ACCOUNTING firm Mazars's sponsorship of the second Bloody Scotland festival is a leading example of the corporate-arts sponsorship axis that is continuing to thrive despite the recession, according to Jeanie Scott, business development manager for the charity, Arts and Business Scotland.

The Scottish arm of the multinational accountancy company, which is supporting the event with a £15,000 grant plus support in kind, will this week help launch the programme for the event in Stirling on September 13-15, revealing a starry line-up of Scottish, UK and international crime-writing talent. Although the list of authors and events is being kept under wraps, it is understood to include Lee Child, the bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels, who recently enjoyed Hollywood success with the film of One Shot, starring Tom Cruise as Reacher.

Scott said: "Sponsorship in Scotland has stayed constant since [the financial crash of 2008], despite the fact that traditional sponsors, including banks, have mostly backed out of supporting cultural events.

"But the value and the type of sponsorship is ever-changing. There are fewer high-value deals, and fewer companies committing to two to three-year packages, but there are more and more SMEs which understand the value that this kind of spending has on their branding, and that they get more bang for their buck."

Peter Jibson, managing partner, Scotland, for Mazars, said that the firm decided to exercise the second phase of its three-year option to support the festival based on the "huge success" of the launch event last year. The 4000-strong attendance figure exceeded expectations, and is expected to be beaten this year.

Jibson said: "We felt Bloody Scotland was something that we wanted to support because of its potential for lasting impact on audiences and the community.

"If one compares this kind of deal with spending the same sort of money on sponsoring a dinner or on other conventional kinds of corporate entertainment, we feel this has more beneficial impact in that it helps to create something lasting.

"The momentum that has built around Bloody Scotland meets our objectives of raising our firm's profile, but also boosting our engagement with the wider community, making a difference, and helping to get something off the ground that we hope will last for many years."

Other prominent business arts sponsors in Scotland include Resonance Capital, owner of the Glasgow business park Skypark, which sponsors next week's Glasgow School of Art degree show, and investment manager Brewin Dolphin, sponsor of last month's Perth Festival of the Arts.