Over the past 31 years Sir Terence Conran has given £50m to London's Design Museum Designer Sir Terence Conran is among five recipients of this year's Prince of Wales Medals for Arts Philanthropy. The other medals went to businessman Sir Peter Moores, Agatha Christie's grandson Mathew Prichard, arts supporters Sir Gerald Elliot and Lady Elliot and president of Chickenshed Theatre Lady Jane Rayne.
Arts & Business, which promotes links between business and the arts, asked UK arts bodies for nominations.
Medals were given at St James's Palace.
They have been presented each year since 2008.
'Voluntary capacity'The judges for the nominations included writer Sir Ronald Harwood, Royal Ballet director Dame Monica Mason, artist Christopher Le Brun and the vice-president of Arts & Business, Colin Tweedy.
"We believe the arts are of fundamental importance to everyone's life," said Philip Spedding, Arts & Business's director.
"The true beneficiaries of our medals will be future generations. Nobody needs to give money or time, they do so in a voluntary capacity - we need to acknowledge and celebrate this."
Sir Terence, who is also a restaurateur, has been a mentor to many young designers, including Olympic cauldron designer Thomas Heatherwick.
Sir Terence's foundation has sponsored the summer graduates' show for some years at the Royal College of Art.
Opera enthusiast Sir Peter is a graduate from the Vienna Academy of Music and founder of the Peter Moores Foundation, which has distributed more than £215m in healthcare, education, community work and the arts.
Mathew Prichard is manager of Christie's estate and owner of charitable trust Colwinston, has made considerable donations to the arts in Wales.
His other roles include that of chairman of the Welsh National Opera.
Lady Rayne first visited the Chickenshed Theatre in Cockfosters in 1988, when it was just a church hall Sir Gerald Elliot and Lady Elliot are donors to multiple major arts bodies in Scotland, having given £7.5m in the last four years from their Binks trust to charities and the arts in Scotland.
Penny Lewis at Scottish Opera said they still insist on buying their own tickets, adding: "You phone them up and they say, 'Oh don't worry, we've already booked.'"
Lady Rayne's Rayne Foundation and the Rayne Trust has made donations of more than £60m to different causes across the arts, helping Chickenshed Theatre, of which the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was patron.
She and her late husband Max were introduced to the company by Dame Judi Dench and it involves people in theatre, irrespective of ability or disability.
'Difficult times'Lady Rayne recently helped fund a charity called Good Vibrations, which takes Indonesian percussion instruments into prisons and other challenging environments.
Jonathan Moulds, chair of Arts & Business's leadership team, said: "The arts always have and always will rely on the support of individuals.
"If we are entering more difficult times for public arts funding, it is vital that we continue to put in place the long-lasting recognition to highlight the impact of individual support.
"Collectively, we must encourage others to develop their passion for the arts and inspire the next generation of givers."
Arts & Business is also a member of The Prince's Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which the prince is president.
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