Art Money makes owning art a reality

POSTED 4 October, 2015

Tess Ritchie, from contemporary design and lifestyle magazine habitus living, looks at the exciting possibilities of Art Money following its successful launch in Sydney.

‘ART MONEY’ MAKES OWNING ART A REALITY

'Art Money', launched yesterday in Sydney, is a new interest-free art loan program that basically means buyers can take an artwork straight home from the gallery, after falling in love. From there, they have 10 months to pay it off, interest-free. Yes, Art Lovers, it's time to Celebrate.

The program, presented by 10 Group and launched by the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, at Sullivan+Strumpf, is an exciting initiative for more than one reason. Not only does it make buying art more immediate and affordable for the individual, but it encourages the very buying of art. The knock-on effect of that is, of course, a healthy creative sector.

As 10 Group and Art Money CEO Paul Becker says, Art Money is about “supporting the creative economy – artists are amongst our most creative yet lowest paid workers, and most galleries are small business owners and passionate about contemporary art. People who like art will find it easier to afford and buy, and artists and galleries will have the opportunity to sell more art and be paid up front.”

Similarly, Lord Mayor Clover Moore says: “The City of Sydney is excited to see this initiative begin, creating the opportunity for more people to have art in their homes and growing Sydney’s creative sector… It will have real cultural benefits while helping our economy, particularly the small business sector” – under the loans, the risk sits with Art Money and the gallery is paid in full within 10 working days of the sale.

Samantha Ferris at Galerie Pompom also sees the benefits – both business-wise and more generally: “We believe Art Money will be a valuable tool and that it will have a sustaining, positive affect for our business and the artists we represent. We also think it will contribute to a new understanding about the possibilities of owning art and the pleasure that can be gained in visiting commercial art galleries.”

Aimed at both first time buyers and the more seasoned, art becomes more accessible than ever.

Applications for the loans (which are available for works priced from $750 to $20,000) are made online and can be done at home or in the gallery, within a few minutes. Once approved, the loan offer is valid for purchases at any participating gallery for 30 days – with the buyer paying a 10 percent deposit. After that, the buyer is able to take their artwork home and pay the remaining balance of nine payments over nine months without interest.

To be eligible for an Art Money loan, a buyer needs to be 18 years or over, an Australian resident and have a clear credit history.

Art Money is immediately available in over 25 leading galleries across the city, including: .M Contemporary, A-M Gallery, Arthouse Gallery, Art Atrium, Artsite, Artereal Gallery, ARTPark Australia, The Commercial, Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Darren Knight Gallery, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Galerie pompom, Gallery 9, The Hughes Gallery, Jensen Gallery, Michael Reid (Sydney / Berlin / Murrurundi), OLSEN IRWIN, Platform72, Piermarq, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, SOHO Galleries, SPOT81, Sullivan+Strumpf, Utopia Art Sydney, Wagner Art Gallery, Wentworth Galleries.

Backed by the City of Sydney, and one of the first actions to be implemented by their Creative City Policy, also suggests only more good things for Sydney culturally on a more general level.