Ex-Art Basel Director Marc Spiegler Launches Online Academy

The growth of the art market over the last two decades has fueled educational and professionalization initiatives aimed at those entering the trade. Auction houses spearheaded this trend first, with both Christie’s and Sotheby’s offering education courses, while schools such as the Courtauld Institute of Art have recently introduced degrees focused on art and business. The latest program to debut is from Art Market Minds, the organizers of the Art Business Conference, who have joined forces with former Art Basel chief Marc Spiegler to launch a new web-based education initiative.

Announced today, Art Market Minds—The Academy will offer live online courses that explore industry dynamics and foster entrepreneurial innovation, addressing an anticipated paradigm shift within the trade.

“The art world of 2025 is dealing with a lot of potential disruption: a generational wealth shift, tariff wars, accelerating consolidation, A.I., [and] the rise of authoritarianism…,” said Spiegler, adding that art-world professionals need to “closely” study what’s happening. “Adaptation and experimentation will prove to be the key success factors. It’s like surfing, if you don’t ride the big wave of change, you get rolled underneath it.”

Spiegler helmed Art Basel, the world’s foremost art world brand, from 2007 to 2022. During this time, he oversaw a period of major growth, including the launch of two new fair locations: in Hong Kong in 2013 and in Paris in 2022. He is currently a cultural strategist serving on the boards of a number of organizations and developing cultural strategies with various companies and entities.

“We think this is a moment where the industry is expanding in new directions, with new approaches. The art world needs new perspectives and new ideas, from new people and we’re giving them the foundational knowledge to operate in this singular environment,” Louise Hamlin, founder and CEO of Art Market Minds, said via email. The company that has been organizing the successful Art Business Conference series since 2014. “Teaming up with Marc Spiegler, who led Art Basel, one of the most remarkable developments of the global art world in the last two decades, was the right way to make this happen.”

Spiegler, who has also served as a visiting professor in cultural management at Università Bocconi in Milan over the past decade, is expected to offer a complete view of the art world’s current and future dynamics, players, numbers, and relations to other industries, noted Hamlin.

The Academy’s curriculum is designed to serve students from all over the world, ranging from professionals of other sectors who are looking into joining the industry and those who work with governments and corporations on cultural projects, to art world players who are still fresh to the industry and artists exploring the development of new models, according to Hamlin. Participants will join the organization’s network of 5,000 art-market professionals.

The inaugural program, “Understanding Today’s Art World, with Marc Spiegler,” is a 10-hour live online program divided into four sessions starting February 4; the class size will be capped at 100 students and costs £750 (or $960, excluding local tax). It will then be followed by the Cultural Catalyst Program, an entrepreneurial module grooming future arts and cultural entrepreneurs with opportunities to pitch their business proposals during conferences.

The Academy will also be looking into growing its program by developing role-specific classes and bringing in other speakers drawn from Spielger’s network, Art Market Minds, and ArtNova in the future, Hamlin added.

Last year, Art Market Minds was acquired by the French cultural investment fund ArtNova. The Art Business Conference holds annual events in London, New York, and Paris, as well as TEFAF Maastricht. The Art Market 2050, which focuses on art and technology, has been held in London during Frieze week since 2023.

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