Collectors add a touch of culture to companies
Aug 21 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
A club designed to give businesses a passion for art is aiming to create a vibrant market for the region’s artistic talent. Karen Dent reports
THE first artwork bought by a club of companies is appearing on office walls around the North East this week.
The Business Collectors’ Network (BCN) is a three-year scheme that aims to provide a market for the region’s contemporary artists and to give businesses the opportunity to support and learn about art.
“It’s as much about helping artists and galleries in the region and not seeing them move away to London or somewhere they think they might be more successful,” says Adam Lopardo, who oversees the project as director of the Sponsors Club for Arts and Business at the Community Foundation in Newcastle.
“We are about trying to develop a market for buyers and a sustainable market for artists in the North East. We are looking at emerging artists, maybe two or three years out of college and we are setting up a platform so students want to stay here.”
The project, which is due to run for three years, is now getting into its stride after spending the last 12 months recruiting businesses as members.
Artwork has been sourced and purchased from the Workplace Gallery in Gateshead and Vane in Newcastle. Vane was involved with the Sponsors Club prior to BCN’s launch and the new project has bought work from two artists connected to the gallery – Jorn Ebner, who works between bases in Newcastle and Berlin, and Scottish artist Jock Mooney, who spent a number of years working in the city.
Vane co-director Paul Stone said the gallery is also working hard to promote the region’s talent: “We work with both artists based here and elsewhere.
“We are trying to get artists here and to bring in artists from outside of Newcastle.”
Vane will be taking part in the NewcastleGateshead Arts Fair at the start of September, and a lunchtime event for BCN members is being arranged.
Victoria Bell, BCN’s curator is responsible for organising the range of arts-focused events for the network’s members.
“We are running and education programme, with talks by artists and people from outside the region, to get an idea what the North East arts scene is like,” says Lopardo. “She has been beavering away and we have held two members’ events.”
Bell also visits businesses to decide on the best place for them to display art and to look at what pieces would work for their company.
Members’ artwork will be rotated twice a year and the pictures will be pulled together annually for an exhibition. At the end of the three-year project, the collection will either be gifted to a regional gallery or the project may carry on with some of the existing members.
“We are open at the moment and we want to get feedback from the members,” says Lopardo.
The drive to recruit members for BCN started almost a year ago. Businesses pledge to pay £1,500 annually for three years and this money is used to purchase the artwork.
Research prior to the project revealed that local businesses were not interested in art for art’s sake but rather they wanted to support regional artists via corporate collecting. Lopardo said this message came over loud and clear from potential members.
He is keen add more members to the club but does not want it to become too big for the educational events and talks that are a key part of BCN.
“We’ve got room for more. There are six places left,” he says.
At the moment, the network has nine members, including Newcastle-based software giant Sage plc, the NewcastleGateshead Initiative and Ward Hadaway solicitors, one of Tyneside’s largest law firms.
Ward Hadaway has been involved in the Sponsors Club for Arts and Business for more than five years and the Newcastle-based law firm is also involved in the Board Bank, where members of staff sit on the boards of regional arts organisations.
“Being part of the Sponsors Club for Arts and Business has been a genuinely rewarding experience and something I would definitely recommend to others,” said Jamie Martin, managing partner of Ward Hadaway.
“Culture and the arts is an increasingly important part of the regional economy. Indeed, in some ways it has started to partly define what the North East is about and being part of the Sponsors’ Club enables us to play an active part in that by bridging the gap between the arts and business worlds.
“While it helps to raise the firm’s profile to be associated with successful artistic events, membership also enables us to build contacts and understanding with the North East’s artistic community.”
