Patronage: a survival issue for artists
...But it's banned in France !
As you've probably gathered by now, and the fact that I'm talking about it in this newsletter is irritating many of you readers, my biggest problem is financial. It's a recurring problem that prevents me from living life to the full thanks to my artistic projects, and therefore from waking up feeling fulfilled every morning. For years now, in fact, I've been falling asleep very anxiously because of it, and we all know that's not good!
I'm going to mention this again here because, unfortunately, if few of you know me and few have read my books, it has a lot to do with the lack of money I suffer from.
Indeed, money is “the sinews of war”. Without money, we can't do anything in our modern societies. Without financial resources, I can't print my books or my advertising posters, I can't travel, I can't advertise on the internet, on social networks, in magazines, in dedicated advertising spaces in public places, or on television.
And therein lies my biggest drawback: financing advertising. To get the word out about my books, you have to show them to the public. That means advertising.
Posters and inserts are the best way to do this, whether in real life or online. But advertising costs money. This can range from a few dozen to several hundred or even a few thousand euros for posters in railway or underground stations. The same goes for online advertising, which again is expensive.
Personally, I don't have the resources to use these means of communication. And I don't have anyone around me who can give me, or even advance me, the huge sums I need to be able to make my books known to as many people as possible.
I often think of Marcel Proust, a great French author, who self-published his book and financed the newspaper advertising himself. This enabled his work to become known to everyone. It became a success. Without money, this author would not have succeeded.
I don't have the family fortune to finance myself. So I find myself in an impasse that has lasted, in spite of myself, for many years.
Patronage can be a solution to this problem. In effect, a patron chooses to provide financial support to a person or a project, in a disinterested way, to enable it to come to fruition. This is a practical way for us artists, as it gives us access to sums of money, varying in size depending on the donation, so that we can put our artistic projects in place.
As an artist-author, I'd like to be able to take advantage of this scheme. But at the moment, in France, an artist cannot benefit from patronage. And I find that absolutely shocking. They can get a ‘subsidy from foundations’ but they can't get a direct sum of money from a patron to finance their projects.
It's absurd! How can French society act in this way towards artists when, for centuries, it has encouraged them and allowed them to develop their art to the highest level?
I'll cite just one example to demonstrate this questioning, or rather just one name: Leonardo da Vinci. Yes, this name, known to us all for centuries, is the one that first springs to mind when I think of artists and their works. So let me ask you this: what would Leonardo da Vinci have achieved if he hadn't had the support of patrons, including one of the most illustrious, François I, King of France?
Could he have produced all his works, all his research and advanced both art and science without money? I won't leave you to think about it any longer, the answer is NO! And he didn't have the money himself! He lived his whole life on the backs of the patrons who financed him. And this enabled him to create magnificent things, as well as advancing science.
Thanks to the money provided by his patrons, this artist has been able to realise his art to the extreme. Without money, we wouldn't have Leonardo da Vinci, we wouldn't have any of his works, the most remarkable of which we all know throughout the world.
It was his patrons who gave Leonardo da Vinci the opportunity to live for his passions. Their money was his salvation.
So why did France one day decide to stop funding artists through direct patronage? Why did it prohibit people of great financial wealth from making financial donations to enable artists to live and work through their art and for their art? Why have we witnessed this cultural regression in a country that claims to belong to ‘Les Lumières’ (‘the Enlightenment’)?
As an artist, and a needy one at that, I don't understand this! No matter how much I study, analyse and question, I can't figure out the reasons why those in power have stopped encouraging cultural development through patronage.
Has the 21st century become more grotesque than the 18th? Are we obliged to put up with a decline in the cultural awareness and development of our societies because money is no longer available to those who need it to develop them?
Even though many rich people would be prepared to fund artists simply because it makes them feel well seen! Personally, I don't care if the people concerned give money to stroke their pride in the eyes of everyone. That money will have enabled me to live and develop my artistic projects, which will make sense within our societies.
If artists can no longer obtain the funding they need to develop their art, are we heading for a rejection of culture and a standardisation of our societies to the detriment of the reflection and constant questioning that are fundamental to cultural works?
The direction that society is currently taking, particularly in France, frightens me. I don't want it to develop any further because that would mean the death of artists and therefore the death of culture... I'm an artist and author... My death...
I don't have enough money at the moment to make my work known to as many people as possible but, as the illustration at the beginning of this article shows, I won't give up! I won't stop! I won't give up my work as an artist-author! Because it's in me, it's a need, a necessity even.
And if no one wants to come along and help me financially, it may be decades before I can make a living from my writing. But I'll get there because I know it's the only thing that gives real meaning to my life and my existence.
So rest assured, there will still be plenty of books written by me, Julie ANTHOINE, to read until my last breath ;-)
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