Creative United launch Own Art Plus and UK Contemporary Gallery Report 2015/16 at London Art Fair

This month, we were at the London Art Fair 2016 launching Own Art Plus, a new addition to the Own Art scheme which enables the purchase of higher-priced contemporary art and craft.

The programme saw fair-goers take home artwork priced from £2,500 to £25,000 from participating galleries on the day of their visit, facilitated by the Own Art Plus interest-free loan and payable through 10 equal monthly payments.

The initiative is a welcome addition to Creative United’s already existing Own Art and Own Art Twenty programmes, which have been used by over 35,000 people over a period of eleven years.

During the fair, we also conducted several successful tours around our Own Art member galleries, including Glasgow Print Studio, TAG Fine Arts, Antlers Gallery and more, showcasing the incredible array of artworks that were available to purchase using an Own Art loan.

Lastly, a huge highlight was our panel talk UK Contemporary Galleries: Opportunities and Challenges in a Rapidly Changing Marketplace, which coincided with the release of our latest research piece in association with ArtTactic, published under the same title.

Panellists Jack Gibbon from Antlers Gallery, art management consultant and lecturer Stephanie Dieckvoss, Creative United’s chief executive Mary-Alice Stack, Elinor Olisa from DegreeArt and Artelite, Benjamin Rhodes from Art First and chair Anders Petterson from ArtTactic examined the report’s contents, which explores changing art buying behaviour and the opportunities and challenges this presents.

A particularly illuminating area of discussion was the adoption of technology and social media’s influence on audience engagement. Panellists also questioned what can be done to improve and facilitate the growth and sustainability of the UK contemporary gallery sector, and attempted to predict the future of the contemporary art gallery in light of rapidly changing market conditions.

Compiled by ArtTactic and Creative United, UK Contemporary Gallery Report 2016: Opportunities and Challenges in a Rapidly Changing Marketplace is a report that collates survey findings from 246 contemporary galleries in the UK that were surveyed over the spring and summer of 2015.