The Reflective Foundation: The New Carlsberg Foundation as Mediator Between Culture and Capital

Private foundations and cultural philanthropy by élites is viewed with increasing skepticism in recent years, begging the question of the extent to which foundations reflect on their role vis a vis
wider societal norms. Through the prism of the New Carlsberg Foundation, financed by the brewery Carlsberg A/S, the paper seeks to elucidate the way in which one culturally significant foundation from Denmark has reflected on - and legitimated - its work and investments at critical moments in the past decades. The paper indicates a foundation with a high degree of reflection on the wider societal pressures, and position as a mediator between culture and capital. The paper draws inspiration from the institutional logics perspective and Boltanski and Thévenot’s convention theoretical work, to analyse the legitimations pursued by the foundation.