You Can Now Get Interest-Free Loans to Buy Art in Sydney
Home loans might be out of reach for today's Sydneysider, but at least we can afford beautiful art.
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Owning art is one of those tangible signs that you’ve finally reached the level of a fully functioning adult. And now it's easier to level up than ever.
As part of their first ever cultural policy, the City of Sydney committed to launching an interest-free art loan program, and now with 10 Group (the brains behind Art Month Sydney) on board, the idea is becoming reality. Dubbed Art Money, the new initiative allows participating galleries to offer interest-free loans to people purchasing art valued between $750 and $20,000.
After putting down a 10% deposit, buyers are able to take the artwork home, paying off the remaining balance in monthly increments over the next nine months. It's good for you, because your home gets an instant aesthetic upgrade, but it's also good for galleries and artists, who see increased sales. The program was inspired by a similar scheme in Tasmania, where it's not only successfully generated purchases but has had zero defaults.
“More than five million dollars has gone through the scheme [in Tasmania],” Rachel Healy, executive manager of culture at the City of Sydney, told us last year. “Arts Tasmania would never have been in a position to give out five million dollars in grants to Tasmanian artists. What they did do, though, was develop a scheme where they enabled five million dollars to go into the wallets of Tasmanian artists, who are otherwise doing it pretty hard.”
Interested parties can apply for a loan via the website or at any participating gallery. More than two dozen galleries have signed on so far, including Roslyn Oxley9, Artereal, Darren Knight, Dominik Mersch, Galerie pompom, Platform 72, Sullivan+Strumpf, The Commercial and Utopia Art. For the time being loans will have to be finalised in person, although there are plans to develop alternative methods of delivery to open the scheme up to people who live outside of NSW.
For more information on how you can apply for your own interest-free art loan and thus prove your grown-up credentials, visit the Art Money website.
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