News – Own Art restart

Arts Council Englands (ACE) flagship Own Art scheme has restarted following its suspension in May this year. The scheme was launched in 2004 to offer interest-free loans to members of the public for the purchase of work by living artists. More than 8,700 people bought art valued in excess of £7m through the scheme, which had to be put on hold following the decision by HFC Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC, to pull out in order to concentrate on its larger businesses (see AP issue 140.)

ACE has now appointed Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance as the new credit provider for both Own Art and its recently launched Take It Away scheme, which allows similar interest-free loans for the purchase of musical instruments. More than 300 galleries signed up for the original Own Art scheme, of which over 200 have re-registered so far. Hitachi is currently working with ACE to enable the transition of the service from HFC Bank and for galleries to resume offering the service to customers as soon as possible. Applications from new galleries wishing to join the scheme are currently suspended pending the outcome of the Governments Comprehensive Spending Review.