INVESTIGATION REPORT ON THE STATUS QUO OF
ART GALLERIES IN CHINA
MARCH, 2016
Project Name Investigation Report on The Status Quo of Art galleries in China
Project Delivery Period Mar-16
Delivered by British Council China and CAFA Museum
Investigators ShenSen, Mao Tianchen, Yao Shanshan
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CONTENTS
Chapter I Art Galleries and Cultural Policies
I. Differentiation between Art Galleries and Museums
II. Priority Project Areas and Strategies
III. National Support and Investment Orientations
Chapter II Needs of Higher Education
I. Art Gallery-related Subjects and Courses Offered in Higher Education
II. Training on the Art Gallery-related Subjects in Higher Learning Institutions
1. Enrolment
2. Student Training
III. Employment of the Art Gallery-related Subjects in Higher Learning Institutions
IV. Development Strategies and Trends of Higher Learning Institutions
V. Gaps in Higher Education
VI. Excellent Education Providers in China
Chapter III Professional Skills Needs of Domestic Art Galleries
I. Collection
II. Research
III. Exhibition
IV. Funding
V. Public Education
VI. Functional Departments, Administration and Personnel
VII. Foreign Exchange and Cooperation
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Chapter I Art Galleries and Cultural Policies
I. Differentiation between Art Galleries and Museums
In China, there are some distinctions between museums and art galleries in terms of their nature, functions and administrations; they are not the same concept. Generally speaking, a museum is a larger domain, and an art gallery is simply a part of it. That’s to say, the concept of museums encompasses that of the art galleries.
In terms of nature, museums, as explicitly defined by the Museums Regulation adopted by the 78th executive meeting of the State Council convened on January 14, 2015, refer to the not-for-profit organisations that are registered at the registration authority and function to collect, protect and exhibit the evidence of the natural environment and human activities for the purposes of education, research and appreciation. The museums under the abovementioned regulations include therefore such non-profit social services as the museums in the traditional sense, the memorials, the art galleries, the science and technology museums, and the exhibition halls. Art galleries should, therefore, ,first and foremost, be subject to the definition of the museums in the Museums Regulation; and the development of any laws or regulations relating to the art galleries shall uphold the Regulation as the higher-level law. With regard to the concept of art galleries, there are not yet any authoritative, official definitions in China in that the administrative regulations relating to art galleries have not been issued to date, but it is reflected, explicitly or implicitly, in some cultural policy papers released by the Chinese government. For instance, the Evaluation Criteria for National Key Art Galleries defines qualified “art galleries” as not-for-profit organizations that are open to the general public and have such functions as exhibition, collection, research and public education and service, etc. In short, art galleries exercise part of the museums’ functions as a branch of the museum system.
In terms of functions, the differences between museums and art galleries in China lie often in their practical operations and management. Generally speaking, the museums in China tend to collect and exhibit antiques, while art galleries in China tend to be directly related to the modern and contemporary arts. Mr. Wang Huangsheng, curator of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, once described such difference this way: “art galleries in China are generally self-claimed museums of modern or contemporary art, as opposed to the traditional museum system of China. In general, museums of China aim mainly to collect and exhibit the antiques, literatures and artworks from ancient times while art galleries in China lay emphasis on the collection and exhibition of the modern and contemporary artworks of China.”
In terms of administrations, museums and art galleries in China are managed by different authorities. In accordance with Article 7 of the Museums Regulation, the national administrations of cultural heritage
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are responsible for supervising and managing museums across the country, while other State Council departments are responsible for museums-related work that come within their respective remits of responsibility. Meanwhile, the cultural heritage administrations of the people’s government at or above the county level are responsible for supervising and managing the museums within their administrative territories, while other departments concerned at the same level are responsible for the museums- related work that fall into their respective areas of responsibility.
Art galleries and museums in China are not managed by the same authorities. Based on the national conditions of China, their management policies are currently at a turning point where the new and old policies co-exist, so their management is relatively more complicated than before. More often than not, art galleries in China are managed by the cultural authorities, while museums of China are managed by the cultural relics authorities. Such management system is not rigid, though. For instance, the Palace Museum and the National Museum of China, as organisations directly under the Ministry of Culture, are administered by the Ministry of Culture, rather than by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Rather, the art galleries of universities or colleges like that of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, are managed by the Ministry of Education. At the local level, art galleries may be managed by the bureaus of culture, press, publication, radio, film and television, as the former bureaus of culture and bureaus of press, publication, radio, film and television have now merged into one. Still, some art galleries may be managed by such organisations as federations of literary and art circles. The administration of art galleries and museums in China is therefore not consistent, nor is there a fixed government department that administers art galleries and museums as a whole. The administration of a particular art gallery is often situational.
II. Priority Project Areas and Strategies
In 2011, the sixth plenum of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Major Issues Pertaining to Deepening Reform of the Cultural System and Promoting the Great Development and Flourishing of Socialist Culture. The Decision evidently points out the need to “basically establish a public cultural service system that covers the whole of society, and strive to equalize basic public cultural services” in 2020. This is a strategic decision of strategic importance targeted at the cultural development.
In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized in its report that efforts must be made to “carry out key cultural projects that benefit the people, increase support for promoting cultural progress in rural and underdeveloped areas, and open more public cultural service facilities to the public free of charge and at a faster pace”, and “launch more major public cultural projects and programs, improve the public cultural service system, and make such services more efficient”.
In 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Recommendations for the 13th Five-
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Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as ‘Recommendations’) incorporated the “basic establishment of a public cultural service system” into the main objectives of economic and social development under the 13th Five-Year Plan and proposed to “promote standardized and equalized development of the basic public cultural services, lead more cultural resources to grassroots communities in urban and rural areas, innovate in the provision of public cultural services and safeguard the people’s basic cultural rights and interests”.
Under the guidance of the abovementioned guidelines, art galleries, as an important part of the public cultural service system, have become important, indispensable venues for cultural life and also important links of the effort to build the ecosystem of fine art. So the Ministry of Culture started the work to select the first batch of national key art galleries in 2010 with a view to promoting development of art galleries in China. As a result, 9 art galleries, including the National Art Museum of China, the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, Shanghai Art Museum, Jiangsu Art Museum, Guangdong Museum of Art, Hubei Museum of Art, Shaanxi Province Art Museum and Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum, were labelled as the first batch of national key art galleries. In 2015, Zhejiang Art Museum, Guangzhou Museum of Art, Wuhan Art Museum and China Academy of Art Museum were rated as the second batch of national key art galleries. So far, a total of 13 art galleries have been identified as such art galleries of the state.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture has exerted great efforts to promote the National Art Development Project and the National Art Collection Project. Together with these two projects, the National Art Gallery Development Support Plan, the National Survey on Art Galleries’ Collections and the National Exhibition Season for Premium Collections of Art Galleries have all been started. In particular, the National Survey on Art Galleries’ Collections and the National Exhibition Season for Premium Collections of Art Galleries aim to count, research and promote the art collections of the art galleries across the country and then exhibit them on this basis, with a view to promoting the social value of the classic artworks while pushing the art galleries to collect, sort out, research, protect and restore their collections, thus promoting professional development of the art galleries.
