SHANGHAI, April 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asia Art & Finance Forum (3rd Edition) themed with "Business Model of Art & Finance and Its Innovation" was successfully held in the Shanghai International Convention Center on March 28th. Hundreds of experts and scholars from industries such as global arts, financial investment and higher education & research attended this event, for instance, Director of the Arts Division of the Ministry of Culture; Chu Di, Deputy District Mayor of Shanghai Pudong New District; Xu Dongxu, President of the Korean Cultural Institute in Shanghai; and Guo Dexin, President of the Hong Kong Society of Economists.

Collection of Distinguished Guests of Asia Art & Finance Forum

The forum's distinguished guests that give opening addresses are Mr. Cheng Tianquan, Honorary Dean of the Asia Institute of Art & Finance (AIAF), and Mr. Wang Lianzhou, former Bureau-level Counsel of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee and Manager of AIAF.

When the forum was declared open, a keynote speech on "Let Finance Produce Beauty" was delivered by former Chairman of China Everbright Group and Honorary Director-general of AIAF Mr. Tang Shuangning, and then followed by another keynote speech on "Art & Finance Education Serves a Better Life" delivered by Mr. Fan Yong, Founder of AIAF. There were other wonderful keynote speeches delivered to the distinguished guests at the event by Zhou Gongxin, former Curator of the Imperial Palace Museum in Taipei and Professor of Fu Jen Catholic University and National Chengchi University; Mr. Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Director of Deloitte Luxembourg; Mr. Wei Pengju, President of the School of Culture and Media at the Central University of Finance and Economics; Mr. Jeremy Eckstein, former Director of Sotheby's Research Department and former Supervisor of Art Investment for the British Rail Pension Fund; Ms. Huang Jun, Professor of the School of Economics at Renmin University of China, Deputy Director of China Art & Finance Research Institute at Renmin University and Academic Advisor to AIAF; Mr. Xi Mu, Vice President of the China Art Industry Research Institute; Mr. Michael McCullough, Partner of Pearlstein McCullough & Lederman LLP.; Mr. Francesco Gibbi, Founder and CEO of Lot-art.com; Mr. Luke Dugdale, Founder of Cadell Co. Ltd. and wealth management expert; Mr. Hu Huanzhong - Member of the Party Committee, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group Co. Ltd., Chairman of Shanghai Free Trade Zone International Cultural Investment Development Co. Ltd. and Vice Chairman of National Foreign Cultural Trade Base (Shanghai); and Mr. Marcelo Garcia Casil, Founder and CEO of Maecenas Fine Art and DXMarkets.     

This forum was hosted by Asia Institute of Art & Finance, co-sponsored by China Chief Economist Forum and China Culture and Finance 50 Forum and supported by Shanghai Free Trade Zone International Cultural Investment Development Co. Ltd., Family Office Think Tank and Family Office Magazine.

Mr. Fan Yong, Founder of Asia Institute of Art & Finance, said: "Themed with 'Business Model Of Art & Finance and Its Innovation', this forum aims to carry out deep exploration, professional analysis and concept sharing on the innovative models of the art & finance industry both at home and abroad through the dual perspectives of academic research and business exploration, to further promote the integration and innovation of China's art & finance industry." 

A series of policies and proposals titled "culture & art +" reflected the growing demand for spiritual consumption in recent years and the increasingly flourishing cultural atmosphere. On the other hand, with the development of China's economic reform and the rapid growth of wealth, the continuous innovation of financial services - the core of modern economy - provides a powerful support for activating trillions of art assets outside the inventory list through financial intermediation, which plays an increasingly important role in the field of stock activating, incremental investment and art wealth management. Hence one can see that more and more profits can be created when the art market encounters the financial market, and so the art & finance industry was born to meet the needs of the times.

In view of this, Mr. Cheng Tianquan, former Secretary of the Party Committee of China's Renmin University and Honorary Dean of AIAF, said in his speech: "There is a saying that goes "collection in the flourishing age". Art & finance and art transaction have gradually gained popularity in China, which indicates much confidence has been boosted among Chinese people in China's long-term economic outlook. The government advocates the establishment of a better society, which should be followed with greater interest in people's pursuit and enjoyment of culture at spiritual level, in addition to food safety, environmental health, etc."

