Member Article

bdaily speaks to Adam Lopardo, Director of The Sponsors Club at the Community Foundation

Not many people can describe their position as their “dream job”, but that is exactly how Adam Lopardo feels about his position at the Sponsors Club, part of the Community Foundation, leading the Foundation investment in the arts and arts organisations with support from Arts Council England, North East, bringing together his two passions – culture and commerce.

How does this work? “We work with business partners and arts groups in the region to help them form partnerships and work effectively together”, explains Adam. While this seems like a nice idea, what do businesses get out of it? “Arts provide a different way of looking at business, to help problem solve while engaging with communities and other businesses,” he continues.

Throughout his life, Adam has worked in the arts, treading the boards as an amateur actor in his youth, before moving into marketing at Ticketmaster after university. When the post of director at The Sponsors Club came up in 2006, Adam jumped at the chance to join the business. “The nature of the company lets me work in business while shouting about the arts,” he says.

Despite his passion for the arts, Adam clearly has business head is tightly screwed on. “You’ve got to look at the economic argument and the social side of encouraging businesses to get involved in supporting the arts, as both facets are beneficial to the region as a whole”.

When asked about his favourite project, Adam speaks at length about a number of projects enthusiastically, and even emails me after we speak with examples of several more. The story that really stood out was the ‘Empty Shops’ project, which seemed to encapsulate the essence of The Sponsors Club.

“Shops and companies were leaving Newcastle City Centre, so we decided to encourage the Council to open arts projects in these sites. We were then convened a group who sourced sites, found landlords and provided support including money, advice and kindness to a range of projects across the city.

“One of the most successful of these projects was the Globe Gallery, who ran exhibitions at the Boots store at Monument. Since then, the gallery has continued to work with Ward Hadaway and other businesses, and we have helped them find even more people to join their advisory committee.”

While it is clear that projects like this are beneficial to the region, one issue remains – how to get businesses spending on the arts when we are stuck in a recession?

“Sometimes its hard to get the message out there that culture is worthwhile, especially when businesses are laying people off, and it can be difficult to justify spending on the arts,” Adam admits. “However its also really important to consider how businesses can use the arts to support the economy.”

However, he seems undeterred by the economic conditions; “ The Sponsors Club was set up 20 years ago during a recession and since then, has received nearly £3 million in support since then, so its seems that many businesses truly appreciate the benefit of working with the arts in the region, perhaps even more so now money is tighter.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alexandra Horrocks .