IRISH business spent almost £7.5 million sponsoring the arts last year, an increase of 40 per cent compared to two years ago, a survey has found.

Banks and building societies, followed by the food and beverage industries, top the list of sponsors, spending more than £2.5 million between them on sponsorship in 1995.

The survey reveals that music, both contemporary and classical, continues to be the most popular art form to sponsor, attracting £1.06 million last year, followed by heritage (£846,000) and visual arts and galleries (£754,000). Traditional, folk, jazz and "other" music is categorised separately and generated £750,000 in sponsorship.

The survey, which was conducted by Cothu, the business council for the arts, found sponsorship by those involved in printing, publishing and the media had doubled over the past two years. Those engaged in transport and related services had also doubled their sponsorship.

Theatre and drama organisations received sponsorship of £635,000, or 9 per cent of the total. By contrast, arts organisations and events involving children and young people drew sponsorship of £1.3 million or 18 per cent of the total.

In total, 60 per cent of all arts organisations received sponsorship of some kind. Some organisations said the level of sponsorship they have been getting had risen by 15 per cent in the past two years.

"In addition, the overall number of arts organisations receiving business sponsorship rose by 28 per cent over the past two years", the survey says.

The survey, which was compiled by Farrell Grant Sparks, financial consultants, on behalf of Cothu, breaks down the various areas to which companies allocate sponsorship.

It finds that banks and building societies allocate almost 70 per cent of their sponsorship to heritage and classical music related organisations and events. For food and beverage companies, supporting organisations involved in traditional, folk, jazz and other music events takes up one third of their sponsorship budgets.

Insurance and financial companies tend to opt for sponsoring the visual arts, theatre, classical music and arts centres. These areas accounted for over 70 cent of the sponsorship in these sectors.

"Similarly, sponsorship by companies in the energy sector was concentrated on three primary sectors - museums, visual arts and classical music", the survey says. "Together these accounted for almost three quarters of all sponsorship (by the sector)."?

Cothu said that over half of all sponsorship went to Dublin city and county. "It should, however, be noted that the location of arts organisations does not necessarily reflect the location of their arts activities", it says.

Banks, building societies, insurance and financial services organisations are major players in sponsoring groups and events in Dublin, accounting for one third of all sponsorship in the region. By contrast, they account for only 3 per cent of all sponsorship in the midlands region, the survey notes.

Small arts organisations (those whose total income is less than £100,000), received a large share of corporate sponsorship - £1.2 million, representing 16 per cent of the overall figure.

Cothu chairman Mr Malachy Smith said the survey clearly demonstrates that arts sponsorship is a success story. He said the growth in sponsorship had taken place against a backdrop of flourishing artistic activity, increasing State funding and of "a new recognition within Government of the role of the arts in cultural and economic terms".