The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that when guests gather for the Contact Photography Festival's 30th anniversary gala at Toronto's Museum of Contemporary Art today, they will have a chance to snap up works from the likes of Carrie Mae Weems and Edward Burtynsky. The Globe's Josh O'Kane writes that the money Contact hopes to raise by auctioning work from those beacons of its past is crucial to securing its future. Since the Bank of Nova Scotia began winding down its long-time title sponsorship two years ago, the festival has struggled to replace the roughly half-million dollars the bank gave it each year. Contact boss Darcy Killeen hopes to raise at least $150,000 this week through both silent and live auctions of photo prints and other artworks. Mr. Killeen has struggled to make up the whole amount. Both sponsorships and philanthropy have been harder for cultural organizations to secure over the past decade. Two years after Scotiabank walked away from Contact, there are signs of some renewed interest from companies and donors to invest more deeply in the arts. But they come with a lot of caveats. Brands now primarily see these kinds of sponsorships as marketing investments, not philanthropic causes.