The light and shadow subject-matter of the top auction lot of 2024, L’Empire des Lumières (1954) by René Magritte, provided a metaphor for the art world in 2024. If light includes more record prices for women artists and a famous piece of fruit, then the shade is redundancies, cut backs, gallery and departmental closures, and market jitters. In the current landscape, progressing your art world career has never been less straightforward or slippery.

As we start to plan for 2025, whether you are seeking work or in employment looking to progress—what professional changes are you having to, or wishing to, make?

In a recent online talk, Rosie Allan, Managing Partner of SML Search, confirmed that companies right now “are not [all that] willing to take a risk on new hires so they are looking at hires that very clearly fit within a pre-prescribed box. We are seeing businesses using this time to restructure their existing teams and hire key new positions, so the opportunities are there if you really look for them.”

Rosie Allan. Photo courtesy of SML.

She continued, “another issue that faces mid-career professionals is if you are looking to shift from one employer type to another, or a role type. You will need to look at salaries in any move from private sector to public, or gallery sales roles to artist liaison roles.”

The implication here being that after a sustained period of growth, there is now a potentially significant salary discrepancy. Rosie recommends staying informed, and the next SML talent report, out in March 2025, will give updated information on the landscape and salary levels. More broadly, despite wage levels in most areas of the art industry being very low, in the current climate there is little appetite or fiscal feasibility for higher pay.

Against this less-than-certain career landscape, Art Market Mentors announce its 2025 program is open for applications offering three levels of activity.

1. 1/1 mentoring with leading industry professional for career support and development
2. Digital talks with Artnet in 2025
3. Quarterly Information Webinars on Art World Careers

Our goal is to provide proactive, supportive professional development; better, realistic entry-level information, while also aiming to encourage and widen general access. Attracting and keeping talent is vital to invigorate the art world and keep it relevant.

We founded Art Market Mentors in late 2020 to provide mentoring support in the commercial art world, an ecosystem notoriously difficult to navigate professionally. To date, we have matched over 300 individuals and engaged with thousands digitally through talks, social media and events.

Previous mentees have shared positive feedback on the program. “I loved meeting my mentor and getting her perspective on women in work, ED&I, and also more specifically on how to ask for a raise. We discussed how to be organized and productive when there are a lot of spinning plates,” said one American mentee.

We aim to match as many suitable candidates as possible with a range of global art industry professionals. More than 75 experienced leaders from auction houses, art advisors, international galleries, institutions, support businesses, top media and content contacts, and other related areas are committed to participate in the mentoring program. Joining these mentors are a range of art business entrepreneurs and experienced professionals in art logistics, security, art finance, human resources, and legal specialists as well as from the fields of communications, PR, content, marketing, and digital and social media.

Previous mentors have included Georgina Adam, Oliver Barker, Bonnie Brennan, Emily Burke, Sarah Briggs, Stephen Brooks, Amy Cappellazzo, Sophie Carter, Sadie Coles, Lisa Dennison, Jean-Paul Engelen, Lauren Gioia, Melanie Gerlis, Willem de Gier, Koji Inoue, Brooke Lampley, Steven Murphy, Pilar Ordovas, Marc Porter, Victoria Siddall, Martin Wilson, Katy Wickremesinghe, to name a few. Senior Executive and SML Non-Executive Director, Cathy Elkies, who is based in New York, will also be working on the program in 2025.

Victoria Siddall by Benjamin McMahon ©️ Benjamin McMahon

A great mentor can change your life. The Art Market Mentors want to ensure that knowledge, connections, and opportunities are passed around. We collectively believe fostering and embedding mentorship can help to navigate challenges and shape a forward-looking, resilient, and inclusive art industry.

After a year of contraction, market tension, and business shifts, providing guidance, support, and opportunities for growth to hardworking talent is never more relevant. We want to help those undergoing career challenge or change, and provide support to navigate complexity, adapt to rapid change and new generational preferences, and work on reskilling and starting over. Having someone on your side, to support you in a confidential and programmatic way can make all the difference.

Five Quick Tips for a Positive and Proactive Approach to Your Career:

1. Understand the environment around you, know your skill set and be proactive about keeping it finely tuned and growing.
2. Plan – recognize your financial situation, time management, and your goals; be honest about necessary changes.
3. Network – be intentional about your visibility, extend your contacts, create relationships, contribute to the community.
4. Build – focus on areas of development and take time to build new skills,
5. Mentoring – being a mentor or mentee can be equally rewarding and valuable. Get involved.

BPA alumna Sofia Duchovny in discussion with mentor and co-founder Angela Bulloch.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The 2025 program invites applicants:

— over THREE years into a career, and undergoing a specific change, including redundancy, facing a career challenge, or wishing to progress in a specific situation or role.

— wider access elements of the program will be targeted at students and post-graduates and those exploring career change.

To apply to be a MENTEE: please contact [email protected] putting “MENTEE” in the subject line with a CV and short summary of goals. We will aim to have partnerships allocated and group mentoring sessions scheduled by end February.

To volunteer as a MENTOR: please contact [email protected] putting “MENTOR” in the subject line with a summary of your career or share your LinkedIn. If you can spare three hours over three months, we will provide a framework and introduction if we match you to a suitable mentee. We may not utilize all mentors, but your details will be kept on file for bespoke requests or group mentoring sessions.

For more information on Careers in the Art World, please visit Careers in Art History – For Art History.

For more information on Artnet Career Talks, visit www.artnet.com.

Cat Manson is an accredited executive coach, international communications consultant and strategic advisor to institutions, businesses, and individuals. Cat was previously Global Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Christie’s until 2020. In 2020, Cat co-founded of Art Market Mentors, a global cross-industry mentoring program promoting support and access in the commercial art world. To date, the mentoring scheme has engaged with over 5,000 individuals and matched over 300 mentoring partnerships over three years.