s missing here? Where is the disconnect?

blegh ,
@blegh@sh.itjust.works avatar

Something I kept hearing when I was younger is that STEM = money and getting a degree or pursuing a career in something that doesn’t make money is a waste of time. This idea gave a lot of people a high and mighty attitude that if you arent working in tech you’re wasting your life. “Get fit and learn to code” became the go-to life advice when I was in my 20s. People that don’t understand art (not as in getting a message out of it, but understanding why people enjoy creative works) telling each other and anyone that will listen that if something isn’t a money making engine theres no reason to do it

illiterate_coder ,

I have been around some of the tech elite you’re referring to, and I propose that the disconnect arises because Silicon Valley uniquely revolves around Scale (how many people you can reach) and Impact (how big a dent you can leave in the universe). It’s impossible to overstate how ingrained it is in the culture, and it is very explicit when you talk to folks at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for example: the ability to measure and prove the impact of your project is as important as the project itself.

I admit to being a member of this culture, if not wealthy.

To me, the types of art you mention - art galleries and live theater being good examples - are extremely limited in serving relatively small populations concentrated in city centers where there already is a lot of culture. The generation that created the Internet is, for better or worse, much more interested in bigger investments that can reach everyone on the planet and hopefully improve lives in some measurable and long lasting way.

I’m sure the wealthy here in California contribute to the local arts community just like anywhere else. But there is no equivalent in the arts to curing polio worldwide or giving every child access to the Internet, so I don’t personally disagree with prioritizing these agendas in a coordinated way.

monkeyman512 ,

Taxes. My understanding was that tax rates for the very wealthy used to be much higher. So the logic being if they are going to be forced to give up millions of dollars, they can donate to charity instead of paying taxes. Then they at least can still choose what the money gets spent on and their name on a building.

lythandas ,

I don’t think that’s completely true. For instance, one of France richest man, François Pinault actually owns a very large collection and hosted a large exhibition in Paris at the Bourse de Commerce. It’s not only him, Bernard Arnault, actually the richest man in the world also made a lot of things for art, craftmanship etc… Of course, like you said it’s mainly investment and “art-washing”. I don’t know how much this thing is going for more modest patrons, but I guess they act on their own levels, locally.

redditcunts ,

Because they will continue exist throughout even without investment. And for the price is not valuable to drop more money. You know what’s valuable for poor people? Money and that’s what STEM brings. Why the fuck would I pay tens of thousands of dollars to set someone up to get in line for unemployment or other form of financial assistance?

Solemn ,

I feel like part of it that I connect with is seeing arts funding as inherently less important to bettering the lives of people compared to advancing science and technology. I like music and art, but with finite resources I could argue that it’s more useful to invest towards equalizing technologies and general advancement of society.

TheBananaKing ,

Art is a product, artistry is a trade. Like, y’know, hot dogs and hot dog vendors.

I like hot dogs. They’re tasty. I’m glad that people take up hot dog vending for a living, so that I can buy one off them when I feel like it. They make the rent, I get lunch. Seems fair.

But as lefty and public-service minded as I am, I don’t feel they’re a basic need that society needs to subsidise. They’re a nice-to-have optional extra that people can buy when they want, with a market niche for virtually any price point. I don’t think hotdog vending is a calling or a virtue, particularly, even if you find it particularly satisfying.

Put that next to curing cancer or producing clean energy, and yeah no sorry your hotdog stand can succeed or fail on its own income, it can come dead last in the queue for charitable or state subsidy.

BoxOfFeet ,

I’m not a rich techie, but I guess my view is that I am in STEM. It’s what I understand, and what I value. STEM is produces things of usefulness and monetary value. STEM is facts and numbers.

Where art is based around feelings. I don’t understand that, and I don’t value that. I do value industrial design, like the work of Henry Dreyfus. His streamlined New York Central Hudsons, the Eversharp Skyline, and the round Honeywell thermostat are excellent examples of attractive and useful things. So is Ikea furniture. That’s my art. The Junghans Max Bill is another great example of great industrial design.

Again, I’m not a rich techie. Just a mechanical engineer. But there may be some crossover, who knows.

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