The pre-eminent Australian broker and Goldman Sachs JBWere Group senior chairman spoke at a lunch hosted by the Australia Business Arts Foundation and the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, held at Stillwater Restaurant.

"I was in New York recently and I was really surprised to see that the theatres were full," he said.

"Something similar is happening (in Australia). There's been 75,000 people already to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's Patricia Piccinini exhibition, more people than ever have been to the Ten Days On The Island, in Canberra recently over 175,000 people went to the Degas exhibition at the National Gallery, 60,000 people went to The Golden Age Of Couture at the Bendigo Gallery.

"What this says to me is that in difficult times, people are looking to the arts to feel better."

Mr Campbell said economic downturn could provide the impetus for the arts.

"You think back - the golden age of musicals was the 1930s and the Depression, so I think there's an interesting social development here that it's sensible for business to take note of," he said.

Speaking to a handful of business, arts and political leaders, Mr Campbell said now was the time to forge business-arts partnerships. He predicted that governments in the medium term would feel the effect of the stimulus packages being rolled out now, and look to areas like the arts to cut expenditure.

"I think the corporate sector will be in better financial shape than the government sector," he said.

An example of cost-cutting was the Premier's recent announcement that the Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts would be abolished and the arts shifted to the Department of Economic Development.

"I think that, in a way, it will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Tasmania's arts organisations will be an early developer in that I think a similar thing is going to happen all over Australia," Mr Campbell said.

"I'd be very surprised if what's happened in Tasmania doesn't happen in other states."

Mr Campbell stressed that arts-business partnerships did not require large sums of money, but included involvement on boards and a sharing of expertise.