III. National Support and Investment Orientations
Financial and project support for art galleries is an important link of the national cultural strategy. The “National Art Gallery Development Support Plan”, as mentioned above, is a priority project of the “National Art Development Project” strongly promoted by the Ministry of Culture. In accordance with the Notice of the General Office, the Ministry of Culture on Undertaking the Work Relating to the 2012 National Art Gallery Development Support Plan issued by the Ministry of Culture on January 28, 2013, the “National Art Gallery Development Support Plan” is an important component of the Ministry of Culture’s “National Art Development Project”, and the Ministry of Culture will provide projects that are selected by the Plan with support in the form of financial rewards. The projects to be rewarded include the “excellent exhibition projects of the national key art galleries”, the “excellent exhibition projects”, and
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the “excellent public education and promotion projects”, etc. The “excellent exhibition projects of the national key art galleries”, however, are open to the first batch of the national key art galleries only, while the other two projects are open to all the art galleries, including the private art galleries that were opened before January 1, 2011.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance has set up the “national incentive fund for collection and donation of artworks”. The earmarked fund is to reward individuals or institutions that donate excellent artworks to the state, with a view to encouraging artists, collectors and all walks of life to donate excellent artworks to the state, thus enriching the national art collections. The Implementation Measures for the National Incentive Project for Artwork Collections and Donations (Provisional) issued in 2015 provides clearly that the candidates for the incentive fund include the National Art Museum of China, Chinese National Academy of Art, China National Academy of Painting and the national key art galleries identified by the Ministry of Culture. The incentive fund is a support fund that is financed by the national treasury and targeted mainly at the public art galleries.
Apart from public art galleries, private art galleries have also undergone rapid development in China after 2000. According to the statistical data of the First China Private Museum Forum, “by 2013, there have been 265 art galleries in the cultural system of China, and the figure may exceed 400 if art galleries in other systems and private ones are also included. These art galleries are concentrated in the well developed areas in the eastern China, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, etc. In 2012, a total of 265 art galleries put up exhibitions, including 2,782 self-curated exhibitions, with the number of visits reaching 21.1919 million, including 4.8024 million by minors. In the same year, museums across the country held 11,885 exhibitions (permanent displays excluded), with minors viewing 155 million person- times.”
In China, private art galleries are more flexible and independent than public ones in terms of institutional arrangements. In recent years, the Chinese government has been increasing support for private art galleries. The Ministry of Culture is now striving to integrate public and private art galleries so that they can access the same policies. For example, in the Annual Meeting of Art Galleries and the National Exchange and Recommendation Activities for Excellent Art Gallery Projects held on February 7, 2015, such private art galleries as the Today Art Museum, Times Art Museum and Si Shang Art Museum in Beijing, Shanghai Himalayas Museum and Shanghai Mingyuan Art Museum were given the excellent exhibition project award, while the Today Art Museum, Yuan Art Museum and Inside-out Art Museum were given the excellent public education project award as private art galleries. These awards gave expression to the government’s recognition of and concern for the private art galleries, fuelling private art galleries’ motivation to grow and flourish.
However, private art galleries are still in their start up stage in China. In the absence of established support and tax advantage policies, their funding sources are relatively few. They have no access to the support of public finance and public art foundations. To make matters worse, there is no such tradition
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as private donation or sponsorship in China. The funding of private art galleries, therefore, is mainly derived from the funding of enterprises. In particular, the real estate sector is an important booster for private art galleries in China.
For the time being, the Chinese government encourages the private capital to enter the cultural sphere and attempts to give the same treatment to public and private galleries in terms of the conditions for incorporation, the provision of social services, the standardization of management, the appraisal of professional titles, and the fiscal and tax support policies, etc. Meanwhile, the government encourages the private capital to donate the whole or part of the money used to build such public cultural infrastructure as museums and art galleries, etc and guides and encourages the private capital to participate in the public cultural services by way of giving donation to institutions, funding projects, sponsoring events or providing facilities, etc. According to the Ministry of Culture’s recent comments, while being encouraged to fund non-profit cultural development, private capital is also entitled to preferential tax policies concerned. For example, such policy measures as government procurement, project subsidy, targeted funding, low interest loans, tax advantages, etc. can be taken to guide the private capital to fund the construction of private cultural centres, museums and art galleries, etc.
Against such policy background, the local authorities in China have also issued similar support policies for private art galleries. For example, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture supports the private art galleries in Beijing to apply for “the top 10 excellent art promotion projects of private art galleries”, a selection event organised each year by the Bureau itself. On October 22, 2013, the Bureau announced the result of the 2012 excellent art exhibition project selection according to the Notice of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture on the Implementation Measures for Promoting Development of Private Art Galleries (Provisional) and the Notice of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture on Applying for the Excellent Art Exhibition Projects of Private Art Galleries 2012. However, how the policy orientations mentioned above will be put in place has not yet been nailed down, and more support policies for art galleries are still being developed. Moreover, they may vary from province to province due to different local conditions. So a wait-and-see approach is advisable at present.
As for the direction of investment for art galleries, the domestic art galleries now lay more emphasis on the curating and operation of exhibitions, but the collection of artworks has also been put on the agenda of art galleries in recent years. The capacity to research collections, the collection of artworks and the quality of collections are the core problems that plague the academic research of art galleries in today’s China. In order to give full play to the functions of art galleries, there is the need to accelerate the transformation from art galleries that only exhibit to art galleries that function as real museums in all respects. In recent years, the topics of art gallery forums have also gradually shifted from the history of exhibition to the art history of collections. However, public education and exchanges remain the weaknesses of domestic art galleries and account for only a small proportion of investment. Notably, the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Chinese government proposed the concept of “Internet+”. Roughly speaking, “Internet+” means “Internet + various traditional industries”, but
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it is not simple addition of the two. Rather, it is using the information communication technologies and the Internet to enable the in-depth integration of the Internet and the traditional industries, with a view to creating new eco-systems of development. How art galleries, as not-for-profit public institutions, can make use of the Internet to exercise such functions as exhibition, display, collection, education and exchanges, etc. is also a hot topic at present in China. Such greater policy background will inevitably bear on the public and private investment decisions relating to art galleries.
Chapter II Needs of Higher Education
I. Art Gallery-related Subjects and Courses Offered in Higher Education
In recent years, China has increased investment in the art gallery development, hence the great improvement in the hardware of art galleries, but the software and the shortage of professionals in particular remain a problem. In accordance with the latest statistics of the art gallery industry in China, by the end of 2012, there were a total of 265 art galleries in the cultural system of China, with a work force of 2,782 persons, including 1,497 professionals. That’s to say, there are less than 6 workers for each art gallery, on average. Professor Cao Yiqiang from China Academy of Art is of the opinion that the professional workforce of domestic art galleries falls far short of the widely accepted requirements and that, at the minimum, two roles must be established as soon as possible: one is the curators, and the other is the professionals who keep and restore collections and the publication and education personnel. Feng Boyi, an independent curator, believes that many art galleries in China are still found wanting in terms of their personnel development, including in such areas as competent curator and exhibition, research, collection, communication and promotion, and art education, etc. Huang Jian, executive curator of Long Museum, thinks that the lack of art gallery-related talents is due to the fact that the existing education system in China has no subjects or programs that commit to foster talents for art galleries.
