Company: United Technologies Corporation (UTC)
Headquarters: Hartford, Connecticut
Industry: Diversified Industrial
Company Size: Large

"We are a company founded on innovation and believe the arts, like science and engineering, both inspire us and challenge our notions of impossibility."
                                          –George David, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Objective
To celebrate 25 years of cultural patronage by exposing the public to emerging as well as established, artists and to educate students in the functionality of public art.

Process

• To celebrate the company’s 25 years of supporting the arts, UTC commissioned three artists, Alex Katz, Gary Hume and Lisa Sanditz, in 2005, to create paintings that were displayed as wallscapes in New York City as part of its “Paint the City” program.  In 2006, it commissioned Chuck Close, Mitch Epstein and Dayanita Singh to document their reactions to the changing urban environment by photographing three cities.  Their works were displayed in the exhibition – Cities in Transition, presented in New York, Boston and Hartford, Connecticut.  To celebrate the installation and exhibition, the company hosted a gathering of business, arts and community leaders in each city.
• UTC sponsored Vincent van Gogh:  The Drawings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, produced in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  The exhibition included more than 100 of Van Gogh's rarely seen drawings, brought together from public and private collections throughout the world.  Throughout the exhibition, the company sponsored private showings and events for its employees and clients.
• As part of its “Art in the Park” program, the company sponsored a master class taught by Lisa Sanditz, for Hartford public school students that explored the function of public art.  The students created murals on the backs of the benches in Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut.

Results
UTC increased public, customer and investor awareness of its commitment to foster creativity and innovation through its support of these projects.  Also, the van Gogh exhibition attracted nearly a half million visitors – record attendance for a drawing exhibition – and helped the Metropolitan Museum of Art build its audience.  Additionally, the outdoor murals offered the public the opportunity to experience the arts as a part of their every day life.

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