Barrett Wissman: A Modern Medici

Barrett Wissman
Barrett Wissman

One could make an excellent case for saying that what the Medici family did for art and architecture in the 16th century, Barrett Wissman is doing for refined music and fine arts in the 21st century. A successful Los Angeles, California-based entrepreneur and patron of the arts, Barrett Wissman began with an idea and turned it into a movement.

Wissman’s idea was to give a new meaning to performance arts by bringing prestigious music performances to out-of-the-way venues, in contrast to the well-worn art hubs like Milan, London or Edinburgh. From the early stages of Wissman’s project his vision was to create an arts festival. He began with a small performance in Tuscany in an 18th century abandoned opera house. Within a short time this acorn grew into the mighty oak of the now globally praised “Tuscan Sun Festival.”

It did not take long before other arts lovers sought Barret Wissman’s unique abilities to help them create their own arts festivals. For instance, in Northern California Wissman was called upon to help launch the “Napa Valley Festival del Sole.”

As Wissman himself put it,

“It’s a mission in my life to have more and more people enjoy and love the arts.”

As a philanthropist, financier, Principal and Co-Chairman of IMG Artists, a performing arts management company with offices in Los Angeles, California, New York, Paris and London, Barrett Wissman seems to fit the description of “Medici of the 21st century” quite well.