Matchfunding, Crowdfunding, and the Cultural Economics Perspective

Carolina Dalla Chiesa, Assistant Professor of Cultural Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam

On 13 November 2025, an ENCATC Art Talk held at the Université libre de Bruxelles looked at matchfunding, crowdfunding and the cultural economics perspective. Carolina Dalla Chiesa examined how digital technology is changing the production of, access to and financing of culture. Lower barriers to creating and consuming culture are driving major shifts across the cultural industries, in what Waldfogel has described as a "golden age of popular culture". She linked these shifts to new funding models, focusing on crowdfunding and emerging matchfunding schemes, which show how creators draw on both use and non-use values to sustain artistic and cultural work.