Scott sits down with Patton Hindle at L.A. Tennis Club at the start of Frieze week LA as it traditionally begins with the ART & LEISURE tennis tournament to raise funds for Artadia, a beloved arts nonprofit, where Patton has recently taken on the role of Executive Director.
Patton, a millennial, has been a gallery owner, director of arts for Kickstarter and published provocative opinion articles on the state of the contemporary arts. She is ideal to discuss nextgen giving to the arts. Patton is acutely aware of the massive generational wealth transfer occurring and the existential need for engaging nextgen’s to give to the arts. Patton cites the figures which indicate that giving to the arts in 2022 declined 8.9% when adjusted for inflation. It was the only sector which experienced a decline in giving. She believes that we have to make the case for the arts as an essential part of the social construct in the U.S. She sees the attraction of art related to social causes and social impact art as an entry point to engage millennials and generation Z’s. Patton also believes that it is necessary to have a critical mass of nextgen art collectors in order to assure that they participate in giving to the arts. We discuss how and why Patton was successful in engaging 22 to 44 year olds to support Kickstarter art initiatives and a social impact program she created for Kickstarter.
Patton believes that we need to have a U.S. cabinet level appointment for the Arts in order to address its essential role. We look briefly at the example of Americans for the Arts nonprofit which is trying to address the arts relevance with impressive data points in the form of an “arts and economic prosperity” study.
We also discuss Patton’s other advisory and board positions at the Mellon Foundation and the Laundromat Project.
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.