How China’s private art museums are seeking patrons to survive, and the wealthy art lovers paying big money for exclusive perks

Private museums in China built by property developers in return for tax breaks and other benefits are feeling the effect of the country’s real estate crisis

One art collector says the nearly US$16,000 she pays a year to be a patron of Beijing’s Today Art Museum is good value for what she gets out of it

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Wang Lin, partner at Spring Capital and a patron of Today Art Museum in Beijing, China, at the museum. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 5:15am, 26 Jan 2022Updated: 1:02pm, 27 Jan 2022

Corrected [1:02pm, 27 Jan, 2022]

[1:02pm, 27 Jan, 2022]
The English translation of comments from Wang Lin and Jessica Zhang, originally made in Mandarin, have been amended after discussion with Today Art Museum.

For Wang Lin, an avid art collector in Beijing who boasts works by artists such as Zao Wou-Ki and Yoshitomo Nara, paying 100,000 yuan (US$15,800) a year to be a patron of the city’s Today Art Museum – which bestows privileges such as gala dinners and private tours to other institutions – is well worth it.

The former Goldman Sachs banker, now a partner of boutique investment bank and asset management company Spring Partners, has a deep interest in art, and studies Chinese art history in her spare time.

“We went to a Shanghai art fair last year. I ran into many friends in the financial world there. I want more exposure [to the art world],” says Wang, who was the first patron to back Today’s new fundraising scheme launched in November 2021.

Amid a Chinese economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, private museums are increasingly courting private individuals like Wang to boost their income and help strengthen their governance. According to government figures, there were 1,860 privately held museums in China in 2021.

Jessica Zhang, director of Today Art Museum. Photo: Simon Song

The first wave of private art museums in China appeared in the late 1990s when property developers were encouraged to set up non-profit art spaces as part of new residential projects in return for tax breaks and discounted land premiums.