In an effort to understand the status quo of art gallery-related subjects offered in the higher learning institutions of China, we first make analyses on the online recruitment information of 24 art galleries that are the most representative of the art galleries in the current China, with the view to identifying the departments that are in the most urgent need of specific skills, as well as the professional requirements for the positions in those departments. The details are tabled as follows:
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Table 1 Positions on Offer & Professional Requirements
Positions on Offer Professional Requirements (subject and orientation)
Exhibition curating Art theory (art management)
Academic research and editing Fine art (history of fine art/fine art theory/cultural criticism, etc.) and publication
Public art education Museology, fine art, art theory
Collection Fine art, museology
Administration Administration science, museology, fine art
Marketing Marketing, fine art, art theory
It can be seen from the table that the subjects required for the positions offered by domestic art galleries are mainly fine art and art theory. The two tier 2 subjects, as well as the courses subordinate to them, are basically offered by the professional academies of art, and particularly the 9 schools of art well known in China, i.e. Central Academy of Fine Arts; Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University; Hubei Institute of Fine Arts; China Academy of Art; Sichuan Fine Arts Institute; Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts; Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts; Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts; and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Subsequent to the analyses, we conducted a professional questionnaire survey among the few most representative art schools in China. We distributed 9 questionnaires and got back 5 as the schools wished. Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts reported that it had not yet provided the subjects aforesaid. Finally, we matched the courses offered by the respondent schools with the positions on offer by the art galleries, as follows:
Table 2 Positions on Offer & Courses Offered by Respondent Schools
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Positions on Central Academy of Fine Arts: School Academy of Arts & Hubei Institute of Fine China Academy of Art: School of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: Offer by Art of Humanities/School of Art Design, Tsinghua Arts: Department of Fine Art and Humanities/School of Art Department of Fine Art (fine Galleries Management and Education (fine art, University: Art (art theory) Management and Education (art art) art theory) Department of Art theory) History (fine art, art theory)
Exhibition General introduction to art Art management Art exhibition special, art Art management and curating General introduction to art curating management, research methods for curating and copy writing management, curating and the art management science, history of copy writing art exhibition, research project on curating of contemporary art exhibitions, China-Germany art management spring/summer school, practical courses at Putian teaching base Editing and For masters: guide to the aesthetic For masters: history Foreign fine art history, Fine art history writing basics, Western art theories and publication and art theory literature in German, of Chinese fine art, history of photography, history of Chinese fine arts, criticism, contemporary art in contemporary art theory and criticism history of foreign fine Chinese fine art thoughts history of western fine arts, art the west, selected readings in the west, selected readings from art, public art, in the 20th century, history and social history, selected from the western original works on the history of western research on the Chinese and foreign art readings from western fine art masterpieces on fine art art, general introduction to the history modern fine art of criticism and comparison, history literature, image research, history, contemporary image of culture in the 20th century, guide to China, fine art fine art criticism, history of research on the history of fine arts theory and criticism, history of the art theories and methods in the criticism, etc. modern designs in China, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese fine art, history of west, history of the contemporary art of methodology of fine art guide to the classics of western foreign fine art, professional China, post-modernistic criticism, history, art history and philosophy, selected readings English, basics of lectures on the frontier of the fine art collection, ancient painting from the history of Chinese fine professional writing, subject, art practice and artwork theories of China, etc. art, history of the Chinese art in introduction to archaeology of appreciation the 20th century, research on the fine art, ancient painting western art history, history of theories of China, general calligraphy and seal cutting, introduction to the art of summary of the western art styles image, visual culture and art in the 20th century, general history research, art criticism introduction to art, aesthetics, in the 20th century, social history of Chinese and foreign research for art in the Ming aesthetics, general history of Dynasty, etc. China and foreign countries, painting and calligraphy theories, history of the art history science, basics of editing and publication
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Public art Research on art education science, No specialized Psychology of art No specialized courses No specialized courses education audience outreach and development, courses research and practice on education by art museums, museums and public art education, research on psychology of art Collection Antique authentication and restoration No specialized Museology basics, art General introduction to General introduction to courses history and collection museology, antique protection and museology authentication
Administration Art gallery management No specialized Management psychology no specialised courses no specialised courses courses Marketing Art market analysis and research Art communication, Art market research Art economics, fine art policies Cultural projects and methods, general introduction to art brief history of art methods and approaches, and market management business planning, art marketing, art law, history of the market, art market art marketing, art law operations and intellectual western art market and art curating property
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Table 2 reveals that all the respondent schools have provided such subject as fine art or art theory1, and that the courses offered under such subject can cater to the requirements of various departments of the art galleries. However, the courses offered by the respondent schools are not comprehensive and systematic. For example, the art galleries’ department of collections function mainly to keep and research collected works, but the courses offered by the respondent schools are too rudimentary or not in existence at all. Generally speaking, the courses that meet the requirements of such positions as art research and editing and publication are the fullest, followed by the courses for exhibition curating and marketing, and those for the public art education positions are in the greatest need.
What’s worthy of attention is the fact that both the Central Academy of Fine Arts and China Academy of Art have two subordinate schools relating to art gallery-related subjects: one is the school of humanities, and the other is the school of art management and education. The courses offered by the school of humanities mainly serve the art research, editing and publication, and collections positions of art galleries, while those offered by the school of art management and education serve such positions as exhibition curating, public education, administration and marketing, etc. (for the convenience of analyses, we have listed and categorized the courses offered by the two schools in Table 2). As the schools of art management and education are emerging schools in China as spin-outs of the schools of humanities, their undergraduate education relies heavily on the teaching resources of the original schools of humanities. This situation may continue until the undergraduate education resources of the schools of art management and education are more developed. Moreover, more professional training given by such schools starts mainly from the post-graduate education, at which level their students can get more targeted, one-on-one training from their supervisors.
Our analyses find that ultimately none of the respondent higher learning institutions has established art gallery science as a mature, tier 2 subject, so art galleries in today’s China have to rely more on the subjects of fine art and art theory, two tier 2 subjects that intersect, to train the professionals they need.
II. Training on the Art Gallery-related Subjects in Higher Learning Institutions 1. Enrolment
The art gallery-related subjects of the respondent schools all enroll students through Gaokao, the national college entrance examination. The scores of applicants in Gaokaoare used as the main criteria
1Fine art, as a subject, trains advanced professionals in teaching and research, fine art criticism and editing, art management and museology, etc. for the fine art history research and education areas. Its graduates can engage in fine art education, fine art research, cultural, museum and art management, press and publication, etc. On the other hand, the general art science subject is a general introduction to the art discipline. It aims mainly to distinguish between the general and specific characteristics of art and generalize and weave the common characteristics into a complete system, explain the nature and characteristics of art, the genesis and development of art, the functions and social functions in particular of art, the positioning of art in culture, as well as the various problems of art itself, and put art on the track of the sciences of arts and social sciences. The two subjects are closely related to each other.
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for enrolment, while their scores in the professional skills test for fine art and in the independent matriculation exams of the schools themselves are used as minor criteria.
