May 11, 2011 Sunday Independent


Deserving of special recognition W


inner of the Judges’ Special Recognition Award this year in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards, Bank of America Merrill Lynch began operations


in Ireland in 1968 and is committed to supporting the country’s artistic heritage. Through the provision of grants, sponsorships and loans, it provides support across all art forms, focusing on programmes that generate greater cultural understanding. It has been awarded the special recognition title for its collaborations with the National Gallery of Ireland, Chester Beatty Library, IMMA and the ‘New Stream’ programme run by Business to Arts. “Through our Art in our Communities programme, we


have loaned more than 50 exhibitions, free of charge, to museums around the world. It is through this programme that we have loaned ‘The Art Books of Henri Matisse’ to the Chester Beatty Library,” says Peter Keegan, Ireland country executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The unique Bank of America Art Conservation Project, which was launched last year, funds the conservation of culturally or historically significant artworks across the globe, he continues. “Among last year’s grant recipients was the National


ALLIANZ BUSINESS TO ARTS AWARDS 2011 3


Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the Judges’ Special Recognition Award in this year’s Allianz Business to Arts Awards for it impressive contribution to supporting Irish arts


Gallery of Ireland, which received funding to restore Daniel Maclise’s The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife. “In these economically challenged times, and as art conservation consumes greater portions of tightened museum budgets, we know that private funding is more important than ever. This is why we are honoured to have helped preserve a work of art that is so culturally significant to Ireland, a country in which we have done business for more than 40 years.” Meanwhile the bank’s support for New Stream stems from its commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates. “As a corporate supporter of the arts, we recognise the need to build capacity in Ireland’s arts sector and help it develop new income streams beyond public subsidy,” says Keegan. Regarding IMMA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch chose to support the Lynda Benglis exhibition in the recognition that it would transcend cultural boundaries and strengthen links between American and European culture.


“It also allowed us to loan two of Benglis’ artworks from our corporate collection. One of these sculptures, Caelum (1986), has since been presented to IMMA for permanent display in its galleries,” Keegan concludes.


Creating new streams of income


With the need to generate income more important than ever within the Irish arts sector, ‘New Stream’ is a three-year initiative designed to help the wide range of participants develop their fundraising skills and do just that


ONEof Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s projects recognised in the Judges’ Special Recognition in this year’s Allianz Business to Arts Awards is a partnership with the Business to Arts organisation itself, called ‘New Stream’. This three-year programme has been devised by both par- ties to create new income across the Irish arts sector and sup- ports organisations in developing their fundraising skills and strategies. “Through events, training and learning, over 200 indi- viduals have taken part in New Stream activities in 18 months,” explains Business to Arts chief executive Stuart McLaughlin. “Independent evaluation of the first 12 months found


that the ‘return’ exceeded expectations, with those who par- ticipated raising over ¤1m that they directly attribute to skills and knowledge gained through their participation. This is set against a year one contribution by the bank of just over ¤100,000, showing a return of (at least) ¤10 for every ¤1 invested.” The core innovation at the heart of New Stream is the con- cept that the investment by the Bank of America Charitable


Foundation in Business to Arts has created a campaign which aims to build capacity across a whole sector, McLaugh- lin continues.


“By enabling programme participants to become more effec- tive in their fundraising, the partnership creates a value that is many multiples of the value of the baseline contribution.” The project operates around five streams of activity, sup-


porting principles of training, mentoring, coaching, collab- oration and access to data. “In this way, we have created an approach that works equal- ly well for national institutions to small regional organisa- tions. Underpinning this investment and support is a culture of coaching and accountability, which ensures that partici- pating organisations and individuals are actively supported in applying their learning.”


Approximately one-third of the funds invested by Bank of America in the project underpins the operational costs of Busi- ness to Arts in resourcing the project, with the balance spent on costs associated with delivery of certain elements such as subsidy of specialist training, web development and associated costs such as speaker fees and so on.


Over 200 people have taken part in New Stream events


McLaughlin says New Stream’s main challenge was around the diversity of the organisations it hoped to serve in terms of scale, art form and geography. “Developing an approach that supported the National


Gallery as effectively as a two-person theatre company in Kerry demanded a blended solution which needed to be flex- ible to adapt to the changing environment. “To de-risk we ensured an ongoing independent evaluation was a core principle of New Stream, working towards high standards and identifying opportunities for improvement and change.”


Art speaking for itself


A work by American artist Lynda Benglis


The partnership between the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Bank of America Merrill Lynch is working particularly well for both parties


HUGO JELLETT, develop- ment manager at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), says forming a part- nership with Bank of Amer- ica Merrill Lynch three years ago was a “particularly big dream come true”. The bank’s donation of work and sponsorship of exhibitions at IMMA are part of the reason it has been rewarded the Judges’ Special Recognition Award this year in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards.


“Bank of America Merrill


Lynch is far and away the biggest visual arts sponsor in the world. It has a vast programme in America sup- porting both museums and visual arts exhibitions and the most amazing corporate collection. It is particularly good news that they looked to deliver those support models in Europe too,” Jellett explains. “The bank approached us


keen to sponsor some major events in Ireland . It’s rela- tively rare for a sponsor to show such knowledge of phi- lanthropy, as opposed to viewing themselves as simply sponsoring an event. They realised that working away in the background has a stronger long-term effect.” The bank’s support allowed IMMA to originate an exhi- bition by the American artist


Lynda Benglis, which ended up touring to Eindhoven, Dijon, Los Angelus and New York, gathering pace as it went, according to Jellett. Known for her wax paint- ings and poured latex sculp- tures, Benglis would have been a significant presence in the Sixties and Seventies, but she dwindled in popularity in the Eighties. “The exhibition reinvigo-


rated her career and enhanced our reputation in the US as a gallery attracting loans in the future. Bank of America Merrill Lynch also donated one of her sculp- tures to IMMA from its own collection.” “Lynda’s work is pretty


extraordinary; she is known for her risqué works. Most corporate sponsors would shy away from this type of work. But Bank of America Merrill Lynch had the maturity of doing similar things state- side and felt art needs to speak for itself.” After the Benglis project, the bank opened up its own art collection to IMMA and in February of next year it will run an exhibition of its pho- tographic collection. “Typi- cally an exhibition like this would cost a very large amount, but working in part- nership with the bank enables us to mount an exhibition of this kind.”


