Former investment manager Christian Levett has long been an impassioned arts patron, having at times described his collecting habits as “manic” or “compulsive.” This started from impulses as a child to amass football cards and other collectibles, and has since turned into a refined pursuit that focuses on Levett’s changing interests and focuses.

Levett has always been interested in sharing his collection and opened the Museum of Classical Art (MACM) in 2011 in Mougins, displaying antiquities, armour and classically inspired works.

We were thrilled to talk to CCH Pounder about her role as patron, collector, gallery owner and museum founder. While the award-winning actress is known for her major TV and movie roles including “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Shield,” and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” she has always been an arts advocate in a variety of ways. In 1992, CCH Pounder and her husband, the late Boubacar Koné, founded and built the Musée Boribana, the first privately owned contemporary museum in Dakar, Senegal, which they gifted to that nation in 2014. Now, her collection contains over 500 works of art focusing on Caribbean and African artists and artists of the African Diaspora, as well as traditional African sculptures. Most recently the exhibition, “Double ID” opened at The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on April 26th featuring works from the CCH Pounder-Koné collection. The show examines W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of “double consciousness” through contemporary artworks centering the inner self, identity, and evolving spirit of Black men.

Drs Ato and Tonya Wright met at medical school whilst training to be a Radiation Oncologist and Obstrecian Gynecologist respectively. Having been born in Accra, Ghana, Ato moved to the United States, age 13. Tonya was born and raised on the British Caribbean Island of Anguilla. Together, they enjoy travelling and appreciating art and music with their three sons.

Their collecting is intertwined with their familial and professional lives, their tagline being - ‘living with art in the home’ - and focuses on supporting and uplifting artists of the African diaspora. They go about collecting with purpose and integrity, sharing their journey through exhibitions and other initiatives and fostering a supportive arts ecosystem on a global scale. In 2021, they were featured in the Larry’s List Next Gen Art Collectors Report.

Just like our ‘collecting stories’ series, a day in the life aims to de-mystify the art-world, highlighting real-life stories of a typical day.

Lucy Scovell is a journalist and founder of The Istanbulist, a publication about all things art, design and travel in London, Istanbul & beyond. Through newsletters featuring curated edits, Q&As with local tastemakers, studio visits and feature articles, Lucy shines an authentic light on the people and places that make her home cities so special.

Kendra Walker is an art advisor and art writer that prioritizes and critically analyzes the work of emerging and established Black artists. As an arts writer she includes race theory and sociopolitical research in her work. She has contributed to editorial publications such as Artnet News, The Art Newspaper, Artsy, Galerie Mag, Cultured Mag, Contemporary&, and Sugarcane Mag. Kendra Walker focuses on making the art world more accessible for people of color and placing black art in institutions and in the collections of black collectors. Kendra Walker received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and fine art from Georgia State University in addition to studying art and architecture in numerous European cities. Kendra Walker is based in Atlanta, Georgia.Kendra Walker is the Founder of Atlanta Art Week and the Black Art Experience. She has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Essence, Artnet News, and others.

We recently collaborated with Christie’s Education to organise and host a course on the role of the collector and the responsibilities and possibilities that surround the role.

Cynthia Valianti Corbett holds a BA in Political Science from UMASS Amherst and a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

She was the recipient of the 2020 Tufts University Alumni Award with a Career Service Citation in recognition of her achievements and contribution to the international art world. Cynthia had a high-profile career, before entering the artworld, as an international economist specialising in emerging markets, based in New York and London.

Cynthia launched her gallery in 2004 and the Young Masters Art Prize in 2009, both supporting an international group of artists at different stages of their career.

The Residency, from CURA Art, is a platform aimed at supporting and sponsoring underrepresented artists, centred around time away from their usual routine at various appropriate spaces.

The Residency uses a unique approach, creating a supportive ecosystem through mentorship and community, connecting artists with influential patrons as a catalyst for change.

Created in response to the growth of collecting with purpose – collectors identifying and valuing their role in supporting the arts – The Residency is part of a movement seeking to nourish the art sector at a time when public funding for culture is being reduced.

It’s My House! celebrates the breadth of incredible artists living and working in Los Angeles, inspired by the city’s contradictions; a metropolis built on optimism and opportunity, while the reality is also one of poverty and division.

Through resilience, the city represents the ultimate juxtaposition between light and dark, nature and fabrication. Los Angeles embodies human ingenuity and imagination; an endless playground for artistic exploration.

The It’s My House! exhibition series was founded by CURA Art, to provide a 'home' for inspiration, debate and sanctuary, surrounded by the joy and passion that artistry brings. It’s My House! highlights diverse mediums, in response to increasingly experimental contemporary practices from artists and a growing interest in cross collecting.

Founded with the principles of access and community, CURA Art utilises a broad network and expertise to support collectors with all aspects of managing their passion and investment.

Whilst many of the collectors we know and work with choose to remain private, several have generously allowed us to share their stories with you, to inspire others and encourage open discussion on the role of the collector in the 21st century. The aim of the Collecting Stories series is to de-mystify the world of collecting, but also represent the many different approaches to acquiring and patronising the arts.