For example, before the reform in 2015, the Central Academy of Fine Arts decided that all the applicants for the subjects of fine art and art theory did not have to take the professional skills test for fine art, with their scores in Gaokaoas the sole criteria for admission. After 2015, however, it altered the criteria for admission so that all candidates for the two subjects needed to take a professional written examination for art appreciation; moreover, the candidates for the art theory subject needed to submit some personal materials in advance, including 1-5 artworks created by themselves. In 2015, the fine art course planned to enroll 50 students of arts, with a quota of 8 given to the candidates from Beijing; while the art theory course planned to enroll 30 students of arts, with a quota of 5 given to the candidates from Beijing. The candidates from all other provinces had to compete against one another based on their merits.
The Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University adopts the same approach to enrolment of art students. The Department of Art History affiliated to the Academy provides that, as a precondition, the score for academic achievements of the candidates must reach the score for admission for the first batch of undergraduates to major in literature and history, and then the candidates would be selected based on their academic achievement scores, which would be converted according to some criteria for the purpose of fairness. In 2015, the Department enrolled 242 students, including 170 for the design course, 55 for the fine art course and 17 for the art history course. The enrollment was from 24 provinces (municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions) across the country, but mostly from Beijing, Chongqing, Shandong, Guangdong, Hunan, Liaoning and Sichuan. Some provinces that saw relatively few applicants, like Gansu, Guizhou, Guangxi and Inner Mongolia, have also contributed to the enrollment. Most notably, Qinghai Province made a breakthrough with a candidate successfully enrolled on the art history course for the first time ever.
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts adopts similar enrolment criteria for the applicants of its fine art course, that is, using the score for academic achievements as the main criteria (scores for the second batch of undergraduates to be enrolled) and the score for professional test as the minor criteria. 70% of its enrolment is from within Hubei Province, while 30% is enrolled from other provinces based on merits. The school plans to enroll 168 students in 2016.
The School of Art and Humanities, China Academy of Art requires applicants to take two professional tests, i.e. the quality test and the appreciation and writing test, before Gaokao. The quality test aims to test applicants’ mastery of Chinese, Mathematics and English as well as their artistic accomplishments, while the appreciation and writing test aims to examine applicants’ writing skills and the abilities to analyse and appreciate artworks. Once they have passed the two examinations, the applicants will then
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be enrolled based on their scores for academic achievements in Gaokao. The school enrolls about 50 students every year, with the quota given to Shandong Province capped at 8.
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute enrols students who take part in the college entrance examination for fine arts from across the country. Candidates who apply for the art management and fine art history courses do not have to take the professional skills test for fine art; they are enrolled on the sole basis of their scores for academic achievements. However, candidates for the subject categories of theoretical (fine art, art history and art design) or educational (art education) nature have to first reach the minimum score identified by the school itself for foreign language and for the academic achievements respectively, and are then selected on the sole basis of their scores for academic achievements. This should, in principle, reach the minimum cut off point designated by each province for the second batch of undergraduates of arts or sciences to be enrolled in the same year. In 2016, the fine art and art design courses plan to enrol 30 students respectively; the art history course60; and the art education course75. Of the undergraduate students enrolled, 21.93% are from East China and the coastal areas, with 18.77% from the central China and 59.29% from West China.
In conclusion, the five respondent schools quite typically reflect the enrolment situation of the art gallery- related subjects (or courses) in the higher learning institutions of China today. Firstly, the enrolment criteria are mainly the academic score in Gaokao, with the score for professional test used as a supplement only. Such rules make the students enrolled in the higher education institutions relatively weak in terms of their artistic accomplishments. In recent years, some respondent schools have also noticed this problem. For example, the Central Academy of Fine Arts revised its admission rules in 2015, raising higher requirements for their applicants with respect to their basic accomplishments in art. Secondly, in order to ensure fairness across regions, the respondent schools set a ceiling for the enrolment in particular provinces where the education resources are abundant, while enforcing a quota of enrolment for the underdeveloped areas, like Xinjiang, making the enrolment much more diversified in terms of their geographic distribution.
2. Student Training
The School of Art Management and Education is the eighth specialized college established by the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Covering such subjects as art, management, economics and education, it is an innovative school aimed to train interdisciplinary talents. The School has its origin in the School of Humanities and is therefore closely related to the latter in discipline development. In teaching the history of fine art in particular, it relies heavily on the School of Humanities. Although the art management course and the fine art education course are not totally based on the history and theories of fine arts, they are the most important basis on which to establish themselves as independent subjects. Before the School of Art Management and Education was founded, its two components, namely, the department of
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art management and the department of fine art education, existed in the School of Humanities (the department of fine art education enrolled postgraduates only). Before its spin-out, the former School of Humanities offered students basic professional training in the first and second years through such courses as the history of Chinese fine arts, the history of foreign fine arts, general introduction to fine arts, aesthetics, education science, etc. From the third year onward, however, it began to give its undergraduates the opportunity to enter the department of art history, the department of cultural heritage or the department of art management of their own choosing. After the School of Art Management and Education’s establishment in June 2015, the department of art management and the department of fine art education were singled out as two pillars as the newly established School, so that the School could cater to the needs of art galleries, higher learning institutions and cultural industries, etc. in a more professional manner by sending them graduated masters and doctors and training the first generation of undergraduates in 2016. Guided by the concept of “innovative education”, the School attaches great importance to fostering the comprehensive professional competences and the practical operating skills of their students. It is different from the traditional schools of arts in terms of the organisational structure and the offering of courses. It pays much attention to the basic education in multiple subjects, i.e. the broad-based education. Moreover, it is active in providing studio-based teaching and project-based practical courses and strives to build an integrated education platform consisting of research, learning and businesses by entering into cooperation with research organizations, such as the National Research Institute for Arts and Cultural Policies.
The Department of Art History of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University enjoys a strong faculty. It presently has 13 teachers, including 12 doctors and 1 master, 6 professors, 5 supervisors for doctoral candidates and 6 associate professors. The Department teaches in small classes, i.e. considered to be the elite form of teaching. It invites scholars from Europe, the United States, Japan, Taiwan of China, and Hong Kong, etc. to lecture and exchange every year, with the view to broadening the academic horizon of its teachers and students. The Department requires its students to have systematic knowledge of the history of fine art and design (including arts and crafts) in China and foreign countries, have extensive humanistic accomplishments and strong writing skills, and have earnest understanding on the creation, status quo and market management of contemporary fine arts and design. It lays stress on the combination of theories and practice, the field surveys and the practical experience of creation and designs. In addition, it requires students to be sound in the styles of study and writing and the professional ethics.
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts adopts the “1+2+1” phased teaching model. In the first year of the undergraduate study, students mainly study the basics of their subjects, which include three parts: the basic courses of painting practice taught by the department of basic courses, the common theoretical courses, and the professional basic courses such as the history of Chinese and foreign fine arts and general introduction to art, etc. From the second year on and throughout the third year, the Institute begins to teach theories and practice, including mainly general introduction to art management, art
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curating, artwork marketing, art gallery administration and gallery operations, etc., with a view to enabling students to master necessary knowledge of the history of art, enhance their competences to research, appreciate and manage culture and art and the abilities to comment and edit, etc. and form the basic abilities to manage and operate. Meanwhile, some entrepreneurship contests and creative fairs are used to link up courses with practice. In the last year, the Institute sent students to designated art organisations for internships, learning and practicing in art organisations, where the full-time and part- time teachers will teach them jointly. The internship activities include mainly the basic practice (undertaken in the low grades to enable students to have a basic knowledge of art organisations and take part in some routine work of the latter), the operations of art events, the graduation practice and the graduation thesis or exhibition (undertaken in the senior year to enable students to become familiar with the whole process in which art organisations operate, manage actual events, identify problems in learning, and help art organisations to solve some practical problems, etc.). The graduation thesis or exhibition must be completed in collaboration with the art organisations concerned, under the joint guidance of the full- and part-time teachers and in response to critical problems or new project needs of the art organisations.
