Government seizes control of Singer & Friedlander

No, the Government has no ambitions about running major art competitions.

This post is about the impact of the banking crisis and the looming recession on the sponsorship of art competitions and prizes.

Drawing a Head 09.10.08.
16" x 11.5" pen and ink on Canson Bristol Board
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Singer and Friedlander last sponsored the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition in 2007. Its long term sponsorship of the competition led many people to refer to it as "the Singer & Friedlander".

After the bank was taken over by the Icelandic Bank Kaupthing, the decision was made to curtail the sponsorship.

The merchant bank Singer and Friedlander sponsored the competition for many years - hence the name - but were taken over by an Icelandic bank Kaupthing who decided not to continue with the sponsorship. However not before they produced a jolly nice page on their website about the 2007 competition and all the prizewinners (with images).
Making a Mark - The RWS / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008 invites entries
(16th April 2008)

On Wednesday, the Government exercised its new banking controls and decided to curtail Singer & Friedlander. It seized control of the bank - Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Limited and appointed individuals from Ernst & Young as Official Administrators after it learned that the bank could no longer exercise its obligations to depositers.

You can read more about it here on the website and in the Times Online article Singer & Friedlander plunges into administration

Unfortunately it appears that all past online image records of the competition have also been lost. The link in the quotation from one my blog posts earlier this year now only produces a 404 page.

Competition websites and sponsorship - the need for a dedicated website

First off - can I make a big plea here for all major competitions to

1. Create a dedicated website with a dedicated domain name - one that can survive irrespective of the fortunes of either sponsor or administrator
   
2. Make sure the website forms part of any sponsorship deal and is maintained in good order by the sponsors.
   
3. Transfer website host account and domain name to new sponsors or their agents as sponsorship changes.
   

If that had been created for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition we would now have a record of all the prizewinners over the years irrespective of which organisation is the sponsor. Sadly that's now not the case.

Future sponsorship for art competitions and art prizes

In the past the banking and financial services sector has been a great and magnanimous supporter of the arts generally. Companies have sponsored some major art competitions and a whole host of art prizes within different art societies - and naturally raised their profiles with people who buy original art.

I'm not suggesting that banks are going to pull out in any wholesale way of continued sponsorship. Quite the contrary in fact. Some of the current sponsors will become even bigger as they take on board responsibility for administering customer accounts and deposits from the banks who have got into trouble. Indeed I note that ING (sponsor of the ING Discerning Eye competition) has just taken over some of the customers and deposits from Kaupthing.

However, on the day after that the Dow falls to a new 5 year low, the FTSE continues to slide (another 10% gone this morning) and markets across Europe are in freefall, it must be the case that there will be more examples of companies running into the buffers - from right across the economy.

A number of sponsorship deals are agreed for a period of years - but such agreements are only good for as long as a company can continue afford to operate as a sponsor.

Ultimately, what it all means is that there will be a much smaller pool of sponsorship funds available - in terms of both sponsor organisations and their largesse.

My predictions

• A major change in sponsorship - There will a major change in the shape of financial services' sponsorship of both art competitions and art prizes in the next couple of years as both sponsors and the art economy have to get to grips with the fall-out from the current debacle and the ensuing recession.
• Recession bites: Sponsors outside the financial services sector will also fall by the way side as recession bites and companies have to look for economies. It's the 'safe but boring' companies which survive intact during a recession (ie we still have to eat!)
  
• Corporate scrutiny: Sponsors in the corporate sector are going to be looking very carefully at what they get for their money. That means that it's very likely that those hosting or administering art competitions and art societies are going to have to compete for more limited funds from fewer sponsors in a way which they've never had to do before.
  
• Corporate versus individual sponsorship: We may well see a change in the ratio of corporate and individual sponsorship at the top end of the market for sponsorship. After all, individuals don't have to account to their Boards or shareholders for how they spend their money!
  
• Oligarch as sponsor - Following in the path of Russian and Chinese financial support for ailing banks in the western world, I'm now expecting to see some Russian and Chinese oligarchs becoming very interested in sponsorship of the arts. It's no coincidence that the Saatchi Gallery opens today with a display of new Chinese Art.
  
• Opportunity - This is a huge opportunity for those who can show sponsors what they can do in a very business-like way. Sponsors are no different - it's all about value for money as well as prestige at the end of the day.
  

Let me know what you think.

Note: My drawing class started up again a couple of weeks ago. This drawing is from last night's class and has been drawn in pen and archival pigment ink. You can seem more from the Drawing the Head series on my website.