The Cultivist, a private members’ club offering “privileged access” to museums, art fairs, galleries and artists’ studios for £1,900 a year, officially launches in London tomorrow, 3 July. Around $1.5m has been invested in the venture; backers include the Egyptian-born British businessman Ronald Cohen.
So far, the co-founders Daisy Peat and Marlies Verhoeven, who ran the Sotheby’s Preferred programme, have partnered with more than 70 major European and US museums, with at least 30 more in the pipeline. Membership will grant you out-of-hours access to the institutions and, with 24 hours notice, an exhibition tour by an art history PhD student.
Some museums are reimbursed financially for their services, while others are paid in kind. “There’s a philanthropic element to the business, which comes out of the membership fees,” Peat says.
Since soft launching at the Venice Biennale, The Cultivist has gathered 300 members, with another 500 to 600 on the waiting list. Founding members and ambassadors include the artists Rashid Johnson and Idris Khan and the collectors Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Simon Franks.
While the focus is currently on public museums in the US and Europe, there are plans to include privately run museums and foundations, as well as to broaden geographical horizons to Latin America and Asia.
“The concern is that The Cultivist could potentially emphasise the status quo [where a handful of dealers and museums hold much of the power], but here is where its advisory services on local art scenes will be crucial in exposing its members to more experimental and emerging art centres, residency spaces and galleries,” says Aaron Cezar, the founding director of the Delfina Foundation in London.