Outset Contemporary Art Fund is an arts charity established in 2003,[1] and based in London, England.
The charity was the first organisation to utilise cross-institution collective patronage to fund artistic projects in the UK.[2] It has raised over £13 million for arts institutions, exhibitions, education, residency programmes, initiatives, publications and capital campaigns.
Outset describes itself as “powered by inspiration, driven by expertise, renowned for its engagement, and focused on effective energy and ideas, with a commitment to being there at the outset of impactful change”.[3]
Outset is headquartered in the UK with franchised chapters in Germany, Switzerland, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Greece, and Estonia.
The Outset Partners
Established in 2018, Outset Partners is the largest arts grants programme in the world, funded by a group of individuals. Grants are determined through a consensus-driven process by the collective of individual Outset patrons. Outset Partners has awarded grants totalling over £1 million to date.[4]
Cycle III
The Outset Partners Transformative Grant 2021
Performa, the long-running US-based performance art organisation, were awarded £150,000.[5][6]
Impact Grants 2021
Grants totalling £125,000 were awarded to UK charity Artists in Residence, London’s nonprofit Bold Tendencies, Paris’s Centre Pompidou, the Filipino organisation Green Papaya Art Projects and the International Curators Forum.[7]
The Constituent Museum, a joint initiative between The Whitworth, Manchester, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, enabled the galleries to work with the public to plan the reimagining of their institutions.[9]
Studiomakers is a major initiative of Outset Contemporary Art Fund. It pioneers new solutions to securing truly-affordable workspaces for the creative industries.
Launched in 2016 at an event hosted by Antony Gormley’s studio,[10] Studiomakers was established in response to the rapid reduction of affordable workspaces available to the creative industries in London.
Phase Two
Studiomakers Phase Two pivoted the initiative to provide advocacy, guidance and brokerage. Studiomakers acts as a strategic partner, advising throughout the planning process to help deliver affordable workspace planning obligations, ultimately securing new long-term spaces for the creative industries.
In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Studiomakers was reoriented to provide emergency assistance working closely with the Mayor of London’s ‘Culture At Risk’ office. Studiomakers delivered one-on-one advice sessions, live webinars, legal letter templates, fact sheets and regular newsletters with the assistance of a team of industry professionals including TrustLaw, CBRE, Dechert LLP and CounterCulture LLP. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic the guidance, rental reductions and pro-bono legal assistance helped over 70 creative and cultural institutions avoid collapse.
Phase One
Studiomakers Phase One established an evidence base for action, partnering with Harvard Business School to conduct research, and explored different ways to deliver affordable workspace for artists. Across three years Phase One helped to secure over 60,000sqft of temporary workspace that supported hundreds of artists, events and exhibitions.
The Creative Land Trust
In 2019 Studiomakers and Outset were instrumental in raising £7.5 million to launch the Creative Land Trust through a private/public partnership with the Mayor of London, Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Creative Land Trust aims to purchase properties for use as affordable workspaces for the creative industries in perpetuity,[11] and in 2019 became an independent charitable organisation.
The Studiomakers Prize
From 2017 through to 2019 Outset partnered with Tiffany & Co. to annually award rent-free workspaces to seven outstanding MA Fine Art graduates. The Studiomakers Prize delivered a total of 21 years of free studio space, along with career development workshops, ensuring some of the most talented graduates could continue their creative practice in London.[12]
Outset / Frieze Art Fair Fund to benefit the Tate Collection
In 2003 Outset pioneered the first acquisitions fund connected to an art fair. The partnership between Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Frieze Art Fair and Tate enabled the Tate to purchase artwork at the fair for their national collection.[13] The fund raised over £1.5 million.
"Time" a conceptual work by David Lamelas consisted of an idea: that people should stand in line and state the time to the adjoining person in the queue.
A grey filing-drawer containing 1,000 blank index cards by Stanley Brouwn.[14]
"Good Feelings in Good Times" by Roman Ondak was the first performance piece to enter the Tate collection.[15]
The Robson Orr TenTen Award
The TenTen Commission, overseen by the Government Art Collection and Outset Contemporary Art Fund, commissions new artwork from a British artist each year for ten years.[16] The artist is tasked with creating a unique print to be shown in diplomatic buildings worldwide. The commission is sponsored by philanthropists Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr.
Year 4
Artist Lubaina Himid who produced 'Old Boat, New Weather'. The artwork depicts aspects of slavery and refuge inspired by climate change and the black lives matter movement.[17] For the first time, the work was launched digitally in The Robson Orr TenTen VR Gallery.[18]
Year 3
Artist Yinka Shonibare CBE produced the print ‘Hibiscus and the Rose’. He was inspired by the cultural exchange between Britain and the rest of the world.[19]
Year 2
Artist Tacita Dean produced the print ‘Foreign Policy (screenprint edition)’.[20]
Year 1
Artist Hurvin Anderson produced the print “Still Life with Artificial Flowers’. The work depicts a glass vase inspired by his mother, who was part of the Windrush Generation.[21]
National Portrait Gallery Annual Commission
The Outset Commission is an annual portrait produced by the National Portrait Gallery with support from Outset Contemporary Art Fund and patron Scott Collins.
Year 2
German photographer Andreas Gursky was commissioned to produce a portrait of Jony Ive as he departed his role as Chief Design Officer at Apple Inc.,[22]
Outset offers The Climavore Residency to international artists and curators, providing both studio and living accommodation to those who are engaging with a project or cultural institution in the UK. The space was designed by Turner Prize nominated artists Cooking Sections.
theVOV
An initiative from Outset and art-science collective Visualogical, theVOV was launched in 2020.
theVOV describes itself as “a new virtual ecosystem committed to exploration and innovation in Art x Metaverse to support cultural institutions during this critical time and beyond.”[24]
Season One
Season One brought together 15 leading UK public galleries[25] including virtual exhibitions[26] of:
A group show of female artists curated by Hikari Yokoyama with Sarabande.[27]
Controversy
Outset Contemporary Art Fund has faced significant controversy due to its alleged connections with Israeli security forces and its support of Israel's occupation of Palestine. Critics, including the "Strike Outset" campaign, argue that Outset and its founders have ideological and financial ties to militarized settler-colonialist operations in Palestine, such as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Jewish National Fund (JNF). These connections have led to calls for a global boycott of the fund and its projects.[28][29]
One prominent point of contention was the involvement of Outset's co-founder, Candida Gertler, who is alleged to support activities that normalize Israel's policies in the occupied territories. Critics claim that Gertler has provided social and media assistance to figures like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they accuse of perpetuating policies akin to apartheid and genocide against Palestinians.[28] On 29 November 2024 Gertler resigned from all positions within uk arts organisations following an open letter calling for Tate to cut ties with Outset signed by over 1000 artist.[30][29]
