March 11: Development at Palau de la Musica Catalana

By Sydney Lowry

I was excited when I found out my blog assignment was the talk with the Project Manager of the Development Department at Palau de la Musica Catalana, due to my interest in development, and desire to work in the field. Marina Ventura Montes, Project Manager, was incredibly insightful and well-spoken, providing detailed information on the programs offered by the Palau and their fundraising and sponsorship efforts. 

Funding for the arts in Europe is very different from funding for the arts in the United States. While we have a model that primarily focuses on contributions and grants from individuals and foundations, with a smaller amount of public funding, Europe has a lot of government support for the arts and culture. Palau de la Musica Catalana has developed a fundraising program that seeks out individual donors and sponsorships, which is somewhat unusual for arts organizations in Spain.

Montes spoke about an example of how the different approach to funding made it difficult to introduce the idea of individual giving, even to her colleagues. When the development team wanted to put a button on the check-out page where patrons could buy tickets, other departments were against the idea. They thought that it stopped customers from finishing the check-out process and was too intrusive. This is something that is incredibly common in the United States; I wouldn’t blink an eye if I bought a ticket and it asked me if I wanted to donate. However, the Palau de la Musica faces an obstacle, as patrons do not typically think of arts organizations when they think of donating and the concept is not familiar. Montes and her department’s work is to educate both their colleagues and patrons on the importance of philanthropy in the arts and how it can help the Palau grow and diversify its income sources.