It is commonly acknowledged that Italy is the birthplace of the notion of culture patronage. But, much about this field can also be learned from the Austrians.

ProKultura Foundation and the Austrian Forum of Culture organized March 6 the seminar Business and Culture-the Beginning of Dialogue, held under the auspices of Minister of Culture Waldemar Dąbrowski. The guests were greeted by Director of the Austrian Forum of Culture Andreas Stadler and Polish Deputy Minister of Culture Rafał Skąpski.
Anna Marie Turk from the KulturKontakt association presented Austrian forms of patronage cultivated by commercial institutions for the purpose of realizing cultural projects. The marketing strategy applied by one of the most active sponsors in the Austrian market, Bank Austria-Creditanstalt, was the subject of a speech by Ivo Stanek, a consultant to the bank's board.

The results of research on the social attitudes of Poles toward cultural sponsorship, presented by Adam Czarnecki from ARC Rynek i Opinie, sounded pessimistic. The fine arts in particular do not rank among the most effective carriers for marketing ideas put forward by sponsors. Poles' perception of companies which organize fairs and picnics are much better than of companies financing classical music concerts and contemporary art exhibitions.

Przemek Podhrybieniuk, director of the marketing department at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, elaborated on the strategy of lending support to cultural events and patronage of cultural projects in companies which are partners of the Responsible Business Forum.
President of the Art and Modernity Foundation Anna Rakowska presented several examples of sponsors' engagement in the Polish market, as well as the state of private patronage in the world of culture.
The seminar raised many accusations that the media resist presenting sponsors' names while covering cultural events, and that they avoid showing their logos. The media often do so to force sponsors to advertise more aggressively.

Cultural institutions were also criticized, especially those still stuck in the socialist era and which cannot promote themselves in such a way as to encourage sponsors to participate in specific projects.