New Art Business Certificate
This past fall, the Division of Liberal Studies and Allied Arts launched a new Certificate in Art Business program for professionals working in national and global art markets, including art galleries and auction houses, or as wealth managers, financial planners, or advisors to high-net-worth individuals. The program responds to the needs of the global art market—which expanded in the past decade to an estimated $25 billion in annual sales—for professionals with advanced education and industry-specific knowledge.
“The ongoing financial crisis puts an even greater emphasis on the expertise of advisors and other art professionals who have training in the art market and valuation and so are able to help their clients navigate through the current turmoil,” says SCPS adjunct faculty member Catherine Chiarella Domonkos, who helped create and develop the certificate. Her experience includes stints as a senior vice president at Sotheby’s Financial Services and director of consignor services at Christie’s.
Leading practitioners in the field bring their expertise into the classroom and are able to educate students about up-to-theminute trends in today’s art market. Faculty include appraiser, Asian art expert, and president of iGavel.com Lark Mason, whose career at Sotheby’s and Sothebys.com spanned 24 years; Hope Tate of Emigrant Bank Fine Art Finance LLC; and attorney Christopher Marinello, executive director of the Art Loss Register. The six-course curriculum covers subjects such as assessing art value, counseling clients, current business practices and transactions, and the legal and ethical issues specific to the field.
Thus far, enrollments have been strong in the Art Business courses according to Domonkos. “We are seeing working professionals—lawyers, appraisers, and museum and government agency executives—in the classes,” she says.
SCPS also offers industry-recognized professional certificate programs in Arts Administration and Appraisal Studies.