China Academy of Art has 40 undergraduates majoring in fine art and 23 postgraduate students majoring in art theory at present. Its School of Art and Humanities adopts a teaching model featuring two-stage, broad- and sound-based education and the goal of training students who are sound morally and academically, skilled in both theory and practice, knowledgeable in both the past and present and well informed on both the domestic and foreign issues. The school enrolls students by broad subjects and teaches the basics of subjects through common courses. In the first year, all students learn the history and theories of fine arts in the department of basic art theories without specific orientations. In the second year, they begin to be placed in under different subjects according to the Undergraduates Diversion Program. The diversion program is implemented in two rounds. In the first round, the diversion is based mainly on students’ scores. The Department ranks all students according to the weighted average scores of their professional and non-professional courses and then has them choose their orientations within the scope of their subjects in sequence. In the second round, the department and the students will choose each other in a two-way manner, taking into account the department’s needs for professional development. This round reflects the new requirement of standardized education management in the student-centered context and is also an effort to deepen and improve the undergraduate teaching model. While revising and perfecting the subject programmes, the Academy gives priority to the development of core courses and requires all departments to develop their professional course systems around the core ones. The Academy’s School of Art Management and Education, founded in June 2015, is an important part of the Academy’s efforts to develop a quality group of disciplines that represents the high level of visual culture development and education in China and also a new, distinctive school resulting from the Academy’s interdisciplinary efforts to forge an organizational structure of “five disciplines and ten schools”. For the time being, the preparations for the
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School’s establishment are still under way. The School aims to create a studio-based teaching model featuring the three links of teaching, experiment and research and innovation and the means of project- based teaching. It also involves developing information centres and laboratories, experimental bases and training centres, and international art management and education platforms, etc. Moreover, it emphasizes the theories of art management and education and the needs of the cultural market and social art education as the basis of its development, and strives to achieve the public art planning and management in a broader sense through a high level of integration between the teaching of theories and the practice of administration. Also, it highlights the functions of education and management in the socialization of art education, gives attention to urbanization and the building of beautiful villages, shows concern for the art education of the elderly and the research and practice in the public cultural and art domains such as the development of intangible cultural heritages.
Presently, the Department of Fine Art, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute has 18 teachers and staffs, including 14 full-time teachers (1 externally appointed). Of the teachers, there are 4 professors, 3 associate professors and 5 lecturers, and in terms of their educational background, there are 3 doctoral degree holders and 9 master’s degree holders. In addition to the standing faculty, the Department also appoints 4 part-time Chinese and foreign professors, and invites domestic and foreign experts to lecture on an ad hoc basis. The Department now has 313 undergraduates and 51 postgraduates working for their master’s degree. In an attempt to provide students with sound, basic professional education and rich academic information and enable them to grow into a new generation of art (history) theorists, critics and curators, the Department adheres to the concept of “practice-focused fine art” and “fine art tours”. Apart from rigorous professional teaching in classrooms, it also arranges for field surveys in Chengdu, Xi’an and Dunhuang, etc. Moreover, it has set up more than a dozen of practice bases for students in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Suzhou, etc., providing them with a platform integrating extensive theory learning and social practice.
All the respondent schools provided information on their practice bases in answering the questionnaire. The bases are tabled as follows:
Table 3 Practice Bases of the Respondent Schools
Schools Practice Bases
School of Art Management and Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, National Art Museum of Education, Central Academy of China, Shanghai New Gallery of Art, Art Beijing Fine Arts
Department of Art History, Sotheby’s, Beautiful Asset Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
Department of Fine Art, Hubei Provincial Museum of Hubei, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan Art Museum, K11, Jiahe Art Museum, United Art Museum, Artron.net
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Institute of Fine Arts (Wuhan), Chutian Media
School of Art and No practice bases have actually been put in place, but students serve Humanities/School of Art as interns for China Art Weekly, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Management and Education, and Xiling Auction, etc. every year. China Academy of Art
Department of Fine Art, Artron, art galleries, galleries and media in Sichuan Province Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
In summary, the professional training of various respondent schools has both commonalities and differences. Firstly, their commonalities are that they all attach importance to the development of disciplines and make beneficial trials in the offering and improvement of courses, hence the relative abundance in the basic theoretical courses. Moreover, they all set up practice bases in addition to their theoretical courses, thus achieving the combination of theory and practice to varying degrees. Notably, however, in the absence of a mature art gallery subject, the professional training provided by various schools targets not just art galleries, but a much broader segment of the market. Secondly, their differences lie in the level of teaching for different years. For example, the Department of Fine Art, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts commences practical teaching as early as in the second year and requires students to preliminarily acquire the basic ability to operate and manage only after the theoretical learning in the first year.
III. Employment of the Art Gallery-related Subjects in Higher Learning Institutions
As either the subject of fine art or the subject of art theory has several orientations, their graduates are suitable for a majority of the art-related industries, such as art media, art galleries, galleries, auction houses, art fairs, colleges and universities, etc.
The Central Academy of Fine Arts had 479 graduates (351 undergraduates and 128 postgraduates) in 2015, including 84 majors of fine arts. For the School of Humanities, the non-unemployment rate stood at 86% 2 , while the relevance of employment at 67%. Employment concentrates in the art-related industries, with some excellent graduates employed by art galleries and museums. For example, the employers for the 2015 graduates included the National Art Museum of China and the National Museum of China3.
2 It refers to the proportion of the non-unemployed graduates (including the fully employed, the partially employed, the self- employed and those who proceed to a higher level of education or choose to study abroad) to the total number of graduates. The figure remains basically stable over previous years for the Central Academy of Fine Arts. 3 Please refer to the Annual Report of China Central Academy of Fine Arts on the Quality of Graduates Employment 2015,available at: http://www.cafa.edu.cn/info/?c=902&N=8168
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As for the graduates of the Department of Art History of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, they are mainly employed as art history teachers of higher learning institutions, researchers of art museums, editors of publishing houses, art editors or journalists of news media, professionals of the art market or galleries, or planners or copy writers of the enterprises’ departments of CI strategy, etc. Currently, some excellent graduates are working for such domestic art galleries as the Palace Museum, National Museum of China, National Art Museum of China and Capital Museum, etc. According to the latest graduates employment report (2013)4 of the Department of Art History, approximately 47% of the Department’s graduates over the past 30 years have chosen to be teachers of higher education institutions; 16% have entered into other industries; 10% have become editors or journalists of news media; 7% researchers of the museums; 6% editors of publishing houses; 4% employees of auction houses, galleries, or art (design) companies; 3% government employees; while the remaining are self- employed.
