During the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, wealthy bankers and merchants paid the best artists of the day to paint portraits of them and produce sculptures to decorate their palaces.  This is why we have the famous sculptures of Michelangelo and the paintings of Botticelli and Caravaggio, for example.  The great buildings of cities such as Florence and Rome were built for the rich people who commissioned the best architects, artists and designers of the age to make something which would show everyone how rich, successful and powerful these people were.

This practice was called “patronage,” and nowadays many historians claim the system of patronage made possible the great artistic achievements of the Renaissance.  The practice still exists today - although now it is called “sponsorship” rather than “patronage.”

Instead of rich bankers, now it is rich banks who give money to artists and architects, or car manufacturers who give money to football teams, or restaurant chains who sponsor particular television programmes.

Sponsorship is so much a part of our everyday lives that we hardly notice it.  The words on the front of football players’ shirts, the writing on Formula 1 racing cars, even the names of a number of sporting events.  If you go and see a big budget movie, you may not even be aware of so-called “product placement” in films, but if you look carefully you will notice that the hero is wearing a certain kind of watch, or eating a certain type of breakfast cereal, or driving a certain type of car.  Companies pay money to film producers to have their products discreetly advertised in these films, and in so doing, they make it easier for producers and film directors to make the films they want.

So what is the difference between sponsorship and advertising?  Why do companies spend huge amounts of money sponsoring things when they could make television adverts, or put billboards up in city centres?

One PR and marketing expert claims that sponsorship “is a way of getting the brand across, and establishing brand values.  Sponsorship is a lot more subtle than TV or newspaper advertising.  In that kind of advertising the basic message has to be ‘Here’s our new product.  Please go and buy it.’  With sponsorship, the effect is more subtle.  People become aware of the name, and subconsciously associate the brand with a literary prize, or an art exhibition, or even their favourite football team!”

This sounds like a good deal for the sponsors, then, but the question remains: is sponsorship all good?  Do sponsors ever interfere with the freedom of individual artists or film makers to produce exactly what they want?  Or with football teams, insisting that star players are on the field even if they are injured or not playing well?

A few years ago there was a case in which a book which dealt with controversial subject matter was listed for a major literary prize, but the book did not win the prize – possibly because the sponsors (a large drinks company) did not want to be associated with such a book.  Today, however, the relationship between writers and sponsors seems to be healthy.

“It’s difficult to make a living as a writer,” says Dave Cowan, who has written a few critically-acclaimed books which were not bestsellers.  “Writers never make a lot of money, unless their books become huge bestsellers.  The sponsored prizes offered by big companies – and there are quite a few of them now – all help to make it possible to go on being a writer.”  

If companies continue to sponsor artists, then, perhaps they could help to create a new Renaissance.