Art Institutions

The Foundation Art Institutions of the 21st Century (AI21C) was established in London in 2017 as CIO* [1] and not-for-profit arm of the art consultancy Montabonel & Partners, with the intention of acting at the intersection of the public and private art sectors. Its aim is to identify factors that affect the stability of todays Contemporary Art ins... titutions, in order to contribute to their sustainability in the fast-moving political, economic, and aesthetic context. We use the term institutions to refer to cultural agencies that are both instigators of change and recipients of transformation: public and private museums, commercial galleries, not-for-profit project spaces, artists studios or estates, art schools, and biennials. AI21C has developed collaborative activities such as workshops, symposia, networking events and large-scale exhibition projects through which to identify thematic research, consolidated in specialist research reports. These publications which are freely available in hard copy and digital form include: Going Public: How Can Public Art Institutions Unlock the Potential of Philanthropy? Media in The Expanded Field, Art Institutions of the 21st Century, Audience Engagement: Why Ideology Became Business, The Tipping Point of Artists Estates: A Forecast, Privately Funded and Publically Minded: Art Institutions in Transition and When Financial Products Shape Cultural Content. Through our activities, we hope to nurture the production of knowledge, to contribute to an understanding of the complex cultural field, and to foster greater cooperation between its key agents. We undertake research and promote education to provide art professionals with the tools to harness best practices from both public and private sectors in taking on todays challenges, among which a shortage of public funding, the future of philanthropy, the impact of new technologies on display, effective audience engagement and the financial dimension of the new art economy. Proposals to concretely address these shifting demands ...Read More