Join our five-day Art Business Summer School for a rounded introduction to the art business and the art market. Using sound analytical methods applied to past and present practices, the course aims to be insightful, thought-provoking and balanced.
At its core will be an understanding of the art market and the environment which shapes it; highlighting both the similarities and differences between the art trade and other forms of business.
The course will look at art as a financial asset, the art world players and their history, art market operation, art economics and art law in morning lectures. In the afternoon there will be complementary visits to museums and galleries.
Ágnes Bereczreceived her B.A. and M.A. from ELTE University in Budapest and completed her Ph.D. at Université Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). Berecz specializes in postwar and contemporary art with a particular focus on transnational modernism and the cultural politics of painting. Her writings have appeared in Art Journal, Art in America, Artmarginsand the Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin as well as in European and US exhibitions catalogues. Berecz is the author of the book, Contemporary Hungarian Painting (2001), and the New York correspondent of Műértő, a Budapest based art monthly. Her most recent work includes the two volume monographic study, Simon Hantaï, and the essay, “Time to Knot,” published in the catalogue of Hantaï’s retrospective exhibition at the Musée national d’art moderne in Paris. She teaches at the Pratt Institute and lectures at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Amy Goldrich
Amy Goldrich's practice focuses on counseling, transactions, dispute resolution, and general private client representation in the contemporary art world, both domestically and internationally, where her clients include artists, collectors, galleries, arts organizations, as well as other creative businesses beyond the art world.
Amy has spoken at conferences and art fairs in the United States, Europe, and South America. Her article, "Is a Right of First Refusal an Offer You Can't Refuse?," appeared in the September 2011 edition of Spencer's Art Law Journal and has been cited in other academic papers and journals. "Much Ado About New York Museum Deaccessioning" appeared in the Spring 2011 Arts, Entertainment & Sports Law Journal of the New York State Bar Association. She has also been quoted in publications as diverse as The New York Times, Art & Antiques, Tendencias del Mercado de Arte, espn.com, Registered Rep Magazine, and Artnet News.
A committed collector of work by emerging and more established contemporary artists, serves on the Executive Committee for Friends of Education at the Museum of Modern Art, and on the Board of the National Academy of Design. She is also a member of the Board for Project for Empty Space in Newark, New Jersey.
After earning her AB from Bryn Mawr College, a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, and an LL.M. in Trade Regulation from New York University, Amy was a Dean Acheson Fellow and stagiaire at the European Court of Justice, Court of First Instance, in Luxembourg. She is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New York, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the State of California, and the Central District of California.
John Hatfield
John Hatfield has over 30 years’ experience with art organizations including as Executive Director of Socrates Sculpture Park and Deputy Director of the New Museum in addition to serving as Asst. Vice President for the 9/11 Memorial at the New York State and city agency, LMDC. He has served on numerous panels for art grant making, juries for permanent art commissions and lectured on contemporary art and culture nationally and internationally. Currently he is an Adjunct Professor at New York University, Museum Studies Graduate Program teaching Museums and Contemporary Art.
Michael Plummer Principal, Artvest Partners LLC
Mr. Plummer is a Principal and co-Founder of Artvest Partners LLC, which counsels Private Collectors, Museums, Foundations, Dealers and Fortune 500 Companies on strategies and investments related to art businesses, art financing and art collections. In addition to its creation of the TEFAF New York Art Fairs, Artvest has guided clients and partners from around the globe on projects of lasting economic and cultural significance.
In early 2016, Mr. Plummer, along with Artvestco-Founder Jeff Rabin, established a joint venture between Artvest and TEFAF Maastricht bringing the venerable art fair to the US market. The new entity resulted from a complex four-party deal, conceived and negotiated by Artvest, among Spring Masters, the Haughton International Show, the Park Avenue Armory and TEFAF NL with Artvest owning a 49% stake in the newly formed TEFAF New York based in the US.
Debuting in October 2016, the new TEFAF Art Fairs were an instant critical and commercial success. Artvest integrated TEFAF New York into the cultural fabric of the Americas by creating an active Advisory Board of leading Collectors and Museum Directors, a robust cultural program, and in partnership with Bank of America, an engaged financial and cultural sponsor. For the Opening Night Benefit, Artvest partnered with the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, raising substantial sums over multiple Fairs for cutting-edge research. Luxurious, intimate, and tightly curated, the Fairs were considered a game-changer in the Art Industry.
Additionally, Artvest re-invigorated the TEFAF brand by creating a dedicated Fair, TEFAF New York Spring, focused on 20th Century Art and Design. This realignment was essential for the success of the TEFAF brand in the American market, given its longstanding focus on historical art. Mr. Plummer was co-Fair Director of both TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring from launch through 2018.
Throughout its 13-year history Artvest has guided a diverse international group of private and institutional clients. In 2013, while consulting for Citibank's Equity Research Group, Mr. Plummer and Artvest conducted a comprehensive, thirteen-year analysis of Sotheby's that quickly led to activist investors taking sizeable positions in the company. In 2014, Mr. Plummer and Artvest were named as the Expert Witness for the Detroit Institute of Arts and the City of Detroit in that City’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy trial.
During the same period Mr. Plummer and Mr. Rabin acquired an art fair held annually in May at the historic Park Avenue Armory rebranding it Spring Masters New York. Bringing together sixty-five leading dealers across collecting categories and from around the world, the Fair introduced a radical new hexagonal floor plan designed by architect Rafael Viñoly.
Formerly Chief Operating Officer of Christie's Financial Services, Mr. Plummer was responsible for the structuring and development of an opportunistic art fund. The fund, designed as a private equity style offering, was the first developed by a major auction house in partnership with a leading investment bank. Additionally, Mr. Plummer was responsible for developing art-lending facilities for Christie's, overseeing global loan underwriting practices, creating specialized art indices, and comprehensive art market sector analysis.
Prior to Christie's, Mr. Plummer created one of the earliest US art funds and conducted pioneering research on art as an asset class. He remains one of the industry's leading speakers, and has lectured at New York University, Christie's Education, Sotheby's Institute of Art, and The Wharton School. Additionally, Mr. Plummer's observations on the art market have been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and The Art Newspaper, among others.
Previously, Mr. Plummer was the acting Chief Operating Officer of Sotheby's International Realty and was instrumental in the profitable restructuring critical to the parent company's highly successful IPO in 1989. Having started his career in Sotheby's Treasury Department, Mr. Plummer oversaw one of the industry's first significant art loans.
Mr. Plummer is a co-Founder of the Luxury Marketing Council. From 2012 to 2014, he was Chairman of the American Friends of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), where he reinstituted a Fulbright Scholarship providing full scholarships to deserving American students.
Mr. Plummer received a BS in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jason Pollack
SVP and General Counsel, Christie’s Americas
Jason Pollack is Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Americas at Christie's, based in New York. In this role, Jason oversees the legal function throughout the Americas and is a member of the Americas Executive team. Before joining Christie's, Jason started his legal career as an associate in the Antitrust & Trade Regulation group in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and then joined AkzoNobel, a Dutch international paint and chemicals company, where he ultimately became its General Counsel of the Americas. Jason is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Fordham University School of Law.
Ben Whine
Ben identifies and delivers business development opportunities with museums and non-profits for Christie’s across the Americas. He works with clients internally and externally at all levels to define Christie’s strategy – both national and regional – for working with non-profit institutions to mutual benefit. Collaborating with colleagues across the company, he builds and develops relationships with institutions to promote their work to Christie’s audiences and to cultivate their patrons through sponsorships, fundraising auctions, events and programs. Prior to joining Christie’s in July 2017, his extensive experience in the museum world included serving as Associate Director of Sculpture Center, a contemporary art museum in Long Island City; Director of Individual Development, Membership and Annual Fund at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Associate Director of Development for Membership at the New Museum of Contemporary Art; and Patrons Manager at Tate in his native London. He has a BA in Art History from the University of Birmingham and a post-graduate degree in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester.
Katja Zigerlig
Katja consults with collectors as well as insurance and financial advisors on the physical and financial protection of passion investments. With more than two decades of experience in the art world, she has insured private collections, museums, galleries and exhibitions for HUB International, AIG Private Client Group and AXA Art Insurance. Katja is also a guest lecturer at Christie’s Education Department. Throughout her career, she has presented on art and wine collecting in the context of alternative investments, asset protection, trust and estate planning and has lectured at The College Art Association, University for Applied Arts in Vienna, the UBS Arts Forum in Wolfsburg, and the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C. Katja has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, Worth Magazine, Barron’s, ARTnews and appeared on CNBC’s Power Lunch. Katja has a B.A and M.A. in Art History. She is a board member of The Foundation of the American Institute of Conservation, and a member of The Friends of the Swiss Institute Committee.
