In a “one percent” world of concentrated wealth and its corresponding private philanthropy, the facts of patronage are often incomplete. Naming opportunities can sometimes eclipse the anonymous generosity of the taxpayer as earmarked by their elected officials. It was, for example, the people of New York who built and operated the Phillip Johnson-designed New York State Theater at Lincoln Center 50 years ago, only to see the proud civic label disappear in the aftermath of a donation by City Ballet board member David Koch, a generous but small amount in comparison to the total public support generated across more than four decades. Such trailblazing citizen subsidies for the places that sustain New York’s cultural life continue today at unprecedented levels via the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), which now ranks as the largest governmental supporter of the arts in the nation, bypassing even the NEA. In addition to its program and institutional grants, the DCA manages a capital budget financed by city-backed bonds far exceeding $1 billion, thus assisting cultural sites well beyond those in high-income neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, where private donations are far more likely to flow. For this reason alone, architects, landscape designers, ...
In a “one percent” world of concentrated wealth and its corresponding private philanthropy, the facts of patronage are often incomplete. Naming opportunities can sometimes eclipse the anonymous generosity of the taxpayer as earmarked by their elected officials. It was, for example, the people of New York who built and operated the Phillip Johnson-designed New York State Theater at Lincoln Center 50 years ago, only to see the proud civic label disappear in the aftermath of a donation by City Ballet board member David Koch, a generous but small amount in comparison to the total public support generated across more than four decades. Such trailblazing citizen subsidies for the places that sustain New York’s cultural life continue today at unprecedented levels via the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), which now ranks as the largest governmental supporter of the arts in the nation, bypassing even the NEA. In addition to its program and institutional grants, the DCA manages a capital budget financed by city-backed bonds far exceeding $1 billion, thus assisting cultural sites well beyond those in high-income neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, where private donations are far more likely to flow. For this reason alone, architects, landscape designers, ...