Renaissance artist Raphael painted this portrait of one of his key patrons, Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti. The painting is part of an exhibit highlighting the banker’s sponsorship of the arts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Today, regulations such as the Community Reinvestment Act require banks to give back to the communities of which they are a part, but the backing of cultural and artistic endeavors by financial institutions predates such modern notions by centuries.
Funding and endowments from banks to patronage to the arts within communities comes in forms of grants to local museums, sponsorships of exhibits, financial backing to arts and music festivals and the continuous support of art education in local community schools.
Honoring that tradition of banking and community arts patronage, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is featuring an exhibit, “Raphael, Cellini and a Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti,” to highlight the contributions bankers have made to the arts throughout the centuries. The exhibit opened on Oct. 8 and will run through Jan. 11.
Altoviti, a rich banker and financier, was a prominent patron of the leading artists in 16th century Rome and a financial supporter of the community of Florence, Italy. His patronage was honored in oil paintings and gold busts by Renaissance artists Raphael and Cellini. The history of Altoviti’s wealth and contributions to the community is depicted in the portraits.
‘Quality of Life’
The legacy of bankers giving back to the community continues today, and the exhibit was, in part, created to “stimulate learning” about that continuing tradition, according to the Gardner Museum’s Curator of the Collection, Alan Chong, who said the arts cannot survive without the support and financing of local institutions.
Working in partnership with the Museo Nazionale del Bargello museum in Florence, Chong said the exhibit was fashioned based on the idea that “many people decide to take their money and do wonderful things. Bindo Altoviti was a … banker, but remained a private person and gave much of his fortune to the arts.”
Leaping ahead to the 21st century, Bay State banks of all sizes continue that tradition and are active in sponsoring, contributing and funding arts programs ranging from grade school art shows to Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts.
Museums also are beneficiaries. Citizens Bank recently awarded the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art – the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the country – a $15,000 grant over two years to support the museum’s internship program.
MASS MoCA, located in North Adams, provides interns with free housing and offers them a modest stipend.
Opened in May 1999, the center has produced more than 150 events ranging from dance and film to theater, lectures and children’s events, and more than 35 interns work at the museum throughout the year in areas of emphasis include curation, marketing, development, design, performing arts production and administration.
“MASS MoCA was important because of its location in Berkshire County and the site it was built on,” said Julie Connelly, vice president for community reinvestment for Citizens Bank of Massachusetts. “When the museum opened, it brought a lot of jobs back to North Adams. In Massachusetts, we have a lot of very significant cultural institutions and it’s important to support them to bring tourists, and others, here to the community to experience the many wonderful institutions we have here in the state.”
Citizens Bank has provided numerous financial support to various types of arts and theater scenes, including sponsoring the “Studio of Her Own,” an exhibit featuring Boston women artists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and grants and sponsorships to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston Center for Arts, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Boston Children’s Museum and various family and community theater groups throughout the state.
“In this challenging economy, it is as important as ever to support young people as they explore possible career paths in our communities. Citizens is pleased to play a role in such an important and effective initiative at MASS MoCA,” said Connelly. “Citizens believes it’s very important to give back to the community and that is why we supply funding for programs and community outreach.”
Adding additional flare to the New England arts scene is Sovereign Bank, which supports the arts throughout its New England footprint.
The bank sponsors the Arts at the Arcade in Boston’s City Hall Plaza and is the exclusive sponsor for the New England Aquarium’s Beach Teach Program and the Museum of Science’s new exhibit “Magic! The Science of Illusion.”
Thomas Kennedy, senior vice president and manager of community development for Sovereign Bank New England, said supporting the arts enhances the quality of life in the community.
“We have sponsorships [to the arts] … and we do that because of the quality of life that they address in terms of our overall environment in which we are living. This touches not just the physical side, but addresses the spiritual side of who we are in terms of creativity and fullness of who we are as individuals in terms of society,” said Kennedy.
Aside from the major museums and exhibits that Sovereign helps fund, the bank also contributes to theater and performing arts groups in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, including the Providence Ballet, Waterfire in Providence, the Bushnell Museum of Art in Hartford, Conn., the Worcester Art Museum, and the Lowell Folk Festival – the largest free annual folk festival in the United States.
Additionally, Sovereign is a supporter of the Sovereign Center for the Performing Arts in Reading, Pa., the Enduring People exhibit at the Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, and the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Conn., which is America’s oldest public art museum.
“The economic impact of the arts [in our communities] is a significant contribution. The arts doesn’t always get the appropriate attention that this deserves as an economic generator of business,” said Kennedy. “We as a corporation feel that this is terribly important from a business perspective and from a personal of supporting these efforts that add to the quality of life.”
Kennedy said the bank donates in excess of half a million dollars a year to the arts throughout the Sovereign footprint.
But it is not just the big banks giving away big dollars. Smaller banks also are devoted to their communities, supporting arts at local level. Georgetown Savings Bank, a $105 million-asset bank, provides funding for cultural exhibitions within Essex County.
Robert Balletto, senior vice president at Georgetown Savings Bank, said supporting community arts projects is important for community and economic development.
Georgetown Savings is a 9-year-old sponsor of the Georgetown Cultural Council, which hosts an eight-week concert series in the local community park, but Balletto said he hopes the bank will have the ability to contribute more in the future.
“We have been trying to do more patronage to the arts in the recent years. It brings the community together and brings people together for the appreciation of the music and involvement in the community,” said Balletto.
Providing financial support to school art programs and renovating abandoned buildings to make way for community theater productions is an important part of community development, according to Balletto.
“I think that we are at a time were there are a lot of budget cuts and the arts needs the support. It’s important from the standpoint of improving the quality of life,” said Balletto. “There is a lot of importance on athletic endeavors, but we want people educated in all ways and not just physically adept. I was an athlete myself, but as I’ve gotten older I can see the advantages of being more well-rounded. This will certainly be part of our focus moving forward. If we can lend the support, I think it makes a better community.”
