① The Future Generation Art Prize, to be awarded on Thursday, rewards an artist under 35 with $100,000.
② Cash isn't the only draw; winners also get mentoring from big-name artists including Damien Hirst.
③ Britain's Turner Prize comes with ￡25,000 ($30,000), and a Tate Britain exhibition that helps artists far more.
④ The value of such prizes works in both directions; funding them is often a soft-power exercise.
⑤ A foundation started by Betsy DeVos, America's new education secretary, funds two $200,000 ArtPrizes ("the most attended public art event on the planet", it claims).
⑥ The Abraaj Group, an Emirati investor, uses its annual $100,000 commission to turn under-represented artists from north Africa, the Middle East and South Asia into "global champions".
⑦ The Future Generation prize was founded by Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian billionaire who uses philanthropy to promote his country in international business and politics, including campaigning for EU membership.
⑧ It's never just art.