At the same time, the continuous innovation of the business model of art & finance will be the inevitable tendency that history develops and it will play a vital role in the promotion of the "Beauty Power Economy", among which, the integration and development of new technology will make a crucial contribution to the innovation of art & finance. Mr. Xi Mu, Vice President of China Art Industry Research Institute, said that with the help of financial technologies such as Cloud Computing, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the moral hazard that art transactions used to face would also be resolved, so as to open the door for more people to be involved in art & finance, which looks rather promising.

However, though the art & finance industry is still in the ascendant, its rapid development has been accompanied by the accumulation of material wealth and the demand for spiritual consumption. Due to the lack of qualified professionals in special fields, inevitably the waters have been muddied and the bad have become mixed with the good: among hundreds of colleges and universities in China, there are only a few open specialisms related to arts management and cultural management; what's more, among more than 8 million of financial professionals in China, there are only a few talents equipped with art expertise and art management capabilities.

Mr. Fan Yong, Founder of Asia Institute of Art & Finance (AIAF), said in his keynote speech that the talent gap has become a major challenge to the innovation and development of the art & finance industry in China, and that talent cultivation is the key to progressing the culture & art industry and to its healthy development. Talent cultivation and changing the industry pattern of art & finance should be a long-term and great cause with historical responsibility and social value. "Recently, while a nationwide battle for talent without smoke is setting off, an old saying, 'pool all kinds of talent and put them to the best use,' was referred to by Mr. Li Qiang, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. And this is actually the right national strategy for development that AIAF hopes to collaboratively implement in education in the future, and to fill in the talent gap appeared in the process of building Shanghai as an international cultural and financial center."

Adhering to the concept of "serving a better life through art & finance education" and the vision of "promoting Shanghai to be the center of culture and arts", while also adapting to the requirements of the times and the policy background, in the year 2015, approved by the Education Department of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Mr. Fan Yong established Asia Institute of Art & Finance - an independent higher education institute in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The institute employs a selection of core educational resources of art & finance worldwide, and is committed to cultivating the inter-disciplinary talents of art & finance to become a business school of humanities, art & finance with global influence.

Introduced by Mr. Fan Yong, there are 6 major curriculum systems offered in AIAF, including "Global Art & Finance Leadership", "Art Wealth Management", "International Art Assessment", "Art & Finance Youth Leadership" and "Art & Finance MBA", co-operated by Shanghai University and a series of executive training courses for corporate executives. Through the innovative  "immersion" education model, AIAF plans to further promote the cultivation of cross-border talents.

In the past three years since AIAF was founded, it is reported that Mr. Fan Yong has paid frequent visits to eight countries in person together with students. Universities and institutions that cooperate with AIAF are located throughout Europe and the United States, including the Art & Finance Sector of Deloitte Luxembourg, the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, Stern School of Business of New York University, Tokyo University of the Arts, Paris Higher Institute of Arts and Cultural Management, Paris Institute of Political Studies, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the American Evaluation Association, Shanghai University, etc. AIAF has also held discussions with the ancient Rothschild Family in Europe regarding art & finance and family wealth management projects.

Mr. Fan Yong said that "business model of art & finance and its innovation are closely related to the talent strategy, and talent cultivation of art & finance is inseparable from the innovation of educational ideas and educational models. When the time comes, at the same time as setting up talent cultivation models, AIAF will also establish an integration mechanism for Industry-Academia-Research (IAR); set up an art assets evaluation system; and carry out multilevel exploration and interaction with art insurance companies, art banks, big data platforms in industries related to art & finance... We hope that in the end, we can work together with all parties to protect spiritual wealth and promote industrial development."

That night, Asia Institute of Art & Finance also organized an AIAF & Harvard Elite Night where many guests of exalted rank were present. The forum was pushed to another peak by AIAF elites together with the Harvard alumni. 

Please stay tuned for the wonderful speeches to follow, and follow-up reports of the forum's special topics.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180410/2100840-1