The Department of Fine Arts, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts had 86 undergraduates majoring in art management during the four year period of 2012-2015. The average employment rate of these undergraduates after graduation exceeded 92% over the same period. Presently, the Department has 55 postgraduate students working for their master’s degree (grades 13-15 majoring in fine art history, art design, art management and fine art education), with their post-graduation employment rate averaging more than 96% in recent years. The Department’s graduates mainly engage in the administration of art galleries or cultural organizations, planning of cultural events or art exhibitions, consultations for artwork investment, or operations of art media, auction houses or galleries, etc.
By December 25, 2015, the employment rate stood at 92.32%, and the overall contract signing rate stood at 57.11%5 for the fresh graduates of China Academy of Art in 2015. The graduates of its School of Art and Humanities and School of Art Management and Education are mainly employed in the art- related industries. At present, some graduates are working for the art media, like Artron and China Art Weekly, etc.; some for the art galleries, like Mingsheng Art Museum and Long Museum in Shanghai; while some are active in the auction business.
According to the statistics of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, the school had 1,673 fresh graduates in the year 2015, including 163 masters and 1,510 bachelors. By December 30, 2015, the masters’ employment rate was 92.6%; the contract signing rate 27%; the self-employment rate 4.9%; the rate of progressions to a higher level of education 0.6%, with the latter three items adding up to 32.5%. On the other hand, the bachelors’ employment rate stood at 93.9%; the contract signing rate at 20.2%; the self- employment rate at 14.7%; and the rate of progressions to a higher level of education at home or abroad
4Please refer to the Graduates Employment Report for the Department of Art History of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, available at: http://art.china.cn/huodong/2013-11/18/content_6468302.htm 5 Please refer to the Graduates Employment Quality Report of China Academy of Art 2015, available at: http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=lQFoYx1552iM4C4477UXFpLSvSDM7RCpYY9MVR40BDT1JBaY2Hry_Vh_RCBN174k6cSOwBmcuL NVK5fb7yLxMnbQNd107J7PEllTgeA-KgW###
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at 8.2%, with the latter three items adding up to 43.1% and exceeding 40%6for the first time ever. The Institute sets such subjects as fine art history and art curating and management under the tier 2 discipline of fine art. The fine art history subject aims to train a group of teachers and researchers for the research of fine art history and the education of fine art, as well as advanced professionals for art criticism, art editing, art management and museum operations, etc. Its graduates may work in the education and research of fine art, cultural, museum and art management, press and publication, etc. The art curating and management subject, focused on the visual culture, trains curating and management personnel for the senior management positions of modern museums, and the planning and management positions of visual culture-related public projects, publication projects or dynamic/static communication projects, etc. Domestically, the graduates of the fine arts discipline work mainly in TV stations, newspapers, galleries, museums, art galleries, and cultural centres, etc. At the postgraduate level, the discipline mainly trains higher levels of professionals in the history of fine art and curating and management for the state and the society at large.
IV. Development Strategies and Trends of Higher Learning Institutions
The respondent schools have all shown their own development strategies and trends. The School of Art Management and Education, Central Academy of Fine Arts is a specialised school in training professionals under such subjects as art management, cultural industry management and fine art education, etc. It has such orientations as exhibition curating and management, art gallery science, art marketing and artwork trade, implementation of cultural/creative industries, public art curating and management, as well as higher fine art education, basic fine art education, and children’s fine art education, etc. The art management and fine art education programmes of the Academy were established in 2002 and 2003 respectively, both as the priority projects supported by the Ministry of Education under the “new discipline development in the 21st century” program. After decades of development, the two courses have explored and constructed a whole set of well supported teaching criteria and enjoy abundant teaching resources and internationalized faculties. Under the Academy’s motto that “greatness grows out of subtlety”, the school is practicing the concept that “the doers win and the talkers lose”, striving to build a domestically and internationally leading, innovative school in the art management and fine art education fields. Moreover, by pooling and integrating social resources, it strives to link up various disciplines with the art undertaking and the cultural industries in society with a view to fostering art management and education talents with international vision and suitable for the cultural and artistic development of China in the future.
6Please refer to the Annual Report of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute on the Quality of Graduates Employment 2015, available at: http://xsc.scfai.edu.cn/Job/Show.asp?Typ=4&ID=528
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The School of Art Management and Education has always adhered to the international education concept in its discipline development. As early as the moment it was established, the school has begun to participate in international exchanges and cooperation. One after another, it has entered into partnerships with City University London, Columbia University of the United States, California Institute of the Arts, Christie’s Education, Royal College of Art of the UK, School of Cultural and Media Management of FU Berlin, School of Economics of University of Bologna, etc. and engaged in cooperation in such areas as exchanges of teachers and students, overseas study tours, joint establishment of summer schools, etc., thus fully ensuring the internationalization of courses and pedagogy. During preparations for establishment in 2014, the School began to explore the feasibility of engaging in joint provision of education with international schools. On January 29, 2015, the School signed a framework agreement for cooperation with the French KEDGE Business School in establishing the China-France Art and Design Management School in the presence of Premier Li Keqiang and his French counterpart Manuel Valls, with the view to building a high quality educational organization in such areas as art, cultural organizations (including museums), art management, design management and cultural industries. Meanwhile, the School is actively negotiating with the School of Education, Columbia University in the City of New York with respect to the teacher development cooperation project and has signed a framework agreement for such cooperation in June 2015.
Moreover, as the first provider of visual art management subject in China, the former department of art management of the Central Academy of Fine Arts has, since 2003, offered 9 rounds of postgraduate courses on artwork appreciation, market and collection management, with the goal of training administrators for art organizations centered on artworks, with specific purposes of improving their competence to appreciate artworks, fostering their professionalism and cultivating their managerial abilities. Most importantly, the Department offered courses and training on the public and private collections of artworks, management of the art market, the administration of private art galleries, artwork financing, the administration of not-for-profit art foundations, etc. So far, more than 400 students have graduated from the department, who are now leaders of the art market, state-owned and private art galleries, and cultural industry parks, etc.
The Academy of Arts & Design has always attached importance to fostering students’ spirit and competence of innovation. While strengthening the teaching of basic courses, it strives to broaden students’ knowledge base and improve their overall quality. Moreover, it lays stress on the learning of fine traditions of Chinese and foreign nations and of the folk arts, the conduct of academic exchanges and the research of developments of the fine arts and art design subjects at home and abroad. It advocates the good style of study featuring rigorous scholarship, the combination of theory and practice and the seeking of truth from facts. It also emphasizes the concept that designs are at the service of life and the combination of design and processes and that of art and science. It still strives to cultivate students’ sharp ability to observe life and the awareness of making contribution to the national economic and cultural development, for which purpose it tries to create an active atmosphere for scholarship and a
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sound environment for human development. Guided by the overall plan of Tsinghua University to grow into one of the first class universities the world over, the Academy of Arts & Design will make efforts in the following areas: continuing and even developing the characteristics of education provision and the advantages in design of the former Central Institute of Arts and Crafts; accelerating development of the fine art discipline; persistently deepening the teaching reform; absorbing the latest research results on design and fine art education; enhancing the combination of art and science; improving the quality of teaching through creation and research; and exploring a reasonable structure of the design art and fine art disciplines in the 21st century, with the view to developing itself into a world-renowned school of fine arts with the first class art and design disciplines in the world and the leading plastic art discipline in China.
