Why death is an asset in the arts

Companies large and small are benefiting from bequest programs, but asking supporters to consider their mortality isn’t always an easy conversation to have.
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Photo by Simeon Muller via Unsplash.com

When you die, your love of the arts doesn’t have to die with you. Your legacy can live on in the form of a bequest – a posthumous donation of a portion of your estate made to a company you have supported in life.

The Australian Ballet established its bequest program around 1990, said Kenneth Watkins, Director of Philanthropy. ‘It’s a very slow growing, long-term strategy which yields good returns,’ he explained.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts