Art buyers perusing the offerings at this year’s Frieze London and Frieze Masters fairs (15-19 October) will have a chance to help fund efforts to tackle the climate crisis after select exhibitors agreed to give 10% of the sale price of more than 30 works to fund the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC).
The works range in price, with most costing between £30,000 and £50,000 with the most expensive priced at €140,000 (approximately £120,000). Twenty-five galleries have signed up to the scheme, including the likes of Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian and Sprüth Magers.
Heath Lowndes, the director of the Gallery Climate Coalition, tells The Art Newspaper that discussions are ongoing with other participants before a deadline of 6 October.
“This is the first iteration of a new model for collective fundraising,” he says. “If successful, we’d love to repeat and scale it, making philanthropic giving for climate action a normalised part of the art market. We see the potential for it to become a recurring, sector-wide practice that provides long-term funding for systemic change, while also giving galleries a platform to demonstrate leadership, engage collectors and support sustainable solutions.”
He adds that the initiative is about more than just raising cash, though. “It is also about setting a precedent,” he says, “and demonstrating the potential of collective action across the industry.”
The scheme, dubbed “10% of”, plays on the idea of “10% off” discount signs. It draws inspiration from a reflection by the artist Gary Hume, who said: “I can’t claim to be an environmental activist, I’m more like a 10% activist. But I think there are lots of us who are 10% activists, and if you put a lot of 10% together, it begins to add up.”
The GCC proposed the idea to Frieze and other leading galleries and were encouraged by the response.
Romilly Stebbings, Frieze’s director of business development, says of the GCC: “By raising funds and amplifying conversations around climate action, their work continues to challenge the art world to imagine and pursue a more environmentally responsible future—an imperative that feels even more pressing today than when they began.”
All monies raised will go towards supporting the work of GCC like the development of their free-to-access carbon calculator and sector guidelines, production of research and coordinating campaigns advocating for emissions reductions within the arts.
Lowndes says the scheme is not about greenwashing but delivering concrete solutions. “Donations through this initiative do not cancel out the environmental footprint of art fairs or galleries,” he says. “It’s not a substitute for reducing emissions but it’s a way of funding the work needed to accelerate reductions across the sector.”
He adds: “This is not about image, it’s about building the capacity for the art sector to meet its climate responsibilities in a credible, collective way.”
