Carmen Reviriego talks less like the head of a cultural foundation and more like someone who builds engines. On a warm evening in Madrid, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, she completed the International Patronage Award in a calm and efficient manner, greeting patrons (e.g. art news Top 200 collector Batia Ofer, this year’s recipient of the foundation’s International Patronage Award, enthusiastically embraces artists and shakes hands with public officials, as if she were forming a coalition in real time.
She is the founder and president of the Callia Foundation, the organization behind the award, now in its 11th year. The project began with her book darsulte (The Luck of Giving) has since become one of the most visible platforms dedicated to private arts support in Spain. In addition to the ceremony itself, the foundation also funds the restoration of public collections in Spain and convenes the International Council of Royal Collections in partnership with Patrimonio Nacional.
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An art historian by training, Riviego also studied marketing and business and began her career in finance. “My brain is the brain of an executive,” she told me over lunch near Madrid’s Plaza Independencia. “All my efforts and ingenuity are focused on achieving the greatest possible impact.” A combination of scholarship, strategy and passion define her approach, and she insists on measuring cultural change, not just celebrating it.
Callia’s guiding thesis is straightforward: Without patrons, many great works of art would never exist. art news spoke with Reviriego about the changing balance of public and private support in Spain, generational tensions in philanthropy, and what she hopes the foundation will achieve in the coming years.
The Calia Foundation’s annual Patronage Awards recognize private support of the arts. What role do you think patronage plays in Spain’s cultural ecosystem today?
In Spain, the situation has changed very positively and continues towards a hybrid model – a model that has helped, for example, to prevent layoffs in the cultural sector during the pandemic crisis. We can identify three models: the British and American model, where private sponsorship has a huge influence; the European model, where the public sector generally still plays a leading role; and the Canadian model, which is more balanced. Spain is moving towards this balance.
Across the EU, I will talk about cultural change, legislative change and financial change, all happening at different speeds but all interconnected. Financial growth is the result of the first two. In Spain, while we have not yet reached the scale of major patronage as in France, those that do exist have a more palpable resonance. That’s where we work: providing the visibility to influence cultural change and, in turn, legislative change. Together they create the conditions for a more balanced system.
Hispanic culture has traditionally relied heavily on public funding. Do you think private sponsorship is growing here? If so, how did it develop? What about on a global scale?
What interests me most is not just the numbers, but the substance: the love of art and the belief that the more art we have, the more cohesive and harmonious our society will be.
Spain’s basic sponsorship legislation is backdated to 2022. Even so, Spain acknowledged that private support was growing faster than expected. Legislation often lags behind reality. I believe there will be further positive changes. France provides a useful example. After the Eragon Act of 2003 introduced significant tax benefits, individual donors increased from 1.3 million in 2005 to 5.4 million in 2022. Corporate donors grew from 12,000 to more than 105,000. Hundreds of new cultural foundations and endowments were created. Today, culture is one of the most supported areas of corporate philanthropy in France.
In Spain we lack equally comprehensive official data, making direct comparisons difficult. But private support has grown steadily. During the 2008 financial crisis, as public sponsorship declined, the relative share of private funding increased.
I apologize for the boring data – it’s like talking about the balance sheet of the Medici Bank instead of Botticelli’s spring flowers. But it’s important to understand the purpose for which we seek awards: to promote a change in mindset and encourage the creation of new patrons.
When you founded the Cagliari Foundation, what gaps in Spanish art did you hope to fill? Does the United States need a similar foundation?
after release darsulteI was struck by a common thought among major patrons: not how much they gave, but how much they received. Giving changes them. I want to contribute to the transformation of others. I see the Calia Foundation as an incubator for patrons, bringing together figures from Spain, Latin America and internationally. Kaliya’s heart is not alone. This is a group of patrons who believe that art is a shared responsibility.
How would you define the difference between a collector and a patron?
This is a surprising question. Let me subvert this: is there really a difference? I think this distinction is often exaggerated. What greater act of patronage can there be than using your own money to purchase the work of a living artist and support the possibility of art being born?
The production of art is wrongly reduced to the artist-artwork binomial. Great work endures because there are people who support the artist and preserve the work. Without Julius II, the Sistine Chapel would have no meaning. Without the patronage of Philip II and Philip IV, the Royal Collection would not exist. What started as a public-private partnership initiative is now a national heritage belonging to the citizens.
What qualities or commitments are most important to you when selecting winners for the annual awards?
values. Conversation skills. Passion for art as a tool for the betterment of society and individuals. Diversity without giving up identity. Take a long-term view. A sense of heritage. I believe in custodianship rather than ownership – trusting a work for future generations and making it available to local and global audiences. Most importantly, the essence of what it means to be human.
Have you observed a generational shift in the way young philanthropists approach cultural support?
Yes, there are positives and negatives. Sponsorship is an intergenerational conversation. One generation contributes its own values, and the next generation builds on its own values. I’m less interested in patrons who see arts patronage as merely property or a place to deploy surplus capital. We live in a time of paradigm shift. For me, art history is about continuity between generations. Everyone believes it all started with them – we call it “Adalism” – and I disagree.
Looking ahead, how successful will the Callia Foundation be in five or ten years?
Our structure is special. We reward sponsorship, but it forces us to practice sponsorship ourselves. We are not observers. We will continue to build on our awards and strengthen our collaboration with institutions. The International Council of Royal Collections has only just begun. Our goal is to make it a model of public-private partnership.
In the coming years we will support restoration efforts such as El Greco Martyrdom of Saint Maurice. One cannot understand Picasso or modern art without El Greco, and all such work must be seen the way it was meant to be seen.
