Twice a year, Inversion Art hosts an international open call to identify 15 of the most exciting and talented artists from around the world for its accelerator program. These artists will receive an investment in their work equal to 30% of their previous year’s art-related income, up to a maximum of $100k.

For example, if you earned $50,000 from your creative practice last year, we’ll buy $15,000 of your work for our private collection. If you earned $300,000, we’ll buy $90,000.

We then bring all 15 artists to Los Angeles for 10 days to kick off the three-month accelerator program. During this initial convening, you will meet our team and your fellow artists, enjoy gatherings and dinners together, hear from guest speakers, and take part in conversations with key figures from the art world and other creative fields. The point is to sow the seeds of a community and the relationships that will prove valuable for a lifetime. You will also meet your dedicated liaison who will be your first point of contact for Inversion's artist services.

One-on-One Strategic Planning

The purpose of the accelerator is to set the stage and serve as a launching point for the next phase of the artist’s career. We want to know who you want to collaborate with, whether it be artists, writers, curators, or creative professionals from other fields. We want to understand your goals and ambitions, both creative and financial. We want to know what projects you have always wanted to pursue but felt you could not for lack of support, expertise, or motivation. Through engagement with our advisory team, your fellow artists, and our broader Inversion community, you will define what success means to you and develop a vision, as well as a strategic plan, for how to achieve it. For some, this may include a scaled studio operation that can support increased earning potential. For others, it may mean starting a community art center, pursuing a public works project, generating collector interest for works in a new medium, or gaining representation by a gallery in a city far from home. Whatever their goals may be, we believe artists will gain tremendous insights and direction from our team’s experience as leading artists, curators, professors, entrepreneurs, art advisors, and more.

For many artists, our program may be the first time any industry leader has sat down with them and asked them what they want to have happen in their careers. As the artists return to their hometowns to continue the program remotely, they will continue to meet with their advisor weekly to develop these goals and aspirations into a strategic plan. Their advisor may also coordinate introductions to others within the team and our broader network where we believe more expertise and relationships could prove helpful. Although our advisors may provide critique and tough love, it is not our job to push the artists in any specific direction. We invest in artists whose aspirations and track records we believe in, and our goal is simply to help them pursue their own vision of success as best we know how.

Developing a Presentation of Each Artist’s Vision

As the artists begin to solidify their vision and strategic plan, the task shifts to preparing a presentation of their vision for our program-end exhibition. This exhibition is not designed to sell work. Our goal is to bring together a curated, invite-only audience of collaborators, curators, gallerists, collectors and other professionals who we believe could be supporters of our artists as they enter the next phase of their career. Successful outcomes for our exhibitions would be establishing a relationship with a new curator, meeting an industry leader from another field to collaborate on an ambitious project, or securing an eventual exhibition in another country, as examples.

The Program-End Exhibition

As we approach the end of the 3-month program, the artists will return to Los Angeles for the final 10 days to practice their presentations, receive feedback, continue to form bonds with the other artists in their group, and to mount the exhibition. Inversion Art will host gatherings and previews of the exhibition for VIP guests prior to the larger invite-only event. After the series of gatherings and the exhibition have concluded, our team will work to ensure that our artists establish meaningful connections with the members of the community who are interested in collaborating with or supporting them.

5 Years of Operational Support

Inversion does more than help artists plan for success. Artists need freedom to focus on their work and to pursue their plans. For at least five years, starting at the onset of the program, Inversion provides artists with outsourced studio administrative services. For artists whose goals are to expand their practice, these services help increase the capacity of their studio operation without the cost of hiring in-house managers or the headache of juggling multiple part-time contractors.

Each artist  is assigned a primary Artist Liaison. Your liaison oversees Inversion's delivery of the following services:

• LLC incorporation (if not yet incorporated)

• billing, accounting, and tax management

• marketing management (website, social media, select PR)

• inventory and registrarial management

• access to legal counsel

• access to continuing career guidance, planning, and advocacy

• access to payroll services

• access to health care insurance, disability insurance, and a 401k (the same that Inversion Art provides its own team)

Read more about our artist services here

Option for Continued Investment

We ask every artist for an option to buy up to $500,000 in additional work over eight years at a 15% discount. Though the purchase of additional work is not guaranteed, when we are able to, this option can be tapped to finance new projects and opportunities.

For example, if an artist is offered a museum exhibition with a contract that does not fully cover production costs, Inversion may choose to exercise some of its options, which would provide the artist with the necessary funds to finance these crucial opportunities.

Regardless of what artists need, they can request that Inversion exercise some of its options and we will always consider doing so. These can be through purchases of existing inventory or as commissions toward new work. Inversion acts as an institutional patron that can be called upon for support. And all of the work that Inversion acquires through these options is subject to the same pro-artist terms as the other work we collect.

Who Are We Looking For?

Inversion Art is a company that invests in fine artists that are on a promising trajectory toward an extraordinary long term career. We’re looking for artists who are achieving measurable indicators of success, who want to leverage our services, guidance, advocacy, and community to pursue greater things. We are not designed at this time to help completely new artists break into fine art. Our artists will be late-emerging or mid-career with a proven track record.

Who Is Eligible?

• artists who consistently earn at least $50,000 in income from their practice but on average $100,000 or more

• promising early-career artists who are gaining institutional recognition and commercial traction

• mid-career artists who are looking to make changes in their practice or professional situations

• artists who want to scale their studio (or post-studio) operation but don't yet have the capital or know-how to do so

• artists who understand the importance of defining goals and planning to achieve them

• artists of ambition, generosity, and intelligence

• artists who want to define their own success and have leverage over their own careers

What Is the Application Process?

We will begin inviting artists and accepting open-call applications for our first group of artists in 2024. We have tried to design a process that minimizes time spent for the artists who apply. Artists will be asked to submit a first round application with basic information about their work, practice, and finances. Our team will choose 50 or fewer of the most promising applicants and invite them to complete a second round application and to interview virtually with members of our team.

The second round application will include more detailed financial information. The virtual interview will be an opportunity to get to know each other and we will discuss, among other things, which works we would buy should the artist be accepted. The interviews will take place over the course of two weeks and, at the end of those two weeks, we will call all artists who were accepted and provide feedback via email to those who were not. We expect artists who are offered a spot to commit on the call and each artist will have 24 hours to provide the supporting tax documents (W2, etc.) that verify their income claims. If they are unable to commit on the call or provide the documents needed, we will need to proceed with inviting someone else to participate.

Continuing With the Community After the Program

After the program ends and all of our artists return to their practices, the artists will continue to engage with the community of artists and our own team through private forums and communication tools designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and the exchange of opportunities. This aspect of Inversion Art never ends and will only grow stronger over time as more and more great artists become alumni members of the program. Additionally, Inversion’s support of the artists’ studio operations and each artists’ access to the advising team will continue throughout our relationship together. Truly, the end of the program is only the beginning of the incredible work we hope to accomplish together.

If you would like updates on Inversion Art and to be notified when we begin accepting applications, please sign up for our newsletter.

If you have any questions about the accelerator program or Inversion Art, please contact us here.

Read more about our artist services