You’ve heard the term and seen the leaflets, but what is this Own Art scheme that everyone talks about; are you eligible and how do you apply?
What is Own Art?
First things first, Own Art is a legitimate scheme that is not a scam. It allows customers the opportunity to buy a piece of contemporary art or craft and pay for it over 10 months, in equal instalments at 0% finance. That means there is no interest to pay.
Own Art is a national scheme that is run by an organisation called Creative United who are in partnership with Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
If you apply to pay for a piece of art using the scheme you would fill out a form, either in the gallery or sent to you by email. Your credit agreement would be with a company called Novuna Finance.
Who uses Own Art?
Since 2004 over 60,000 customers have used the Own Art scheme to buy works of art from over 300 galleries in the UK. Watermark Gallery in Harrogate is one of those galleries and we had to apply to be a member which we did in 2020. You can see the full list of galleries listed here.
Although Own Art was originally set up to help make art buying more affordable and accessible to a wider group of people, the scheme is used by all types of people who recognise the benefits of spreading payments at no extra cost.
