Hunger vs. the Arts
Today's
philanthropists want to fight disease and poverty -- shortchanging operas and
museums. How high culture is fighting for its share of the charity dollar.
By JACOB HALE RUSSELL, WSJ, October 14, 2006; Page P1
Michael
Tennenbaum is the kind of patron most museums and symphonies dream of landing.
He started his own private-investment firm and is a generous philanthropist,
recently giving a total of $10 million to three universities and serving on the
board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
As
for cultural causes, Mr. Tennenbaum says he's not especially interested right
now. Education, medicine and children's welfare are "more deserving based
on my set of values and more important socially," he says.
It's
a rising concern for many potential donors to the arts: What is the
justification for donating to the opera when the money could help stamp out
malaria -- or stem global warming, reform education or solve any of a number of
humanitarian crises? For arts groups, the problem is being exacerbated as some
of the world's wealthiest and most influential people have stepped up in the
past year to give globally, from Warren Buffett's more than $30 billion
donation to causes like AIDS and tuberculosis initiatives through the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, to Richard Branson's $3 billion pledge to invest in
renewable-energy research and technology.