The Stage

Prince Charles creates award for top arts benefactors

Published Friday 28 November 2008 at 12:10 by Michael Quinn

A new award to recognise the UK’s most generous arts benefactors has been created by Prince Charles.

The first seven recipients of the Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy were presented earlier this week in a ceremony organised by Arts and Business.

Those honoured included Vivien Duffield, whose foundation gives £6 million each year to arts organisations. Recent beneficiaries have included the Royal Opera House, the South Bank Centre and the Unicorn children’s theatre company. Saga Group founder Roger De Haan was recognised for his ambitious project to regenerate Folkestone by transforming dilapidated buildings in the town into galleries, studios and bases for arts organisations.

Two couples received awards - Martin and Carmel Naughton, for their £1 million donation last June - Northern Ireland’s largest-ever private donation to an arts project - towards the rebuilding of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, and Lord and Lady Sainsbury who have made grants totalling £22 million to the arts over the past decade.

The American pianist Carol Høgel also received a medal for her support of the Edinburgh International Festival, Scottish Opera and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Welcoming the awards, Prince Charles said: “Some people might think that, with all the news of global recession and the dreadful impact that recession could have on our world, that celebrating arts philanthropy is rather like moving the metaphorical deckchairs on the Titanic. But I do believe that nothing could be further from the truth because the arts act as a beacon of light in dark times and they are a hallmark of our humanity and a means by which we articulate our suffering and our joy.”