Arts sponsorships in 2024
Plus: 20-year trends
Today, I examine findings on sponsorships for arts organizations. This follows my analysis two weeks ago of high-level statistics on donations, donors, and sponsorships, as well as my article last week on individual donations to the arts, culture, and heritage. In the first article, I noted that overall sponsorship levels appear to have increased. What about arts sponsorships?
The article is based on a survey of sponsorships in 2024 (and versions from previous years), which has quite a small sample size but is the only source I found on this topic. The survey had 303 respondents, including sponsors, sponsorship recipients, and sponsorship agencies. Only 6% of respondents completed the survey in French, which calls into question the survey’s national representativeness. Despite its moderate sample size and imperfect representation across the country, the survey still offers some interesting findings about sponsorship, which (to my knowledge) is not well covered by another survey.
Sponsorships in 2024
As I noted two weeks ago, brands invested $2.56 billion in sponsorship fees in 2024, according to the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study. Professional sports account for the largest share of sponsorships (23%).
The arts represent 6% of total sponsorship value in 2024, or roughly $154 million. (Oddly enough, this estimate is very close to Statistics Canada’s estimate of individual donations to the arts and culture in 2023: $157 million.)
The report includes an analysis of nine different “property types” (i.e., types of organizations receiving sponsorships). The arts rank eighth out of the nine types, as shown in the following graph.
Note that the report does not define the property types, including the arts (which is the term that they use). Other property types might include some arts activity, including “festivals, fairs, and annual events” and “entertainment, tours, and attractions”. I’ve chosen a light pink shading for these bars.
