IE University brings together international experts to analyze the impact of art on business

Madrid, February 21, 2018. IE UNIVERSITY has brought together international experts to analyze the impact of art on business at a one-day conference entitled Make Art Work: Art in the Age of Disruption.

The event took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid and was organized by IE Arts & Business Club and IE Campus Life of IE University. The aim was to recognize and celebrate the value of the humanities for IE University and bring together experts and companies from the art world, along with students interested in exploring different business models for the sector. Market trends, the potential of art fairs, the role of auction houses and the vision of major philanthropists and institutional collectors that contribute to the construction of a new business model were discussed.

It was held in the run up to Madrid’s ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, at a time when the sector is enjoying a period of sustained global growth. The art market has maintained 13% annual expansion since 2000. In addition, the global art market recorded total sales of $63.7 billion dollars in 2017, an increase of 12% on 2016, according to Art Basel and UBS.

Diego del Alcázar Silvela, president of IE University, inaugurated the event with Will Gittins, a student of the Master in Management and coordinator of the IE Arts & Business Club. The event featured a panel discussion on The weight of tradition versus new business models, that included experts such as Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, founder and president of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation; Jorge Coll, co-founder of Coll & Cortés and CEO of Colnaghi UK; Beatriz Ordovas, Director of Christie's Private Sales Post-War and Contemporary Department; Javier Iturralde de Bracamonte, Director of Art and Communication at Saisho; and Robert Norton, CEO and founder of Verisart.

The second panel discussion, on customer experience and corporate patronage, included experts such as ARCO’s director, Carlos Urroz; Juan José Litrán, Director of Corporate Relations of Coca-Cola and director of the Coca-Cola Foundation; Fátima Sánchez, executive director of the Centro Botín, Botín Foundation; Rafael Orbegozo, adviser to the chairman & CEO's Office, Iberdrola, and director of Iberdrola Art Collection; and Evelio Acevedo, General Director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation.

"It is always a good time to combine art and business, art and leadership, within the search for more capable, more sensitive and more inclusive people with the best skills. That is what we intend each year as part of our ongoing commitment to the humanities, in the search for a well-rounded person, capable of understanding the emotion of art, literature and all the disciplines that contribute to making us more human and better people. With that in mind, I thank this initiative of IE Arts and Business Club together with Campus Life," said Diego del Alcázar Silvela, president of IE University.

“Humanities help understand the world.”

IE considers the study of the humanities to be key to better understanding the world around us, providing a critical and global vision of reality. The humanities are present in all educational levels of IE University, from graduate programs to executive education, where all students take humanities-based courses.

Our humanities courses are designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills of the humanities through disciplines such as the history of art, literature, philosophy, the classics, cultural theory and history. These classes complement IE University's mission to promote analytical skills and critical thinking among its students. IE University’s Humanities Center also organizes conferences attended by international experts and promotes the IE Humanities Foundation Awards each year, in the categories of short story, poetry, essay, video and photography.