Collecting is so much more than amassing beautiful or interesting works of art and objects; collectors have the opportunity to invest in the future and document the past and present – through this series we hope to bring this to light.

Arushi Kapoor is a young female art dealer, gallerist, philanthropist and collector currently living in Los Angeles.

This year’s acclaimed Venice Biennale presents a surrealist vision, a celebration of the ethereal and bizarre – perfect for the city that floats, as if by magic.

Amongst the presentations dotted around the lagoon, an exhibition that stands out is French artist Claire Tabouret’s ‘I am spacious, singing flesh’. Nestled in quiet Dorsoduro, yet minutes from masterpieces of the Renaissance in the Accademia, Claire’s works are placed in a Palazzo on the water’s edge.

The close proximity to water suits the sculptures that greet you at the door. Claire’s bronze figures, dressed in nostalgic striped swimsuits, sit in groups in the Palazzo’s courtyard, haunting and guarding it.

Dylan Abruscato lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sarah and demonstrates a new generation of collectors finding artists online.

They currently own works by Jordy Kerwick, Szabolcs Bozó, Ben Sledsens, Jansson Stegner, Vojtěch Kovařík, Mònica Subidé, and Charlotte Keates, among others.

Many such purchases, including the works by Kerwick, Bozó, and Kovařík, were discovered and made via Instagram, before each had major gallery representation.

Their collection represents the power of making connections to creatives through social media channels, and how these platforms are becoming a worthwhile place to discover and connect with artists.

We had a whirlwind trip to Italy that included experiencing this year’s magical and highly acclaimed Venice Biennale, curated by Cecilia Alemani, also marking the first time an Italian woman has curated the program. Georgia knows the city very well, having lived there as part of her degree, so we were able to zoom around, stopping for an occasional Campari spritz, Cicchetti and gelato to beat the heat.

This year’s exhibition, The Milk of Dreams, is titled and inspired from a 1950s fairytale by the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. The book is set in a “magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination (…) where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else.” The ambitious display, featuring 213 artists from 58 countries, is spread out through the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the neighboring Arsenale shipyard, nearing half a mile in length. Also responding to this mystical theme were the 80 National Participations taking place in the historic Pavilions and throughout the city.

Collecting is so much more than amassing beautiful or interesting works of art and objects; collectors have the opportunity to invest in the future and document the past and present – through this series we hope to bring this to light.

Our services complement and expand those offered by galleries and advisors, and they often recommend us to collectors. In this instance, we met collector Antony Wright through the recommendation of the Redfern Gallery, where Liza and I both worked. His collection focuses on the Modern British movement, and here we find out more about his passion for this genre and what inspired his collecting.

CURA Art, in collaboration with Porch Gallery, invites you to It’s My House!, a collective space and exhibition celebrating the role of collectors in their embrace and support of creativity. This immersive installation-exhibition utilizes the building’s former life as a domestic space and creates a united “house” and cultural hub for inspiration, debate and sanctuary, surrounded by the joy that artistry brings. 

Humans have collected objects throughout our existence as functional apparatus, for the pursuit of knowledge, as status symbols, and to surround ourselves with beauty, but also as sentimental mementos and to feel a part of the wider human experience through the creative skill of others. The objects in our homes reflect our personality, interests and storytelling about our lives, selected and positioned with intent. 

Founded with the principles of access and community, CURA Art utilises a broad network and expertise to support collectors with all aspects of managing their passion and investment.  

Whilst many of the collectors we know and work with choose to remain private, several have generously allowed us to share their stories with you, to inspire others and encourage open discussion on the role of the collector in the 21st century. The aim of the Collecting Stories series is to de-mystify the world of collecting, but also represent the many different approaches to acquiring and patronising the arts.  

As part of our exhibition “It’s My House!” at Porch Gallery, which celebrates the act of collecting, we spoke with several local collectors for this special Collecting Stories Feature!

As part of the exhibition ‘YOLK’, curated by Mollie E Barnes of She Curates for the Taurisano Collection we were asked to take part in a panel discussion on the subject of collecting with a purpose.

Interview in partnership with She Curates

Nancy Cadogan is a British American artist. She has been exhibiting her work globally since 2005 with shows in London, Oslo, Miami, New York and Southampton, USA.  Her work features in some of the world’s most important private collections. She studied at The City and Guilds of London Art School and Canterbury Christ Church University before moving to New York in 2002. She had two solo shows at Frost & Reed, New York in 2004 and 2005.

Young collector Victorino Rosón Diez-Feijóo represents a new generation of collectors in Spain, focused on collecting with purpose. The son of one of Spain’s top collectors, he recently founded the Colección Aldebarán, and aims to continue in his father’s footsteps, as well as inspire further patronage and support for the arts.

Collector as patron – Valeria Napoleone in conversation with Jane Morris.

Thursday 9th September at 5pm BST on Zoom

The patronage and philanthropy of collectors is becoming increasingly vital for the support of artists and sustaining the arts more broadly. From focusing acquisitions on under-represented groups to providing access to the works they own, collectors are increasingly conscientious - and this renewed sense of patronage will be fundamental to the arts moving forward.