The Art Funds: what they are, advantages and disadvantages

For several years now, the art market has been considered a good investment and an art fund is a great opportunity for a collector. Let’s find out how and why. 

As the latest report compiled by Deloitte shows, 8 out of 10 collectors say they buy art for passion but also for investment. 

For this reason, investing in Art Funds represents a strongly growing trend, as well as an excellent opportunity to sell and buy works in total safety.

What are art funds?

Art funds are closed-end funds, private or hedge, which are usually managed by an asset management company and are structured forms of investment in works and objects of art.

There are two types of art fund investments out there:

• long term (8-10 years), with investments in works covering the entire period of art history.
• short term (5 years), with investments related to contemporary art only.

How to invest in an Art Fund?

The investor must purchase the fund’s shares with a minimum entry threshold. During the period of the investment, the fund managers create a collection, relying on the expertise of experts in the field, and a project to enhance the value of the works is initiated.

Once this period is over, the works are resold and the proceeds, after deducting the costs of managing and administering the fund, are divided among the investors.

What are the main benefits?

• The investment is less risky and onerous than that of individual works of art. 
• There are lower costs of managing and preserving the works.
• The medium to long time frames required by the investment allow the manager to determine the best time to sell while maximizing profits.

What are the critical issues?

• The opacity of the art market prevents transparent and certain evaluations.
• The specificity of the market requires increasingly specific professionals and skills.

The creation of an art fund in fact requires methodologies, procedures and professionalism capable of enhancing, promoting and finally selling the works of art.

First of all, the identification of the provenance, state of preservation and authenticity of the works.

To support these operations there is Art Rights, a platform for the management and certification of information on works of art with Blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence, which offers the possibility, through the service of Art Concierge, to get in touch with the largest community of art professionals.

How about you, are you ready to invest in an Art Fund?

Photo Credits:  Carl Court / Getty Images

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Professions and Skills for Cultural Heritage

Not only protection and conservation: Our Heritage needs digital, marketing and communication skills 

The world of culture is looking for new professionalism and innovative and transversal skills: this is the appeal launched by the Fondazione Scuola Beni e Attività Culturali which, during 2020, carried out a survey on the theme, as topical as ever, of the profiles, skills and training required for the management of cultural heritage in Italy.

In fact, the research findings relate to the professional needs that our cultural heritage requires in this particular historical context.

The survey considered 916 cultural sites, including museums, archaeological sites, archives and libraries, 51% of which are managed by local authorities, 20% by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and 29% by public and private organizations.

Protection and Conservation of heritage remain the main priorities of Culture Professionals, however, in synergy with these objectives, the need to enhance the value of the assets and the need to create a system that includes the public and private sectors in the sharing, financing and promotion of heritage is growing strongly.

As far as the acquisition of new skills is concerned, the survey seems to reward Specialization for professions dedicated to the Protection and Conservation of the asset, while Transversality for those related to Marketing, Communication and Economic Planning. 

Another need is the rethinking of educational systems (first and foremost the University) in the sense of multidisciplinary training offerings so as to integrate the historical-artistic background with hybrid tools and methodologies capable of responding to the needs of sustainability, effectiveness and internationalization. 

The analysis of the reference literature, starting above all from the most recent European documents, has allowed the creation of a mapping of 23 professional profiles, 120 roles/functions and more than 150 activities.

Among these, for the revitalization of the cultural sector, there is a need for Educational Services Managers, Communication, Marketing and Fundraising experts, not to mention Registrars. 

In Italy, there are two strategic figures on which investment should be concentrated:

• The Online Cultural Community Manager (OCCM), responsible for the museum’s communications strategy and relationship management with online audiences;
• The Digital Strategy Manager (DSM), who is responsible for the museum’s digital strategy and a figure who can foster technological innovation to move museums into a new era.

