Giving Back is Dead

In this episode of Giving Back Is Dead, recorded during Art Basel Paris week and hosted at Palais de Tokyo, we sit down with Christopher Coritsidis, founder and CEO of Opus One Foundation, to explore how the arts can function as a true engine for social impact. From his beginnings as a classically trained violinist to his pivot into entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Coritsidis brings a rare, lived perspective to the conversation—one shaped by firsthand experience in both the creative and venture worlds. What emerges is a clear thesis: the arts are not just culturally valuable, but economically and socially catalytic when paired with intention, measurement, and long-term vision.

Rather than relying on traditional donation-based models, Opus One is building a new framework—venture philanthropy—where creative work generates intellectual property, revenue, and scalable impact. Through initiatives spanning education, disability advocacy, health and well-being, environmental sustainability, and conflict response, Coritsidis outlines how art can fund itself, empower communities, and multiply its reach without dependence on government or legacy funding structures. The episode offers a candid look at the future of philanthropy—one where impact is regenerative, artists are central, and giving back is no longer passive, but actively designed for the world we’re in now.

What is Giving Back is Dead?

GIVING BACK IS DEAD addresses the need to engage the next generation differently than the previous generation. Stover believes that arts institutions and initiatives will lose their funding if arts leaders do not recognize what motivates the next generation. The previous generation has structured arts funding based on participation in an elite and exclusionary social club related to the donor’s wealth. Media focus on the art market and its atmospheric sales prices reinforce that the art world and its initiatives are out of touch with society’s injustices.

GIVING BACK IS DEAD offers a series of inspiring paths to engage NextGen’s to assure the arts continue to be funded and are relevant to our lives.