An Arts Council England Scheme that makes art more affordable
Got a passion for painting or a serious sculpture habit? Mesmerised by moving image or tempted by textiles? Own Art could be just the thing to help you live with the art you love. Best of all, there are several galleries participating in the fast approaching Buy Art Fair and The Manchester Contemporary where you will be able to make use of the scheme including Art Republic, Bohemia Galleries, Seventeen and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
If you haven’t come across it before, Own Art is an Arts Council England initiative that makes it easy and affordable for almost everyone to collect contemporary art and craft.
The scheme works by allowing customers to spread the cost of their purchase over 10 months with the help of an interest-free loan. Loans are available from as little as £100 (or £10 per month) up to a maximum of £2000 (£200 per month) and can be used for the purchase of work in any media – as long as it is original work by a living artist. If the piece that you’re after costs more than £2000 then the loan can be used as part payment or you can select several lower value items to make up a total purchase of £2000 or more.
Despite the financial downturn during the past couple of years, Own Art sales figures show that the appetite for investing in original works of art and craft is as healthy as ever. The availability of the scheme means that a fat salary cheque is no longer a requirement in order to buy into the originals market, and the reality is that few of us can afford to splash out a couple of thousand on an artwork, no matter how much we desire it or want to support the artist.
Own Art helps make buying original possible but also gives buyers the confidence to make their first leap into the market or to be more experimental – the option to select a price point which is manageable and then spread the cost is at the heart of this decision-making process. The scheme has even helped inspire people who would usually have little or no engagement with art to get involved – important for the future of the visual arts ecology and nurturing the next generation of patrons.
So, if all this talk of buying art has whetted your appetite then why not start looking for that special piece today or when you visit Buy Art Fair or The Manchester Contemporary – galleries where you can use Own Art will be clearly marked as you walk around.
A full list of galleries offering Own Art across the UK can be found on the website
AND you can now collect original work of art with Own Art online in our new Art Store at www.culturelabel.com/art.
Visit stand 239 at Buy Art Fair where CultureLabel will be on hand to tell you more about this exciting new initiative and provide further information about the Own Art scheme. A talk is taking place on Sunday.
