Corporate Sponsorship – a tricky business these days

Recently I’ve been engaged in an activity, rivaled  only in its level of difficulty by securing a large mortgage…the business of finding some sponsorship money for an arts event.

The International Puppet Festival of Ireland, dear to my heart as many of you will know, has managed to get the Arts Council backing to morph into a larger event this year.  That backing, in the form of continued funding (using the mortgage example  - as difficult as getting a loan to buy a large 5 bed in Mount Merrion!) will see this year’s festival move from its birth place, my grandfathers Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown to the big shmoke!  Temple Bar will host the festival which will now be called The Dublin Puppet Festival, which is the only festival of puppetry in this country.

Along with keeping its Arts Council funding, the festival was promised funding from some other sources this year.  Unfortunately for reasons we’re all familiar with in our own lives, this funding will now not materialise.  So there’s a panic on to find some cash – otherwise the festival, while it might still go ahead this year, will probably not survive until next year.  That would be almost 20 years of hard work down the drain.

My grandfather, Eugene Lambert, had been to a few puppet festivals in his day – when he decided to be a puppeteer he’d never even seen a puppet show so you can imagine how exciting it was for him to immerse himself in a whole festival dedicated to the art form he so loved.  He dreamed of bringing some of that magic to Ireland – and like most of his dreams, he managed to bring some reality to it.  This year’s ‘Dublin Puppet Festival’ will be dedicated to that dreamer.

We, here in Ireland, are now at a point in time where corporate support of the arts in this country is more important then ever.  But its also a time where securing corporate support of anything is trickier then ever.

Being emotionally involved in the puppet festival, I was starting to feel like a failure having not yet managed to source a corporate sponsorship account in the black.  Then yesterday I read  in the Sunday Times how Dublin’s latest venue, The Grand Canal Theatre cannot secure a sponsor.  The same article states that half of all companies are reducing their sponsorship spend this year.

So why would any company want to support something like the Dublin Puppet Festival?  From a PR point of view, what’s in it for them?

• They get to be a saviour
• They get to capitalise on media coverage based on circumstantial events and sadly, more unfortunate events
• They get to reach a loyal family audience  through their association with performances for adults and children, along with the Free Open Air weekend in Temple Bar
• They get to ‘brand’ to their hearts desire
• They get to be associated with an event born out of passion for an art form and a desire to entertain for no other reason then to make people happy!
• They get to play in the original Wanderly Wagon which will be stationed in Temple Bar for the entire open air weekend

And all of this with none of the stranglehold of your average fixed rate mortgage!  Good luck to anyone trying to get corporate sponsorship at the moment – its a tricky business.