A packed OGH played host to the latest Chamber Lunch, which saw Art for Guernsey’s David Ummels discuss the multi-faceted benefits of the Renoir Exhibition, making a case for artistic projects as vital drivers of economic upturn, tourism, educational expansion, and a desirable brand for Guernsey.
The Renoir project was a 4-year campaign that spanned seven stages. Key activity included the development of the now famous Renoir trail around the bays of Guernsey’s south coast, the purchase of one of Renoir’s Guernsey paintings, a partnership with Visit Guernsey to bring art journalists from the likes of Forbes and The Guardian to the island, and an exhibition in tandem with Guernsey Museums.
David highlighted how Renoir and future art-focused campaigns can aid in crafting a positive and attractive narrative about Guernsey. Noting that some people who haven’t visited the islands first think of favourable tax rates when they’re mentioned, he saw an opportunity for major pieces of artistic activity to re-define the island’s brand.
He presented the campaign’s ‘numbers’ with clarity, openness, and modesty and demonstrated how, on a £350,000 budget, the activity directly represented a £2.85m upturn for the local economy. In reality, this figure was likely much larger as the funds moved through the community and contributed to further local investment and paid salaries.
The enormous success of the Renoir campaign, both financially and culturally, demonstrated how embracing art can lead to Guernsey redefining itself abroad as a centre for artistic relevance. And where artistic relevance lies, tourism is sure to follow. This was exemplified as David revealed that 30.5% of those who attended the Renoir exhibition were non-residents and of those, one third responded in a survey confirming that they travelled to the island specifically to attend the exhibition.
David’s passionate demonstration of how the arts can mean significant earnings for the right organisations looking to invest was exemplified by a simple phrase: ‘when £1 is spent on art and culture, £7 is spent on visiting it.’
It quickly became apparent that this philosophy not only applied to the Renoir campaign, but also demonstrated the significant value that the arts hold for Guernsey more broadly. David cited the 42 factors that influence spending as reported by the London School of Economics, with the top external influencer being art and culture. As an example, he noted that it is for this reason that retailers play loud music to encourage consumer spending.
Further evidence was provided by David through his citing of the McKinsey Report, ‘Assessing the direct impact of the UK arts sector’ which noted that the art and culture industry contributed £49bn to the UK economy in 2022. As one of the fastest growing sectors, art and culture offers considerable value across a range of different disciplines.
Using Renoir as an example, he tapped into how many touch points the campaign had, as it was all at once a marketing asset, hospitality asset, economic asset, and educational asset. The campaign saw Art for Guernsey engage with schools to culturally enrich young islanders, fostering creativity that will help them become the most open-minded workforce yet. David noted that his organisation is dedicated to pushing young people away from polarised thinking and instead encourage freedom of thought and expression through their response to art.
To conclude, David leveraged his background in investment banking and highlighted how he considers Art for Guernsey to be a social investment firm.
‘We are not an art organisation. We apply art to benefit the economic, educational, and marketing sectors in Guernsey’.
He implored the audience to consider not only the potential benefits across the board of investing in artistic activity, but also to consider the quality of said activations. The kinds of affluent travellers who came to the island to see the Renoir activity will not return unless there are substantial, authentic, and well-developed equivalents.
Now, David and his team at Art for Guernsey look to the future, with a similar long-term activation planned around legendary artist J.M.W Turner. Expecting a 100-200% ROI within 4 years, it is clear that Art for Guernsey, as a social investment organisation, shows no signs of slowing down. Indeed, the opportunities for islanders to embrace the highest-quality art installations and benefit all islanders economically, educationally, commercially, and in defining a positive, empowering brand for Guernsey, remain as timeless as Renoir’s stunning paintings of our home.
