This sample Sponsorship Agreement can be used by artists or arts organisations who are obtaining sponsorship for a particular event or activity, such as a festival, performance or exhibition. A sponsorship involves a payment by a sponsor for rights and benefits associated with an event or organisation. The payment may take the form of cash or goods or services. Sponsorship is distinct from a donation, which involves a payment in cash or in kind with no rights or benefits flowing as a result. A sponsorship agreement sets out the contractual relationship between a sponsor and the organisers of the event being sponsored.
From a practical perspective, recipients of sponsorship contributions should be very careful when negotiating the benefits which they are to grant to the sponsor in exchange for the sponsorship contribution. In particular, recipients need to make sure that they do not commit to obligations beyond what they are reasonably capable of fulfilling. Sponsors can be aggressive in relation to obtaining exclusivity and dictating what benefits the recipient must commit to grant the sponsor. Recipients eager for sponsorship dollars can often find that they have given away valuable rights for little reward, or have agreed to do things for the sponsor which realistically, they simply cannot fulfill.
We also have a Sponorship Agreement Guide which outlines the different forms of sponsorship that an artist or arts organisation may need to seek from a commercial organisation and what should be included in a sponsorship agreement. This guide is free to download for Arts Law subscribers and $7.50 for non-subscribers.
