After a few years now of running my art consultancy business and having lots of wonderful clients I have decided it is long overdue to give something back – at least more formally. And I am going to do this in three ways:
1. Give my advice for free. Artists are the lifeblood of this business and I am often asked by them for advice about how to sell their work/approach galleries/develop their brand. As I become busier I realise that it becomes easier for me to ignore these requests, so I am hoping that by making this pledge I can hold myself accountable. I will be offering 12 sessions per annum to artists who would like this help. Please contact me here, through my website and put in the opening sentence ‘I would like a free artist consultation’ and I will get in touch should I think I can help you.
2. For every client that employs my services I will plant 1 tree ) and for every work placed with a client I will plant a number of further trees according to the cost of the work. OK, I am obviously not going to do the planting myself but I have researched the ‘tree planting charity market’ extensively and have decided to link with One Tree Planted. This brilliant charity has won a number of important accreditations and planted 52,000,000 trees last year. They crucially don’t just plant the trees and leave them – they work with the local communities and environment to ensure that that the trees survive until they are established. I have chosen to buy trees in the Amazon. And if anyone wants to learn more about this, then check out this fascinating article from Smithsonian Magazine about the incredibly important work world renowned photographer Sebastiao Salgado has been doing there. As a thanks to previous clients and works sold I have started my tree planting tally with a donation of 1000 trees.
3. I am going to do everything in my power to refuse to use and avoid using non recyclable bubble wrap. This stuff is horrible and pervasive throughout the art world. If you are a framer, or shipper I will be stopping using you until you commit to using biodegradable bubble wrap or an alternative environmentally friendly form of wrapping. Likewise if you are an artist I am going to have to insist that any artworks are also not wrapped using non recyclable bubble wrap. I will be maintaining a zero tolerance policy to this. I tried last year to ‘suggest’ to suppliers that they changed with zero effect and so have now decided that the only way to make a change is to vote with my feet.
Trees donated as of August 2023:
