Arts & Business Club is an initiative that aims to provide a platform for artists and art lovers all over the world, to share their stories and artworks, educate and connect with like-minded individuals. They organise events such as guided gallery tours, artist studio visits, and interactive talks.
“Having a special focus on the Arts as an integral part of the Humanities, and art as a driver for social change, we identified a gap in understanding, access and appreciation of art in the younger generation, especially in connection with other disciplines. Being students at an international university in a city with a rich history and emerging contemporary art scene, we wanted to make it more accessible,” Coordinators from the IE Art & Business Club.
They also have a focus on the business aspect of art, highlighting the innovative business models of the art world that are creating new spaces and experiences for artists and art lovers.
Find more about the IE Art & Business Club below.
Interview with Covadonga Romero, President and Prerna Mishra, Vice-President of IE Art & Business Club.
Who can join the Art & Business Club?
Anyone! We celebrate diversity and encourage anyone at IE who is interested in arts and culture to join.
What does the club do?
We organise events such as guided gallery tours, artist studio visits, and interactive talks. Since the closure of campus in March, we started an Instagram Live series where we invited artists and professionals from the art world to have an interactive question and answer session, as well as in some virtual studio tours.
What is your club most proud of?
We are most proud of the innovative aspect of the club, we have tried to create new experiences for students at IE, as well as to adapt our activities to a post-COVID-19 world. Diversity is something we pride ourselves on with different cultures, with ideas and means of expression being our main goal while curating content!
What has the club’s biggest achievement or event been so far?
In terms of scale, our visit to Okuda’s studio in Madrid was the biggest event for the Arts & Business Club this year. A group of more than 50 participants had the opportunity to meet the world-famous street artist in his workspace, interact with his team, and get an in-depth view of his present and future projects. However, we also regard the Club’s adaptability as one of our biggest achievements, having continued to bring exciting events and content to the IE community through online channels.
What is the club looking forward to next year?
We’re really excited to organize in-person events again and to visit new museums, galleries, and studios. Besides that, we also plan to continue and elevate the content creation aspect of the Club, especially through our new website (coming out in time for the beginning of the academic year). With an active ARTicle Series and open calls for IE-based artists, we want to create a portfolio of artistic experiences within the community. One of the things that we’re looking forward to the most is collaborating with other departments within IE, such as the Arts & Humanities Division, as well as other student-led Clubs; we believe that this is the best way of encouraging an interdisciplinary learning of art, and of sparking interesting conversations.
How can people contact you, join, or participate?
Our most active channel is Instagram, and we also have an ongoing ARTicle series on LinkedIn, which is open to everyone! We have received many DM’s from individuals who want to write for the series, which is always exciting to see. We encourage everyone to send us a DM, an e-mail, or a message on LinkedIn if they wish to collaborate or connect.
Campus Groups : IE Art & Business Club
How do you think the club embodies the IE Values (Entrepreneurship, Tech & Innovation, Humanities, Diversity)?
By looking at art from many different angles, we aim to offer something valuable for everyone at IE. It is central to our identity as the Arts & Business Club to explore art in an interdisciplinary way: art and business, art and technology, art, and social change… These are all themes that have been covered through our articles on LinkedIn, posts on Instagram, and events (both in-person and online). In our recent series of Live talks with artists and art professionals, we have always tried to ask a broad array of questions that go beyond art and also involve technology, current affairs, the environment, as well as other areas of the Humanities. We also take a lot of interest in entrepreneurial models of business in the art world, which we have documented in our ‘Business of Art’ series.
What events did Art & Business hosted this year ?
Ink and Movement
A Madrid-based art collective and Okuda’s studio. We interacted with both the artist and the team members that make this project possible, getting a full tour of the studio and all of its departments. It was a great learning experience for anyone wishing to work in a creative industry, and also a really exciting and vibrant event, having had the opportunity to converse with Okuda and get ‘behind the scenes’ details on his creative process and upcoming projects.
Paseos Artísticos
In the first of an event series consisting of gallery tours (unfortunately cut short by the pandemic), we toured five galleries in the Doctor Fourquet area, one of Madrid’s artsiest districts. We selected galleries with interesting business models and thought-provoking exhibitions, to get the most out of the experience.
For part of the tour, we collaborated with the IE Africa Club in visiting Galería Nueva and getting an in-depth tour of its ‘Aquí África’ exhibition. That first stop was followed by a fun evening of art appreciation, learning more about the inner workings of art galleries, and networking drinks at the end.
Online Events
Since lockdown began in March, up until June, we organized a total of 11 online events, most of them taking place as Instagram Live conversations and many in collaboration with the IE Arts & Humanities Division. The format we followed was usually a broadcasted interview with an artist or art-world professional, in which our audience could chime in and ask their own questions as well. Added elements included virtual studio tours in the case of artists, and deeper insights into different forms of working in the art world for the rest.
“My experience has been very valuable, seeing the Club grow over the duration of the year has been hugely rewarding to all coordinators. For myself, the biggest takeaway has been seeing art have a larger space within the IE community, and seeing Arts & Business Club develop into a space where all art lovers, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff, can come together to share a passion. My favourite moments have involved seeing events or projects unfold successfully, and the excitement of knowing that one idea is going to lead to the next.”
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