Art Business

Art Business focuses on the business of art, which means combining business theories and practices with art-related issues. Traditional business subjects like business planning and finance, business communications and organisational behaviour and marketing are treated with attention to art business (e.g., dealing in fine art and antiques); they sit alongside more focused art-related courses like art valuation, investment and insurance, art and law, the art market and ethics, aesthetics and conservation.

Certain themes structure the orientation of the text. The business of art requires understanding the classical industrial economy of "production, distribution and consumption." This means that key stakeholders, including artists, dealers/brokers, curators, critics, art historians and collectors (private individuals, corporations and museums), are engaged in forms of cooperation and competition.

Face-to-face relationships (such as artist-dealer, dealer-collector and collector-artist) are a prominent feature in art business. Networking is about using shared interest to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships. The role of intermediaries like curators, critics, art historians in helping to validate the aesthetic worth of works of art, which can influence the financial value, raises ethical (conflict of interest) issues.

The aim of the text is to provide graduate students with the skills and knowledge to progress to careers in the international art business community, a vital element of the so-called creative industries sector of the economy.