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Professional artists, those who make a living from their according to recent statistics, earn the least in terms of all professionals in Canada.
name of Ken Blackburn and we each wrote an article about art fundraising auctions. At that time we sent a rather strong message that we disagreed with this method of raising funds, for reasons I will get into shortly.
Fast forward to the year 2013, and once again I was raising art auction. So I marched down there to look at their latest exhibit and asked the young lady at the front desk some questions: Was there a minimum bid … she didn’t think so. Were the artists getting a percentage … no – they were not. A subsequent information led to my artist husband and I writing a letter to the editor, which later led to a live interview at the local radio station (which, by the way, was one of the event sponsors), and many more dinner party discussions with fellow artists, friends, and patrons. even have a business policy of not donating art, along with a polite form letter explaining this to anyone more destructive to artists and their market than art fundraising auctions. Here is the math: market value
event
Most of these events are structured so that collectors get art for cheap, often as little as 20 cents on the dollar if there is no minimum bid. Organizations make money for their programs, yet the artist walks away with nothing except a pat on the back, a tax receipt (which is a complicated issue and really doesn’t mean much), and the myth that this was an effective marketing tool to sell their art in the future.
BY CARMEN HILDEBRAND
not arts oriented host these auctions, as they are likely ignorant of the fact that this is to the detriment of the artist and the arts in general. They may think incorrectly that they are giving artists a venue to expose their work to an adoring public, who will then continue to scoop up their work by visiting commercial galleries and artist studios to purchase art at market value. It really doesn’t work that way. Why would they, when collectors can continue, year after year, to
I would prefer to see art auctions, lending of art, and similar practices disappear, and if not, then at the very Some of them came out of interesting discussions with artists, as well as patrons. For starters, there needs to be a minimum bid close to the value of the art. In addition, the artist should be getting a fair share of this. Or another suggestion presented by a fellow artist is to have the patron / donor purchase the art outright from the artist, then donates it to the auction. That way the art was paid for and can still be enjoyed by someone else who, yes, may get it cheaper. But the artist, who is likely in a lower income bracket than the donor and purchaser doesn’t walk away with nothing. This can be done in conjunction with a minimum bid. An interesting idea.
I hope that through this article, our press release, and galleries and arts organizations to create policies that to avoid exploiting the artists they are supposed to champion. As well, artists also need to take Take the opportunity, if being asked to donate, to educate the organization making the request. We do this through a carefully crafted, polite letter that
make the arts a viable profession.
HOW TO MAHE ARTIST POOR
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