Cultural strategist

A cultural strategist starts from the owner’s problem and decides whether buying objects is the answer at all. An art advisor buys objects and is paid per transaction. ArtisDomus works as the cultural strategist, so the owner pays its fee and the fee is tied to no purchase.

For a private collection, ArtisDomus writes its plan before anything is bought. It usually takes the form of an acquisition policy, a written rule that a family office or board can hold the collection to.

Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.

Where the line falls

The fee tells apart three roles people often confuse.

1. An art advisor chooses and buys works. The job starts with a budget and ends with a purchase, and the fee is tied to that purchase.
2. A curator arranges existing works to make a point, as an exhibition, a hang or a programme. The job starts with a collection and ends with showing it.
3. A cultural strategist starts with the owner’s goal: a succession, a well-governed collection or a building that has to mean something. The strategist then decides what culture has to do for that goal. Buying is one possible answer, and often a later one.

The order matters more than the labels. An advisor comes in after the decision to buy. A strategist comes in before it, and may conclude that the answer is a policy, a programme or a governance structure.

Why the fee matters

A fee tied to purchases rewards buying.

When the fee is a share of what is bought, the adviser earns more by buying more. Advising against a purchase earns nothing. A strategist paid by the owner for the decision itself is free to reach either answer.

The full argument is in how an art advisor is paid. The contract clause that closes the gap is in what a contract with an art advisor should say.