In addition to these, additional professions emerge that require the possession of digital skills such as Digital PR or Social Media Manager, as well as those professions dedicated to the challenges of social inclusion and participation, such as Cultural Mediator.

At the same time, in order to address the issue of economic sustainability for cultural heritage, the new profiles of Cultural Fundraiser, Cultural Manager, Cultural Planner have appeared.

And you, are you ready to discover the new professions for Culture in Italy?

Photo Credits:  Fondazione Scuola Beni e Attività Culturali

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LTHE NEW GENERATION OF COLLECTORS ACCORDING TO LARRY’S LIST

Larry’s List’s latest report confirms what we had already predicted in a previous article on the new generation of collectors: the Millennials represent the collectors of the future, smart, social and increasingly digital.

New York, London, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are confirmed as the art centers for the new generation of collectors, who prefer painting and sculpture as the preferred media to collect.

Who is the next generation collector?

Most 3.0 collectors are also art professionals, active in its protection, valorization and promotion through curatorship, museum or foundation management, artist residencies or training programs.

New features compared to previous generations are:

• Their activities today are more transparent than before
• They buy more online through digital platforms 
• They are more committed to making art accessible through a strong presence on social (Instagram especially) and in the digital world, but also through opening spaces or museums, particularly in Asia.

New artists for new collectors

The report shows that along with the new generation of collectors is emerging a new generation of artists whose work is highly valued and purchased. In fact, a significant number of these collectors are using their power in the art scene to promote emerging local artists and to push for greater inclusion and representation within the industry.

Why do they collect art?

Passion and investment are definitely the motivations that drive the aspiration of the young collector. However, collecting art profoundly affects the social status and lifestyle of the young collector by increasing their social and cultural values.

Who are the selected collectors on Larry’s List?

In its list, the magazine examines more than 150 international collectors under the age of 40 by exploring their personalities and interests. While some of these young collectors continue a generational collecting tradition, many have taken up the practice with no family history.

Some of the biggest names include Karen Levy (DSL Collection), Rasika Kajaria (Tribal Foundation), Sarah Arison (Arison Arts Foundation), Jongsuwat Aungsuvarnsiri (S.A.C. Subhashok The Arts Centre), Lu Xun (Sifang Art Museum), Nadia Samdani (Samdani Art Foundation), David Chau (Ce Foundation). 

The report also features a large number of Italians such as Matteo Novarese (Sof:Art), Edoardo Monti (Palazzo Monti), Bruno Bolfo (ICA Milan), Eugenio Re Rebaudengo (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo), Sveva D’Antonio and Francesco Taurisano (Collezione Taurisano) and Lorenzo Perini Natali.

What about you, do you want to be a collector?

Photo Credits:  Melissa Neumann Home by Scott Frances

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PROTECTION, ENHANCEMENT AND PROMOTION OF ART

The three aspects of asset management that you need to know to do Cultural Marketing

Art Rights Magazine in collaboration with ArtBackers.Agency devotes the first column to Cultural Marketing, to discover digital strategies for art professionals and its protagonists.

The column to get a preview of the techniques, methodologies and secrets of communication: a key to access the world of Art 3.0.

Protection, valorization and promotion are the guiding concepts that those who work in the field of cultural marketing must know in order to manage and communicate art. 

See what they mean.

Protection means any action, following adequate cognitive activity, to recognize, protect and preserve the assets of our cultural heritage, so as to ensure public enjoyment.

For a museum, protecting an asset means safeguarding its integrity to preserve the memory of the community and its territory.

For a contemporary art fair, protecting a work of art means protecting it from the risk of possible damage, in view not only of its public fruition, but also of an act of sale.

The protection, is then closely related to the concept of enhancement, through which we want to make the asset usable and accessible to a more or less vast and heterogeneous public, to expand its knowledge. 

In the art world, this is possible not only through a museum or gallery show, but also through free access to a private collection or an artist’s studio.

In addition to protection and enhancement, there is also the promotion of art, without which the public would hardly come into contact with the property.

