Note from the Committee Members of CultureALL

Ezra Pound wrote: If a patron buys from an artist who needs money (needs money to buy tools, time, food), the patron then makes himself equal to the artist; he is building art into the world; he creates. And Joseph Brodsky wrote: Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.

CultureAll is the embodiment of these words, the manifestation of what these two writers, buried in San Michele, believed. 

CultureAll brings patrons together with musicians and composers, and together we create a friendship, a family, a community. Not only a concert.

For centuries, patronage was a dual domain: the church and state were not the only supporters of music and art. Families and individuals played as great a role in the creation of new art. Great works of art and music have been nurtured by cultivated families and cultured individuals who understand the reciprocal nature of creation.  Patrons cannot exist without audience and artists cannot truly exist without patrons. This is true for most musicians because as the economist William Baumol wrote in the 1966, it still takes the same number of musicians to play a Beethoven quartet today as it did 200 years ago, except it costs more.

Indeed, composers have relied on the generosity of kings and popes and counts and barons and civil merchants since the days of Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart. However today, more often than nought, the institutionalization of music has created a distance between composers, musicians, and their patrons. Corporations and foundations have replaced the one-on-one, vis-a vis relationship between composers and patrons. Today, the only contact the composer has with those who sponsor the commission is usually a toast at a reception following the premiere concert. The typical bank president

would not know Vacchi from Verdi. But people who listen to music do. People who support opera and orchestral music know the difference and are an integral part to the success of an orchestra or theater.

This is one quality that makes CultureAll unique. The community of patrons of CultureAll recognize the value of their own patronage and the difference it can make for a composer and for themselves. They attend rehearsals, dine with the musicians and composer and receive tangible benefits. They are part of the process.  

Again, I repeat what Pound writes: “Patrons are building art into the world; they create.”  

What's more, CultureAll patrons are given something we all seek for our patronage: Immortality. Our patrons names are published ad infinitum in the composer's score as dedicatees.

What offers the greatest meaning in our mission is that CultureALL can be shared by ALL. The UNESCO sites where CultureAll performs are for everyone. We are inclusive, not exclusive. We believe that patrimony, like music, is not for the 1% or 99%, but for 100%. Our concerts offer free tickets to underserved members of the local communities who would otherwise be unable to afford either a concert or experience the UNESCO locations where we perform. 

That is perhaps the greatest motivation for us all: knowing that we are able to make a difference in the lives of everyone.  From patrons to young musicians to composers to the public. That is CultureAll.