NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY - An exploration of barriers in giving to arts and culture

Governmental budget cuts are often perceived to be diminishing the financial sustainability of the field of arts and culture. The lack of funding which is created by such budget cuts could be solved by stimulating an increase of private funding for arts and culture. However, to stimulate such an increase, we need to know what hinders people to donate. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore which barriers arise in giving monetary donations to arts and culture. What should be stressed, is that I do not aim to make implications for solving these barriers, as the scope of my research is not sufficient to do so. I will explore barriers for giving to arts and culture through employing a qualitative research strategy, in which I will partake in exploratory and reflexive research. By doing so, I set out to interact with experts-in-practice in order to get in touch with the field and reflect on it, instead of keeping an academical distance and observing what seems to be going on. Furthermore, the reflexivity of my research enables me, personally, to pursue academic research in which I can be myself. My research results in the insight that givers experience both practical and conceptual barriers in giving to arts and culture. Practical barriers often result in a question to give which is asked in an inelegant way, which discourages (further) giving. The conceptual barriers are structured in dichotomies which touch upon matters that are as big as the cultural field itself and which give way to multiple avenues for further research, such as rationality versus emotionality. In sum, this thesis has a dual quest: to explore barriers for giving to arts and culture as well as bridging the gap between myself as a student and as a researcher.