John Studzinski featured in Financial Times on patrons engaging their artistic passions on a deeper level

6 May 2017

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, has been featured in the Financial Times’ How To Spend It supplement talking about arts philanthropy and the need for artists to be better supported and mentored, as typified by the Genesis Foundation.

In an article about how philanthropy, beyond financing artistic endeavours, is a collaboration between the creatives and the whole team of supporters behind them that makes them thrive, John Studzinski said: “It’s not just giving them their first break, but staying by them. They need people to support them, to give them advice, to act as a sounding board, to motivate them. Artists don’t always succeed first, second, even third time. I think it’s a weakness in society that there aren’t enough people out there mentoring young artists.”

The article cites the community involved in an artist’s success, as well as the potential “vacuum” between training and the first “break”, which the Genesis Foundation aims at replacing with mentoring schemes. The piece cites the Genesis Foundation’s funding of the Young Directors programme at the Young Vic as an enlightened example of philanthropy and how its results include its “first recipient of which was Rufus Norris, who is now artistic director of the National Theatre.”
To read the article in full click here.