Own Art: interest-free art loans for UK buyers

[commandax]

From The National:

"Own Art, launched by the Arts Council England (ACE) five years ago to help make art accessible and affordable to all, provides interest-free loans from £100 to £2,000, repayable over 10 months in equal instalments, for people wishing to purchase works of art and craft including paintings, photography, sculpture, glassware and furniture by contemporary artists.

'The initiative was a response to an identified need to remove the financial obstacle that some people experience which would otherwise mean that they couldn’t access art,” said Mary-Alice Stack, the development manager for ACE. “In addition, the scheme helps the arts economy by supporting commercial galleries and encouraging increased sales of contemporary art which in turn provides a very valuable income for artists living and working in the UK.'"

[Bytor]

wow that is really interesting, thx so much for posting this

[svenman]

this is a great scheme, but sadly underused here in the uk.
my friend works for the arts council and we were discussing this last week. apparently, ace are undertaking a reshuffle of how the whole thing is administered.
the feeling is that the £700 per annum registration fee puts off a lot of galleries from subscribing to the scheme, but personally i would think that that this would be a good investment - especially for galleries that deal with lower end - read sub 2k - sales..

[highbrow]

Sven I have to agree, I guess I am curious how they decide to extend credit

[commandax]

"Since its inception, more than £10.5 million worth of art has been purchased through the scheme and more than £6.5m worth of income for up-and-coming artists has been generated through 12,500 loans....

The scheme is available through a network of more than 250 galleries across the country."

[svenman]

as far as i'm aware, there is only one 'genre' gallery that uses the scheme...

[crazyreesie]

I could use such a loan right about now... *sigh*

[kidrobotct]

wow this is amazing. I wish there was something like this in the US. there are so many great urban artists in the UK I could think of using this for.

[migston26]

Wow...I really hope the lending standards are strict for this. I mean, if you can't afford a piece of art without paying for it over 10 months, then maybe you shouldn't be buying it.

Yeah yeah it's an investment blah blah, but a smart investor knows to diversify and needing ten months to pay for ONE asset does not lead me to think any diversification is going on.

I wonder how long before we hear about people "walking away" from their art pieces