Conserving a masterpiece The Matisse connection


The Maclise Conservation Project, which is part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Art Conservation Programme, is a major ongoing initiative that will result in the preservation of an iconic Irish painting


The conservation of The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife, one of the projects leading Bank of America Merrill Lynch to receive the Judges’ Special Recognition Award at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards this year


IN autumn of 2010, the National Gallery of Ireland embarked on a major con- servation project on the 19th century painting, The Mar- riage of Strongbow and Aoife (1854) by Cork-born artist, Daniel Maclise (1806–1870). Since then, the painting has undergone a number of technical examinations using the most up-to-date non-inva- sive procedures. The Maclise Conservation


Project, part of the Global Art Conservation Programme of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, is one of a number of arts projects leading the bank


to receive the Judges’ Special Recognition Award at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards this year. This canvas (measuring 317 x 515 cm) depicts the mar- riage of Aoife, daughter of Dermot McMurrough, the King of Leinster, and Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (‘Strongbow’), an event per- ceived as marking the formal establishment of Norman/ English involvement in Irish affairs. In exchange for military assistance, McMurrough offered his daughter’s hand to Strongbow, and promised


that the Norman leader would succeed him as King of Leinster after his death. In Maclise’s picture, the marriage takes place in the aftermath of the siege of Waterford in 1170. The work was commissioned for the Palace of Westminster in Lon- don, but never hung there. Instead, it entered a private collection and was presented to the National Gallery in 1879.


“Given its size, the painting presents enormous conser- vation challenges which will require a range of specific technical and structural treat-


ments. For the first time since its completion the painting is undergoing full-scale research and conservation treatment, involving a team of scientists and conservators from several European coun- tries,” says Simone Mancini, head of conservation at the National Gallery of Ireland. “Forensic analyses and photographic documenta- tion, including examination of the pigments and materi- als employed using ultravio- let and infrared spectroscopy and radiography, have enabled conservators to iden- tify structural weaknesses in the support, areas of over- painting, underdrawings and pentimenti (changes to the composition), as well as the nature of materials and tech- niques used by the artist. “Analysis has revealed the modern constitution of Maclise’s palette, indicating the use of the most recent pigments available at that time. It is envisaged that the project will take another year to complete.” Raymond Keaveney, direc- tor of the National Gallery of Ireland, adds that the detailed analysis and research being carried out by the gallery’s conservation team on this iconic Irish painting could not have been achieved with- out Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This major initiative not only works to preserve a mas- terpiece, but also adds to our understanding of the artist’s working method and the materials and techniques employed.”


It took around two years to plan, but when the Chester Beatty Library exhibited Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s collection of Matisse books it boosted visitor numbers and raised the Chester Beatty’s profile in an unprecedented way


GAININGaccess to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s col- lection of Matisse books has made a major impact on the Chester Beatty Library, with visitor numbers climbing by 25pc and a similar sales increase recorded in its gift shop compared to summer of last year, according to Fionnuala Croke, director, Chester Beatty Library. The collaboration is one of the reasons Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been rewarded the Judges’ Special Recognition Award this year in the Allianz Business to Arts


Awards.


“Our membership pro- gramme has also received a welcome boost with several new members signing up immediately after the exhibi- tion opened. The response to the exhibition from visitors of all ages and from the media has been very positive,” says Croke. “In general, it has helped to raise the profile of the Chester Beatty Library dur- ing a particularly difficult time for the arts and we hope to build on that in the coming months.”


The Chester Beatty was introduced to Bank of Amer- ica Merrill Lynch by Business to Arts in 2009 to explore a possible partnership as part of the company’s Art in our Com- munities programme. “We were delighted to dis-


cover ‘The Art Books of Henri Matisse’ was available for exhi- bition, not least because our own collections include a Matisse book personally inscribed by the artist to Sir Alfred Chester Beatty,” says Croke. “The two men were neigh- bours in Nice in the 1950s and


they also had some shared collecting interests, so the exhibition was a great fit in many respects.”


Bank of America Merrill


Lynch made the entire collec- tion available to the library, but gave it free rein to choose the individual works that would be displayed and with the overall design of the exhi- bition. “The costs associated with mounting major exhibitions of this kind can be prohibitive for smaller museums so having a sponsor who not only covered all the costs of bringing the art- works to Ireland, but also sup- ported the overall costs of the exhibition made a huge dif- ference to us,” continues Croke.


“It was particularly helpful


to have a budget for marketing and advertising above and beyond what would normally be within our reach.” The exhibition was around


Fionnuala Croke and Paula Shalloo of Chester Beatty Library with the Bank of America Merrill Lynch team at this year’s Allianz Business to Arts Awards


two years in the making, which gave the library time to develop a good working rela- tionship with key members of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch team, in Ireland and internationally. “Many of them are pas- sionate about the arts and were very supportive of our efforts to make the exhibition as successful as possible. On a practical level, their experi- ence with arts sponsorships around the world made it eas- ier for us to negotiate some of the logistics involved in put- ting together a major loan exhibition that might not otherwise have been the case,” Croke concludes.


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