Charity Art: Leveraging Art’s Power for Positive Impact

Posted byELXPosted in2015Tags:,

Art has the power to evoke compassion and connect people’s hearts with charitable causes that are worth supporting. Although created with the best intentions, art donations can often be ad-hoc, one-off or not strategic enough and therefore less beneficial than they have the potential to be for all the parties involved—the artists, the charities, and the beneficiaries.

Some key questions to consider are: How could artists have greater impact with their donations while at the same time manage to sustain themselves financially? How could charities and artists bring more transparency into art donations and work together in a more structured, efficient way? Which policies and laws (e.g. tax deductions) could enable better charitable giving via art?

Based on the above questions, we invited stakeholders to discuss suggestions and express their interest in collaborating with ideas, time, money and other means. Extensive discussions with carefully selected artists, art instructors, galleries, government institutions and other related stakeholders have lead us to compile the best practices and various tips to support charitable causes with and through art.

These suggestions are by no means exhaustive or necessarily suitable for everyone. Still, we think that they may offer a useful starting point for charity through art.

Best Practices for Charity Through Art

Please click below on the link most relevant to yourself or read through them in any order you wish:

Charity Art is a living initiative, growing organically through collective wisdom, and an ongoing work in progress.

We continuously seek new ideas and shared tools, for example sample agreements between artists, galleries and charities, and appreciate support from all stakeholders wishing to improve the existing creative charitable ecosystem.

We cordially invite anyone interested to share with us their insight and experience for the future iterations of these best practices. Please contact us to unleash the power of charitable art donations.

We hope you enjoy reading the tips and find them useful.

  • “Selling Art Online: The Book” is a free written guide by theprintspace that covers everything an artist might need to set up a successful online sales strategy, from getting to grips with the current online art market through to marketing and building one’s brand. Divided into 7 sections with contextual case studies, the book presents practical advice at every step to help you start selling art online.
  • “Online Art Trends 2017” report , also published by theprintspace, surveyed 10,000 internet users and provides insight into how the online art market operates and what drives online buyers. While UK specific, it reveals motivations for purchasing art at different price levels and thus enhances understanding of pricing and sales strategies for online galleries and artists wishing to capitalise on the huge growth of online art sales.
  • “Considerations for Artists’ Contracts”  is a useful checklist compiled by the Scottish Artist Union, intended to raise awareness of the need for fair and proper contracts that protect artists, the integrity of their work and ultimately enhance their professional status. It can help artists understand their professional responsibilities and liabilities and take them into account when preparing their contracts.
  • Another artist/gallery contract checklist is available from the old Scottish Arts Council website. It covers three types of arrangement: an exhibition contract for a solo or mixed show; a consignment agreement for use when artists leave work with galleries on consignment/’sale or return’; and a long-term representative arrangement between artist and gallery.
  • Here you can find a sample contract for artist and gallery which covers topics such as scope of the gallery; terms and termination; commissions, prices and payments; accounting and inspection of books; insurance, loss, or damage; copyright and security interest. It can be used as a starting point for drafting your own contract with a gallery.
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