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts attaches extremely great importance to the establishment of partnerships with international schools and art organizations in its future education strategies and plans. In particular, it has the intent of entering into partnership with UK higher learning institutions. In relation to art management courses, it is willing to cooperate with international partners in the following areas: (1) high- level personnel exchanges: it plans to invite accomplished, foreign experts or scholars in the subject areas concerned to lecture or exchange at the school, while sending its own scholars of excellence to study and exchange at foreign schools; (2) joint development of courses: it intends to develop courses and exchange teachers and students with concerned colleges or universities overseas by means of workshops, provision of specialized courses or holiday practice, etc.; (3) cooperation in scientific research: it hopes to compile textbooks or monographs and share academic resources with foreign partners, with a view to improving its own academic research system; (4) planning of international academic events: it wishes to conduct international exchanges and cooperation on a full scale and organize academic projects in particular with overseas partners, such as exhibition curating and academic seminars, etc., with a view to promoting excellent artists, art commentators and curators on both sides.
In the new age of globalization and internationalization of higher education, guided by the concept of “interaction and harmony in diversity” and the principles of “international view and local focus”, China Academy of Art broadens its field of vision with open arms and enters into cooperation mechanisms featuring the sharing of resources and reciprocal advantages with a variety of quality colleges and universities, with the purpose of building a high-level academic community to lead the trend of internationalization of art education. In recent years, the school has maintained close partnerships with nearly 70 universities or colleges (including organizations) in 17 countries or regions on 4 continents and trained a cohort of excellent art personnel with both international vision and local bond. Its partnership universities or colleges include the Royal College of Art, Birmingham City University and Kingston University of the UK.
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In addition, China Academy of Art established a new school aiming to meet the personnel needs of art galleries in June 2015, namely, the School of Art Management and Education. The newly established school will consist of three departments, i.e. the department of fine art education, the department of art management (preparations under way) and the department of art appreciation (preparations under way). Moreover, it plans to establish a research centre for art management and education. Currently, the School has developed a joint teaching platform integrating school, community, museum and internet- based education as well as art education and social practice bases across the country. Meanwhile, it has extensive contact and cooperation with such renowned universities as FU Berlin and Kingston University of the UK and such organisations as the International Council of Museums and Association of Arts Administration Educators, etc. The School is an important part of China Academy of Art’s efforts to develop a quality group of disciplines that represents the high level of visual culture development and education in China and also a new, distinctive school resulting from the Academy’s interdisciplinary efforts to forge an organizational structure of “five disciplines and ten schools”. It adheres to the research strategy characterized by “one core and two priorities”, which means the core research on social fine art education and the new public cultural service system and the priority research on the art education system aimed at improving the humanistic quality and the art management under the diversified system. Moreover, it combines the art science with such subjects as education, psychology, sociology, administration, political science, museology and materials science as well as business, law, policy, media and collection, display, etc., with a view to developing disciplines that cross, interact and integrate with one another and to constructing a complete educational system facilitating the personnel training goals of the higher art education in the modern and contemporary times.
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute aims to build “a high level, first class school of fine arts with distinctive characteristics”. In particular, its department of fine arts, by making efforts at the frontiers of art theory and practice, art curating and administration, and art and cultural heritage in the contemporary China, aims its teaching, research and administration at training students to be professionals who not only know art history, art theories and art criticism, but also have basic practical skills for art creation and not only have professional knowledge, but also are familiar with art curating and exhibition, cultural/art organisations and marketing, etc. While based on research of fine arts and art theory, the department strongly proposes that teachers and students should integrate practice, social conditions and daily life into artistic creation. It has set up more than a dozen social practice bases in Chongqing, Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou, etc., providing students with a wide variety of specialized theoretical learning and social practice platforms. Meanwhile, it focuses on developing and promoting excellent, local cultural/art resources, with the goal of providing intellectual support for local economic and social development.
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V. Gaps in Higher Education
The Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Arts& Design of Tsinghua University and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute reported that their art management subjects were still incomplete in terms of structure and short of a series of courses under the subject. Hubei Institute of Fine Arts specifically pointed out its lack of such courses as artwork appreciation and restoration, art laws and regulations, cultural policy research, cultural heritage protection and management, and art economics, etc. China Academy of Art was of the opinion that it was particularly lacking in such courses as exhibition curating and practice, and exhibition-purposed display, etc. The art gallery-related courses intended to be provided by these schools in the future are tabled as follows:
Table 4 Intended Courses by the Respondent Schools
Schools Intended Courses
School of Art Management and Courses relating to western humanities and social sciences, Education, Central Academy of Fine as well as to art management, cultural industry management, Arts cultural economics and fine art education
Department of Art History, Academy of Research on public education by art museums, research on Arts & Design, Tsinghua University the history of exhibition, and research on cultural policy
Department of Fine Art, Hubei Institute Professional writing, research on public education by art of Fine Arts museums, exhibition curating, research on the history of exhibition, and research on cultural policy
School of Art and Humanities/School of Professional writing, research on the history of exhibition, and Art Management and Education, China research on cultural policy Academy of Art
Department of Fine Art, Sichuan Fine Professional writing, exhibition curating research on the history Arts Institute of exhibition
VI. Excellent Education Providers in China
Below are the top 6 universities in China and the research below are based on interviewing them.
(1) Central Academy of Fine Arts
(2) Hubei Institute of Fine Arts
(3) China Academy of Art
(4) Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
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(5) Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
(6) Nanjing University of the Arts
Chapter III Professional Skills Needs of Domestic Art Galleries
By collecting and analyzing online information of domestic art galleries and conducting online surveys and on-site visits to15 relatively influential public and private art galleries in the central, east, south, southwest and northwest of China, the investigators have gained a detailed knowledge of the status quo of art galleries in mainland China.
At present, the number of art galleries in China is constantly increasing. They are no longer limited to the tier 1 cities in terms of location; rather, they are appearing all over the country. Their hardware development is fast, but their “software” development remains sluggish, relatively speaking. For example, the definition of “art gallery”, as well as the concepts relating to their administration and operations and the systems used to evaluate art galleries, etc., is not quite clear even today. Exhibition, research, education and collection are the few functions valued most by the surveyed art galleries, followed by international exchange and public service, etc. Due to the difference in their nature, the surveyed art galleries have different sources of funding. However, they have quite clear orientation of collection and research. Moreover, they show a high level of diversification in the style and form of exhibition. The surveyed art galleries have all conducted different types of foreign exchange activities. They have organized a variety of public education projects, paying more and more attention to public education as a trend. The level of development of cultural/creative products varies from one museum to another. All art galleries lay stress on the development of professionalism on the part of existing workers, but also show a need for new blood and the advanced talents in particular, such as curating, administration and operation personnel, etc. Compared with the state-owned art galleries, the private ones are faced with more destabilizing factors, but enjoy more flexible operating mechanism and therefore more development opportunities.
