Why does Abundance sponsor an art show?
For almost a year now, Abundance has been sponsoring the art show Human Nature. Some of you may be wondering, why? What does art have to do with investment?
The answer is simpler than you might think.
Abundance has always been an investment service focused on the long term. On sustainability, on society, and on our customers.
So Human Nature is a perfect fit. The show features environmental art exploring our changing connection with the environment. It was founded and curated by Charlotte Webster, a specialist in sustainability communications who has supported the Abundance team on PR over the years. She’s also an artist, and it was her interest in both these areas that inspired Human Nature.
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Father Earth, a bronze sculpture by Jonesy. Photo credit: Human Nature[/caption]
Supporting this first of a kind show is a way for us to invest in the wider debates about energy and finance taking place in the UK right now, while also saying thanks to our investors.
Art has long been the way in which the issues and popular interests of a given time have been represented and reflected. With sustainability, energy and climate change some of the biggest issues of the 21st century, it made sense for Abundance to support artists expressing these topics to bring the debate to a wider audience.
As such, the exhibition has visited London (twice), Leeds and Bristol all in the space of a year. Abundance has invested not just money but also time in supporting the promotion of artists and building the show’s brand and reputation, all with a view to helping to bring something timely and relevant to our investors and the public.
And it looks like it’s happening.
At the most recent showing as part of London Design Festival’s ‘The Art of Progress’, we welcomed almost 200 people to a private view in Soho to experience art, design, and virtual reality film — while enjoying a drink and a chat with our staff and founders.
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Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Ed Vaizey (l) with Martin Campbell (r). Photo credit: Human Nature[/caption]
The show itself ran for ten days, attracting visitors from as far afield as Tokyo, Los Angeles, Thailand and New York. Such success in just under a year is rare in the art world, and Charlotte says it’s testament to the support from Abundance and the high quality of the artists’ work.
She says: “Many ask ‘how did you find these artists?’ My simple answer is word of mouth and instinct. Each and every one is not only highly skilled in his or her discipline, but has a very strong values and a connection to the world. The power that has on their work and ability to connect to others is huge. Visitors are not only recognising their talent, but leaving the gallery calm, inspired and feeling more positive about our future. Only yesterday a design journalist from Japan said that the exhibition made him rediscover himself and gave him a reason to feel inspired by London again. This is exactly what we set out to do — and without the support of Abundance, the idea would have taken much longer to get off the ground.”
Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries Ed Vaizey MP came along, saying: “Great visit to Human Nature art exhibition in Soho. Hats off to Abundance for sponsoring such an important show; art celebrating the environment.”
We’re certainly proud to have supported Human Nature, and it’s comments like the above that tells us it’s the right thing.
