The Art of Asking. Strategies of patronage solicitation through the ages in music, literature, visual arts, and intellectual culture.
One-day conference, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Date: Friday November 15, 2024
Time: 9:00 (walk-in) – 18:00 (end), including lunch, drinks and coffee/tea
Location: Booth Room University Library Science Park, Heidelberglaan 3, 3584 CS Utrecht
Attendance fee: € 15.00 (for students € 7.50)

Please register via this link. Are you a student? Then please register here.

About the conference: In many European countries, the cultural sector is working towards establishing a (renewed) tradition of cultural patronage. Across the EU, individual makers are experimenting with building a community of private donors through crowdfunding projects or membership schemes. At the same time, many different cultural institutions are now working at engaging with their support circles of minor and major donors. National cultural policies have been following suit, by actively encouraging the establishment of a 21st-century ‘culture of asking’ and ‘culture of private giving’ in the arts. Cultural patronage has a long, colorful, and complex history. Writers, visual artists, composers, and scholars have sought out the support of rich or well-connected private patrons for centuries, and have interacted with their private benefactors in a variety of ways. The premise underpinning the conference ‘The art of asking’ is the assumption that historical exchange patterns might serve as useful examples of patronage practices for today’s makers and cultural institutions – and, moreover, that a better understanding of historical patronage patterns may help contextualize modern day practices. We welcome proposals that help open up discussions about the way(s) creators active in the fields of literature, visual arts, music and intellectual culture, in present and past have historically put forward their requests for backing and protection of private patrons, and have as such helped shape the ‘culture of asking’ of their times. We are also interested in the factors affecting the creator’s asking strategies or choice of (prospective) patrons, and in the historical continuities and discontinuities in the ways creators shaped a ’culture of asking’.

With this conference, we aim to explore these premises by focusing on one particular aspect of the history of patronage. Whereas most existing research puts the efforts and achievements of the patron in the center of attention, we will concentrate on mapping the strategies of the (potential) recipients of support. How have artists and thinkers, through the ages, asked their (prospective) private patrons for support? Taking the step to ask a rich or well-connected individual for funding or protection takes courage, tact, strategic thinking, initiative, bravado, and confidence. Even in periods in which patronage was a self-evident part of artistic and academic practice, artists and scholars have always had to think carefully about the best way to approach their benefactors.

Organization: Helleke van den Braber (Utrecht University, Chair of Patronage Studies), Nina Geerdink (Utrecht University), Klazina Botke (VU Amsterdam/Teylers Museum), Floris Meens (Radboud University) and Arjen Dijkstra (Tresoar).