Sarah Allen is an arts consultant and founder of the Birmingham branch of The Collective, a new model of arts-buying that encourages young people to group together and pool resources in order to buy, share and live with contemporary art. She tells Nancy Groves about the concept...
When did you first hear about The Collective?
About two years ago, I attended a talk at a gallery in Walsall where members of the original London group were promoting their “collective collecting” concept and how it works for them. The idea of clubbing together with like-minded people to buy art made complete sense to me. I sat in the audience and was sold. At the end of the evening, I went up and said, “So where is the Birmingham group?” And they said, “There isn’t one. You are the Birmingham Group”. I was more than happy to take it on.
Had you bought art before? If not, why?
The main barrier for me was that most of the work that interested me was way out of my budget range. Any pieces I did purchase tended to be at auctions on the cheap or given to me by artists I’ve come into contact with. It’s a basic truth that a lot of people who feel passionate about art don’t have the disposable income to acquire it. One of the things I found most attractive about The Collective is that it gives you more power to your pound.
How long did it take to assemble your group?
The best part of a year. I was going round trying to engage close friends and people I know who are interested in art. I pestered at parties, but a lot of my existing friends could not commit. The common reaction was “I couldn’t possibly share. If I buy a painting or photo, I want to be able to keep it.” Finally, I approached a friend of mine who is director of Birmingham’s Eastside Gallery and asked if he’d seen anyone nearly buying work who might be interested in the Collective idea. We held an event, inviting 12 potential members and some of the London group to answer their questions. A few weeks later, we got together again and the following day six people all declared in!
What happens at your meetings?
Artists are presented to the group by an individual member who really likes their work. Perhaps we’ll arrange a studio visit and we then draw up a shortlist of work we are interested in, and eventually take a majority vote on which one we want to buy. For me, it’s not just about the final piece – it’s a cultural journey. A big part of the process is learning about an artwork and what went into making it. We’re not just scratching the surface of contemporary art; we’re delving right in there.
How do you manage money matters?
Initially, we were going to pay £35 into a joint account each month but because of the recession, we decided on £20. We don’t want to lose a member in the future because they’ve taken a pay cut, so if we need to up or lower the monthly amount for whatever reason, we will. Consciously, we haven’t been spending. When you buy into this idea, it’s something you might be doing for five or 10 years together. So rather than go out and acquire a lot of smaller pieces, we’re accumulating until we have a healthy budget.
What have you collected so far?
London has loaned us a portfolio of six works that we can swap around each other’s houses while we’re saving. It’s a great introduction to deciding who has which first, and why. We get together in each other’s lounges and have to speak up if we want a particular piece. It naturally forces you to talk around the work and artist, and if you build the most convincing argument, you get to take it home. Our first actual purchase is from Eastside, a work by the artists Simon and Tom Bloor who were exhibiting when he had our very first meeting there. Part of their show was a collection of solid silver birch trees [see picture, above]. You could purchase one of these trees to be planted in a city park and with it came a limited edition print. We all thought, “Wouldn’t that be a lovely thing to do? We’ll acquire a print for our collection and the tree in the park can symbolise the beginning of our group.”
Do you have an official contract?
Yes, a contract we’ve all signed and agreed to. It’s important that if someone wants to leave the group, we can turn to page five and follow an official procedure. But when you sign the constitution, you’re also signing into the founding principles of The Collective: to value the contemporary visual arts scene. We really are doing this for art, not profit, and if we ever bought a piece that grew in value, we would only consider selling it to acquire another piece, not to put cash in our back pockets.
For more information about The Collective and groups in your area, visit their website.