Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Feb. 18--The scene inside the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, last Saturday night was almost unbelievable.
The Caroline Wiess Law Building, typically a place to contemplate a classic work by Rembrandt or Monet, was a roaring sea of young people.
Arms swaying, the revelers shouted back and forth with hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash while surrealistic light displays splashed on walls. The museum was like a dazzling nightclub.
More than 7,000 people got in.
Put on by the museum and Starbucks, the party was the last of a four-part series titled The Beats of Basquiat.
Starbucks, however, donated more than its name and money.
Traditionally, a corporation's involvement with a nonprofit organization is primarily financial, but Starbucks played a major role in planning and executing the events.
"Starbucks was more of a real partner," museum director Peter Marzio said.
The nonprofit world is seeing a trend toward more active sponsorships in which a corporation doesn't just write a check, said Susanne Theis, executive director of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art.
"It's also involved in the production and marketing. Passive sponsorship is a less effective way to build brand loyalty and recognition," Theis said. "The more involved the sponsors, the more they achieve their goals."
Noting the ethnic diversity of the crowds, Marzio said the events reinforced the museum's slogan, "A place for all people."
A goal of the Basquiat parties was to reach out to a younger demographic, said Andrew Huang, museum associate director for marketing.
"To be hip and cool is not any easy thing to accomplish," he said.
The Beats of Basquiat, which featured break dancers, midnight movies and a Starbucks kiosk, made an impression.
"I wish there was a club in Houston that had a scene like this," said Shana Sarin, 26, a sales associate at Fendi.
The success of the Basquiat events was partly about timing.
When Starbucks approached the Museum of Fine Arts about a year ago with the idea of partnering on a project, the exhibit of the works by Jean-Michel Basquiat was already scheduled. The art and mystique of the late Basquiat are ideal for attracting a young, hip audience, said Kim Castilla, Starbucks regional marketing manager.
"Basquiat is about life on the street. Starbucks is about life just off the street. All the elements came together to create a perfect moment," Marzio said.
Starbucks is also involved with arts groups in other cities.
The company is the presenting sponsor of Late Nights monthly parties at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Starbucks is not about "cookie-cutter" sponsorships, said Nancy Kane, the company's marketing director. Each time it strives to create unique "experiential events," she said.
Starbucks will soon unveil the Coffee Origins Trail at the Phoenix Zoo and has a park building project in Seattle.
For the Basquiat events, Starbucks was involved in everything from finding talent to marketing by way of its baristas, or coffee servers, talking up the events at the 105 Houston-area locations, and using e-mails and fliers.
JPMorgan Chase served a traditional role with the museum by sponsoring the Basquiat retrospective.
While Starbucks is a phenomenally successful chain drawing a wide array of customers, some anti-establishment types at the Basquiat parties expressed the opinion that the Seattle-based coffeehouses are too corporate for their tastes.
"I feel embarrassed to go there sometimes," said Kelly Green, 21, a design major at University of Texas who drove in from Austin to attend the final party. Austin has a more local coffeehouse scene, Green said.
But events such as the Beats of Basquiat might mollify people like Green, said Betsy Gelb, professor of marketing at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.
"One experience won't do it," she said. "You've got to be a sponsor at a lot of places where people are enjoying themselves. Over time, they'll mellow out.
"It's not a conscious process. But if you put your name all over a cool event -- you can say anything you want or believe anything you want -- but you're going to associate that cool event with Starbucks."
In a small way, Green said the party probably did make her like Starbucks more.
But 24-year-old nurse Michael Lassoff said he is less willing to change his mind: "It's wonderful they have money to spend on this, but I doubt anyone has had a change of impression. They're still just Starbucks."
At that moment, a Starbucks volunteer walked up to Lassoff offering a free coupon for any Starbucks beverage.
"Is that good anywhere?" Lassoff asked.
Starbucks and the museum plan to continue their partnership and will probably do another music series in conjunction with an art exhibit this summer, Huang said.
Partygoer Lassoff offered suggestions on how to keep the momentum going after Basquiat -- a tough act to follow:
"They'll have to really be clever about it, like an all Gerhard Richter exhibit. He's so sick. Or Sigmar Polke. He does cartoon pornography. It could be like a kinky fetish party. People would come out of the cracks for it. That would be fresh."
david.kaplan@chron.com
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, Houston Chronicle
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
NASDAQ-NMS:SBUX, Unknown:PDA, NYSE:JPM,
