A new survey from Creative United, the company behind the Own Art scheme, is seeking the views of artists, designers and craft makers who are actively engaged in presenting their work for sale.
Whether it’s paintings or furniture, jewellery or moving image, live art or woodcarving, Own Art: Impact on Artists Survey 2016 wants to hear from practitioners about how and where they sell their work, what works for them and what they feel are appropriate commission fees. Artists do not have had to have sold work through the Own Art scheme to participate in the survey.
The survey also seeks to understand which methods are favoured by artists for pricing their work, the artistic motivation in continuing a practice, and the types of sales opportunities artists have had in the last 12 months. Artists’ views on Own Art are also sought.
“Creative United wants to develop a more detailed understanding of the ways in which contemporary artists, designers and crafts makers are currently approaching the marketing and sale of their work, including their relationships with the commercial gallery sector,” says Creative United chief executive Mary-Alice Stack.
“Although Own Art galleries and customers are surveyed on a regular basis as part of our annual programme evaluation, it’s been over seven years since we last consulted directly with artists.”
Arts Council England initiative
The Own Art scheme was launched in 2004 as an Arts Council England initiative to provide interest-free loans to help more people buy works of art and craft. Since its inception, it has financed over £35m worth of purchases from galleries based in the UK.
Creative United, who have managed the programme since 2013, will use the results of the survey to determine whether Own Art has succeeded in its ambition to make the art-buying process easier and more affordable, while also evaluating the impact such schemes have on artists
Stack adds: “Following the recent Artists’ Livelihoods survey that was commissioned by Arts Council England and conducted by a-n, we felt that this would be a perfect time to conduct this survey in order to add to the available data and insights we have already published in our report on contemporary galleries.”
The Own Art: Impact on Artists Survey is open until Friday 9 September. The results are expected to be published in November 2016
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