Protection, valorization and promotion are aspects with different but closely interconnected goals that must be taken into consideration when choosing to implement a cultural marketing strategy.

Take a museum, how can an institution promote its collection while respecting the protection of the asset? 

First of all, starting to structure itself with a greater digital presence and offer for the enhancement and management of heritage. Recovering the technological gap, making use of a digital strategy and innovation is the first step towards greater accessibility, while respecting the integrity and preservation of the heritage.

Is it also possible for artists to enhance their work through a digital strategy? Sure, but how?

Taking into consideration the intrinsic values of Art, the instances and objectives of the individual artist, both commercially and culturally.

For this reason, the choice of communication channels, storytelling and images that must reflect and respect the values of the sector and the target audience becomes fundamental.

What about a gallery or art business?

For these realities, which follow commercial dynamics more closely, having an effective cultural marketing strategy is just as crucial.

Since the purpose of these realities is primarily related to the sale of a “cultural product or service”, there is necessarily the need for a “cultural mediation” between supply and demand, which takes into account the many effects that the promotion of heritage has on the economy of the territory and at the social level. 

We therefore understand well that protection, valorization and promotion constitute an inseparable triad, fundamental for building a cultural marketing strategy with specific methodologies, which can only be implemented thanks to the skills of professionals in the field.

Art Rights‘ Art Concierge is the largest Community of Art Professionals who can help you manage, enhance and promote your art!

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Le Professioni Museali

The recent digitization has given a strong boost to the professionals who animate the Museum. Let’s discover together the main ones! 

The Museum, as a cultural institution that carries out research, conservation, documentation, education and communication functions with complex aims, today increasingly requires the presence of professions and skills to encourage the development of the dialogue of its cultural reality with society and the territory.

In recent years, the theme of museum professions has been the subject of attention by institutions, with a specific focus on new changes related to art education, communication, fruition and more. 

The staff of a museum varies according to the size of the museum, until it includes more and more specialized figures in different subjects and functions. 

Let’s find out some of them!

Director: is responsible for the management of the museum as a whole, as well as the implementation and development of its cultural and scientific project.

Scientific Director (or Curator): is responsible for directing the Scientific Committee, which in turn defines the general guidelines of the Museum’s scientific activity and establishes the annual exhibition program. 

Supervisory and reception staff: follow and accompany visitors, answering their questions and needs.

Museum Teaching Assistants and Cultural Mediators: they carry out educational projects aimed at bringing the public closer to the artistic heritage through guided tours, workshops, special paths for accessibility, interdisciplinary paths.

In-house Handling and Display Workers: are responsible for the transport and movement of works of art within the museum, as well as their packing, unpacking and display.

Exhibition Registrar: multidisciplinary professional at the service of all the steps of handling works of art, in their inbound and outbound loan phase. 

In addition to these professions that more or less make up a museum’s staff, today with the advent of digital, museums are preparing to welcome more and more new resources including:

Assist with multimedia tools such as interactive works, 3D technology, gaming, and technical systems related to climate control and safety equipment.

Social Media Manager: is responsible for managing the institution’s social media by developing strategies for its digital promotion and communication.

Content creator: develops digital content to enhance and promote the museum’s collection, exhibitions, and identity. 

Press Office: office dedicated to the dissemination and promotion of the museum’s activities on a local, national and international level. 

Cultural Manager: a professional who, by combining technical-scientific expertise and management skills, translates the guidelines of the Scientific Directorate into a concrete cultural marketing project. 

Fundraiser: deals with fundraising from sponsors to finance museum activities. 

Photographers and videomakers for art: professionals specialized in the creation of photos and videos to effectively enhance the cultural heritage. 

The Museum therefore hosts a true ecosystem of professionalism and within it new skills, new visions and new professions are constantly being developed.

Photo Credits: Peggy Guggenheim Museum Venice

And you, are you ready to discover the new museum professions?

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