The Contemporary Art Advisor: Spring McManus
Virtual fundraising opportunities with lower barriers to entry will hopefully pave the way for entirely new audiences and generations of donors, philanthropists, and participants.
5 QUESTIONS WITH Spring McManus
Spring McManus Art Advisory
Miami, FL
Spring McManus is an independent advisor specializing in modern and contemporary art acquisitions, sales, and collection management for a portfolio of established and emerging art collectors and cultural institutions. A former associate director at Christie’s, Spring is on the board of the Fountainhead Artist Residency, a benefactor of YoungArts, and an active member at the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Bass Museum of Art. She also serves as a senior advisor to Arts Funders Forum and Blackdove, a new technology platform to advance the video art experience for artists, collectors, and institutions.
1. Tell me about your practice, and specifically how it has evolved and changed due to the events of 2020.
My work as an art advisor required a lot of travel to attend art fairs, auctions and gallery openings, along with scheduled meetings and installations with clients at their homes and businesses. The pace was nonstop and very event driven.
As travel ended and auctions, art fairs, and gallery exhibitions were postponed, there was suddenly more time for reflection. At first, this was a welcome change to the frenetic pace and many of my friends in the art world appreciated having a moment to breathe. Personally, it gave me time to consider what was essential in my life and my career.
As the pandemic forced art fairs and cultural institutions to begin sharing more works online, my practice changed from in-person meetings at art fairs and galleries to reviewing thousands and thousands of works on art fair and gallery websites. This requires filtering out the right opportunities for my clients, and crafting more thoughtful communications on what is available and why it might make sense to acquire certain works, or not. I’ve noticed through this process that there has been more openness to exploration, greater acceptance to new ideas, and more intimate and thoughtful sharing of how an artist or a work might connect to one of my client’s personal stories. Throughout these crises, people have needed ways to form deeper connections and art is one of the world’s best ways to connect people.
2. Looking at collecting trends, are you seeing new developments as a result of the pandemic and global social justice movement, or a consistency with established market trends?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2020 has reinvigorated Surrealism. There are several new exhibitions focused on the Surrealist movement, which are also incorporating diverse and underrepresented artists and works. Just one example is Fantastic Women. Surreal Worlds from Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in Germany and now on view at the Louisiana museum of modern art, highlights women artists including Meret Oppenheim, Louise Bourgeois, Claude Cahun, Leonora Carrington, Dora Maar, Lee Miller, Kay Sage, Maya Deren and Frida Kahlo. Fantastic Women is an example of institutions highlighting the significant contribution of women as vital and important artists. Artists of color continue to gain prominence, which is something that has been happening, fortunately, for the past few years.
The art market continues to be strong and demand is high while supply has been down given that many collectors at the top are wary to sell works during a financial crisis. If the economic downturn gets worse, it would suggest more collectors might begin to sell and prices will drop.
3. Arts Funders Forum (AFF) believes that the events of 2020 are accelerating the changes next generation collectors, arts supporters, and audiences had already wanted to see take place. What are you seeing with your clients?
As the entire arts ecosystem moves online, culture is becoming more accessible and hopefully more democratic. There is also more intimacy and deeper connections are forming as we all go inside each other’s homes on Zoom meetings or, in this case, artist studios. Many of us find ourselves watching DIY concerts or dance performances online, which is less glamorous but, in some ways, more enriching.
As we know from AFF research, next generation collectors and philanthropists have been encouraging the art world to become more technology driven and certainly that is accelerating. The hope is that institutions can find new revenue models that include both digital and analog. Although nothing can replace a live cultural performance! Although my business is dependent on a thriving art market, it has been refreshing to see narratives about the arts shift away from celebrity artists and towards the ways the arts can rebuild communities and become more accessible, diverse, and equitable. This is true of the conversations I have had with my clients as well as on the boards of institutions where I serve.
4. Looking specifically at cultural philanthropy, as society is reckoning with systemic inequities, injustices, and a recalibration of ethical philanthropy, what new arts funding strategies and processes could be developed going forward?
As we have discussed at AFF with Patton Hindle from Kickstarter, there are tremendous opportunities for crowdfunding. Glitzy museum galas suddenly feel tone deaf and we know that younger philanthropists were already steering away from these models. Virtual fundraising opportunities with lower barriers to entry will hopefully pave the way for entirely new audiences and generations of donors, philanthropists, and participants. When the pandemic is over, I am excited for the movement towards more creative immersive cultural experiences as well, which will be great fun, provide new revenue opportunities for artists and institutions, and hopefully attract new cultural audiences along the way.
5. AFF research has shown that the cultural sector has been experiencing a crisis of relevancy, and that many believe this is a result of underdeveloped narratives for the next generation of audiences and supporters. How do you think these crises could facilitate a change in society’s view of arts?
My great hope is that leaders in the cultural sector can become better advocates for why the arts matter. This includes showing why the arts are intrinsically valuable, but also showing how the arts are critical to driving social change, advancing social justice, rebuilding local communities, and bringing inspiration and personal fulfillment to so many who are suffering. Every individual who cares about the arts needs to think about how we can use this moment to change hearts and minds and hopefully we will all come out of this much stronger.
Spring McManus is an independent advisor specializing in modern and contemporary art acquisitions, sales, and collection management for a portfolio of established and emerging art collectors and cultural institutions.
A former associate director at Christie’s, Spring is on the board of the Fountainhead Artist Residency, a benefactor of YoungArts, and an active member at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Bass Museum of Art.
She also serves as a senior advisor to Arts Funders Forum and Blackdove, a new technology platform to advance the video art experience for artists, collectors, and institutions.