Culture calls for 300,000 euros in aid for contemporary art galleries

The culture Ministry The application period has opened for the Aid to art galleries for the promotion of contemporary art, corresponding to the year 2024, endowed with 300.000 euros.

According to the Ministry, these aids have the objective of to promote contemporary creation and support Spanish art galleries to operate internationally.

In this way, they will promote the circulation and visibility of Spanish works and artists, business practices and the economic development of the visual arts sector. Galleries may apply for grants to attend contemporary art fairs abroad or international contemporary art fairs held in Spain.

In addition, they may also apply for grants to carry out exhibition projects as part of the annual programme they develop in their own spaces or in other spaces linked to contemporary art. The eligible activity must be carried out by December 31, 2024 at the latest..

The aids are Compatible with other subsidies from other administrations or public or private entities, national or international.

Last week it was revealed that the director of the Reina Sofía Museum, Manuel Segade, and the director of ARCO, Maribel López, are among the more than 1,000 signatories of a manifesto calling on the government to reduce VAT on the sale of contemporary works of art from Spanish galleries.

In addition to the aforementioned signatories, there are also names such as Imma Prieto, director of the Tàpies Museum; Jimena Blázquez, director of the CAAC/C3A museum; Tania Pardo, director of the CA2M Museum; the artist Luis Gordillo; the former director of ARCO and cultural manager, Carlos Urroz; the actor Juan Echanove or the director of Estampa, Chema de Francisco.

In the document, under the title ‘Cultural VAT NOW’it is explained that this is “a historic demand” whose approval would support the work of the galleries and would mean “the end of the great disadvantage that the sector suffers compared to other countries in its environment such as France, which has just set it at 5.5%, or Germany at 7%, as well as compared to other cultural sectors.”

“A disadvantage that is evident at every international art fair, such as ARCO, and which makes the work of gallery owners extremely difficult, undermines their internationalisation and harms the development of contemporary Spanish art as a whole: from artists to collectors and museums,” the document states.