PORTLAND (AP) – A drop in public and charitable aid has prompted arts organizations in Maine to rely more heavily than ever on corporate sponsorships to maintain programs and services.

Such sponsorships have become more vital in light of the sluggish economy, representatives of arts groups and corporations agree.

The breakdown of corporate spending on the arts in Maine is unclear, but the Harvard Business Review says sponsorships nationally totaled nearly $600 million dollars in 2001. By comparison, the National Endowment for the Arts operated on a budget of just over $100 million that same year.

The Portland Museum of Art’s 2003 Biennial exhibition drew support from Key Bank.

UnumProvident Corp. was a corporate partner for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Tuesday Classical series. And the Children’s Museum of Maine gave L.L. Bean the naming rights to a new exhibition last year.

Common in sports and other industries for years, corporate sponsorships have crept prominently into the arts world. In Maine, corporations spend millions of dollars each year to help arts organizations balance their budgets, creating partnerships that were unheard of a generation ago but now are so firmly entrenched that many arts groups could not function without them.

Demand among nonprofit groups is escalating, thanks to a reduction in public aid and because charitable foundations – historically the most dependable funders of arts groups – are rethinking how they distribute assets from their shrinking endowments.

“It’s a tough time right now,” said Janet Henry, executive director of the Maine Philanthropy Center in Portland. “We are faced with a lot of issues right now, with cuts in the state budget leaving a lot of nonprofits that rely on public funds scrambling around trying to figure out how to continue their services.”

The growing demand for dollars is not necessarily a bad thing, says Bert Smoluk, a University of Southern Maine business professor. Sponsorships and outright philanthropy are smart investments because sponsorships enable companies to position themselves in the marketplace by associating with organizations that reach desirable audiences.

So far in Maine, corporate donations have not come with strings attached, where companies have tried to influence programming, arts executives say. In most cases, arts groups approach a company with a menu of proposals, allowing the company to choose which event, exhibition, concert series or individual performance it wants to be associated with.

Corporate sponsorships account for about 10 percent of the overall budget at the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Portland Museum of Art and 40 percent of the budget at the Children’s Museum of Maine.

AP-ES-04-21-03 0939EDT