I. Collection
Among all the surveyed art galleries that have the function of collection, 60% lay emphasis on the collection of contemporary artworks, while a few art galleries that focus on the work of particular artists or genres of art have also established their own, relatively systematic collections. Presently, the collections of various art galleries are not limited to the local place. With a concern for the young artists, 25% of the art galleries surveyed have their own clear series of collections according to such collection criteria as contemporary artworks of China, etc. Except a few that do not have the function of collection, all
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respondent art galleries have established specialized departments or positions for collection, and on this basis, have researched and applied their own collection resources. Some art galleries have dedicated exhibition halls for their collections and put on exhibitions or lend out their collections or put them on exhibition tours on a regular basis. Generally speaking, the overall utilisation of collection resources by the art galleries surveyed is on the rise, reflecting the importance the respondent art galleries attach to their research and academic accomplishments.
II. Research
All the surveyed art galleries attach importance to their research function and the work concerned. Some larger organisations have specialized research or academic departments, while others all have dedicated personnel. A few even have academic committees to support their work, with research and exhibition development moving each other forward. Specifically, there is research conducted by the category of art, like painting and sculpture, etc.; there is research conducted by the orientation of research, like the history of art, the theory of art and the art gallery science, etc. The surveyed art galleries have different priorities of research. For example, some lay emphasis on the relationship between the Chinese and western arts from the perspective of globalization; some on the new media art; while some are undertaking national art research projects, organising interdisciplinary research and researching the art in a particular territory, etc.
What’s worthy of attention is the universal phenomenon that domestic art galleries are still in the phase of learning from the west in designing and developing culture/creative products and therefore are confronted with such problems as the inability to protect their intellectual property, lack of creativity and a high level of similarity, etc. For example, some art galleries are developing such products in partnership with cultural/creative companies, while investing a little in research and development on their own part. Fortunately, despite the relatively little successful experience and few professionals in China, an increasing number of art galleries at home has begun to develop and manage their own brands, actively stepping up their efforts to integrate social resources on a wider scale. Quite a few art galleries have already gone somewhere or are taking stock of the issue. Some have even scored significant achievements in creating their own brands. For example, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art’s art shops include more than 80 contemporary artists and more than 100 emerging designers at home and abroad and therefore cannot only present original and forward-looking creative products for lovers of art and design, but also effectively support its own exhibitions and public projects. Moreover, some art galleries are reaching out for cooperation with foreign art galleries and companies, etc.
III. Exhibition
Exhibitions are an important expression of the academic level of an art gallery. The surveyed art galleries have developed a variety of exhibitions, including those developed by themselves based on
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their own collections, those conducted in collaboration with other organisations and those put up on their premises by other organisations. Of all the exhibitions, those developed by art galleries themselves account for the largest proportion. The art galleries surveyed have their own exhibition selection and curating criteria respectively. Moreover, all the surveyed art galleries have organized exhibitions featuring international cooperation with a view to promoting domestic artists while introducing foreign ones. More than 75% of the art galleries surveyed are actively exploring exhibition projects involving international cooperation. Some cooperate with overseas foundations and international curators so often that international exhibitions cover more than one third of their total exhibitions.
All the surveyed art galleries have positions for curators, including full-time curators of their own and external curators. The participation or cooperation of international curators is also present in their exhibitions. Some art galleries have even established the appointed curator system according to international practices.
IV. Funding
Funding is a difficult and focal problem in the operations of domestic art galleries. More than 75% of the surveyed art galleries have their funding partly supported (by public finance or enterprises/foundations) and partly raised by themselves, but the ratio between the two varies greatly from gallery to gallery, depending on the nature of an art gallery. For example, the ratio of self-raised funds to fiscal allocation approximates 1:3 at an academy’s art gallery; a public art museum relies mainly on government appropriations, with the proportion of self-financed money ranging from 10% to 20%; another public art gallery is totally funded by the national treasury. The funds used for collection and exhibition account for the largest share of all the monies of art galleries. Some galleries even have funds dedicated to foreign exchanges.
V. Public Education
All the surveyed art galleries have set up departments of public education. 40% of them do not target their public education at particular population groups, while others have their public education targeted mainly at community members, college students, primary and secondary students, etc. Some art galleries have public education projects aimed at special population groups. The public education projects are dominated by lectures and forums, but also include mini-theatres, art festivals, workshops, exchange studios, etc. Some art galleries are already consciously organising their own branding activities, such as the Night of Art Galleries event by the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum. A large majority of the art galleries surveyed lack professional public education personnel, but as an important function of art galleries, public education is being increasingly prioritised.
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VI. Functional Departments, Administration and Personnel
All the surveyed art galleries have such functional departments as research, exhibition, collection and public education, as well as personnel dedicated to HR, finance and security affairs, etc. Some galleries have, in addition to these departments, the office of the curator, the department of outreach, and the department of marketing, etc. Part of the surveyed galleries have academic committees responsible for providing professional recommendations and academic support for their operations, development and conducting research on collections, artists and exhibition projects based on their own collections. All galleries have intern and volunteer groups, who are organised by dedicated personnel of the galleries to conduct activities. Some art galleries have entered into cooperation with volunteers associations, while some even have established electronic volunteer management systems. The interns and volunteers include domestic and foreign students, community residents and lovers of art. They are responsible for assisting in administration, maintaining venues and serving events, etc., and even participate in planning, research and communication campaigns.
The surveyed galleries vary from one to another in terms of the size, educational background and work experience of their workforces. The exhibition and research personnel accounts for a considerable proportion of the total workforce of all museums. Regrettably, the proportion of the workforce who has the required experience of working in the art industry is not ideal, so professionals are urgently needed to improve the quality of workforces. The survey finds that the talents required by the art museums today concentrate in the academic, exhibition, public education and collection functions, and individuals who have the educational or work experience in museology, contemporary art theories, fine art history, art criticism, exhibition curating, operation and management of art galleries, public education, or who are experts in researching cultural strategies, policies and institutional development are all the more preferred. In this regard, there is the need for relevant subjects to provide education and training in a coordinated manner.
In addition, all the surveyed museums attach importance to the professional quality of their workforces, so they all have organised relevant learning or training activities, such as regular discussions, lectures and systematic trainings, etc. The surveyed galleries also exhibit a great interest in overseas training and hope to take part in it when occasion arises. 40% of the surveyed galleries explicitly reported their experience of organising their workforces to receive international training.
VII. Foreign Exchange and Cooperation
50% of the surveyed art galleries have positions devoted to international exchanges. All galleries have organised foreign exchange activities, including mainly international exhibitions, forums, seminars, studio exchange programs, etc. However, not many museums have established long-term, stable partnerships with foreign organisations, and the proportion of the art galleries that have done so stands only at 40%
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or so. Although some art galleries emphasized the need to introduce foreign projects according to their needs in the hope of ushering in premium international resources, more than 90% expressed a notable interest in international exchanges and cooperation, with a view to bringing in and going out by way of joint planning or promotion, etc. They also hope to enrich the forms of exchanges and cooperation and raise the level of cooperation.
In the final analysis, facing both opportunities and challenges, all the surveyed museums have manifested their expectations and endeavours with respect to adhering to academic independence, persisting in knowledge generation, establishing knowledge sharing platforms, conducting research on the contemporary art projects and strengthening international exchanges, etc., from which we can also see the trend and vigour of all the museums to forge their own brands.
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