“Enlightened Patronage:” Mr. Shen Shows How to Save the Arts
It worked for the Medicis & Michelangelo. It even worked for Laurie Anderson and Larry Ellison, I believe. It’s a system of supporting the arts that is not public-funded, and therefore not subject to the vagaries and whims of the hoi-polloi.
It’s the literal term “patron of the arts,” meaning not so much someone who just frequently visits them, but actually takes steps to actively support them. Instead of the whim of the public eye and politicians screaming “save the children!” it’s the whim of the benefactor with the deep pockets.
Selling out? Maybe, but I should be so lucky as to sell out to someone like Ted Shen, who left a prestigious investment career with a nest egg of $73.5 million. He’s used it to fund several artists such as Stephen Sondheim (in fact, his grant was what enabled the controversial Assassins to be re-staged in 2004). He’s also (through his foundation) donated $1 million over four years to the Signature Theatre, in Arlington, Virginia, to create three musicals, giving $100,000 stipends and health insurance to Ricky Ian Gordon, Michael John LaChiusa and Joseph Thalken.
These three talented composers have the freedom now to truly create – though I suppose it could be argued that poverty does provide something of a creative constraint – and Shen has the satisfaction of knowing that he helped keep the art form that he loves alive. Read the article to see more of what he does with it, and tell me if it makes you optimistic for the future of the arts, or sad that we can’t seem to support our own without turning them into publicity circuses like Dancing with the Stars…
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