THE PATRONS

If you were to place the several hundreds of people next to each other who have already taken up their cause with commissions in Germany, it would be the most diverse crowd imaginable. From pupils to astrophysicists, from farmers to refugees, anyone can become a New Patron – regardless of education, wealth or background.

Any topic can be worth tackling with an artistic commission. It doesn't matter whether the patrons are familiar with art or not. What is more important is with what concern they approach a commission and what they hope to achieve from it. New Patrons know what is missing. They understand what needs to change. They have a sense of what needs to be made visible.

Who needs a public voice? What is going well and what is going wrong in society? Questions like these move people to become New Patrons. This step means taking responsibility and starting a commission process themselves, which mediators then support and accompany. In the course of the project, the new patrons then take all the important decisions. Are they convinced by an artist's proposal? Do they get along well with the artist, is it possible to work together? Does the artistic proposal fit the commission? Should it be implemented? Who else should be involved?

New Patrons need to be patient. After all, it can take some time until an artistic idea has been worked out in such a way that it can be implemented, for example, structurally, until the money for the implementation of the work has been found, until the cultural committee or the building authority support the project. Ambitious projects do not come into being overnight.    

Often the commissions have an afterlife, are the motivation for further activities or involve more and more people. Because when a work has been completed, a mission has been fulfilled, a major task has been accomplished, new questions and perspectives open up. How can a new place be used continuously and how can the work be communicated to neighbors? How can the successful engagement of the commissioning group be continued? What is there to do next? How can newly formed alliances between civil society, politics and administration be further employed?