Deepen your appreciation of art while your investments in art appreciate

June 22, 20224 min read
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Key takeaways:

  • For investors interested in art as an asset class, Yieldstreet can serve as an educational touchpoint.
  • Through an extensive network of major museums, galleries, curators, art advisors and artists, Yieldstreet is able to sponsor exclusive events and provide direct programming to our investors. Examples include art markets, private tours of famed exhibits and direct collaborations with emerging artists. 
  • Yieldstreet offers a variety of art funds that feature works from acclaimed artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy and Kusama, which have historically outperformed their pre-auction estimates.

A unique aspect of investing in art through Yieldstreet’s Art Platform is the opportunity to learn about art and the art market through bespoke events and curated content. For investors interested in art as an asset class, we can serve as an educational touchpoint to deepen appreciation of art while their art investments appreciate. We can help them explore art through exclusive and engaging opportunities and encourage them to use Yieldstreet to make their investments in art even more meaningful.

Access, education and engagement are key in the art world.

Through our relationships with major museums, galleries, curators, art advisors and artists, we are able to create exclusive events and direct programming to give our investors access and education. 

We are very proud to be a sponsor of the Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure© exhibition, currently on view at the Starrett Lehigh Building in New York City. Through this partnership, hundreds of our investors have had private access to the exhibition – including exclusive parties and intimate guided tours – which included 200 artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat (whose work is included in Art Equity Fund IV) that were either never seen before, or that had been rarely seen. Additionally, we had the privilege to interview Jean-Michel’s sisters, who provided us with personal insights into their brother’s life and work. Through these unique experiences, we hope investors gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for Basquiat’s life and work.


Yieldstreet also sponsored an art market favorite of summer, the Glass House 15th Anniversary Party in New Canaan, Connecticut, built by renowned architect Philip Johnson, who also lived there from 1949 until his death in 2005. While many celebrities knew about it, only a privileged few were able to visit – among these, Andy Warhol was a frequent guest. On an idyllic Saturday in June, investors were treated to a leisurely afternoon of picnics and art auctions, mingling with artists such as Mickalene Thomas, who is featured in Art Equity Fund III, and KAWs, and had the opportunity to bid on artworks by Kenny Scharf, featured in Art Equity Fund I.

Museum exhibitions are an immense validation of an artwork’s value, and we’re always thrilled when we can loan a work from one of our Art Equity Funds to a renowned museum. Yieldstreet hosted a private tour of the Faith Ringgold exhibition, a popular and critically acclaimed exhibition which includes one of the works from Art Equity Fund II. In an after-hours tour with the curator, investors learned firsthand about Ringgold’s fascinating career and why her work is so important in the canon of art history. While we cannot disclose the specific work owned by the fund, we were able to demonstrate the importance that the artwork plays in the exhibition and speak to the value of placing the works included in our Art Equity Funds in museum exhibitions. 

We’re excited to offer the same experience to our West Coast investors when the exhibition travels this summer to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, where we are also proud sponsors of the Obama Portraits Tour. These iconic portraits were created by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, the first African American artists to be commissioned for the official portraits of a President and First Lady. 

We are long-time supporters of arts organizations and emerging artists. Because it matters. 

Athena Art Finance (the advisor to the Art Equity Funds) has long been involved in supporting emerging artists and emerging galleries. Since 2017, Athena Art Finance has sponsored the Armory Show Presents Booth Prize, which is a juried competition among new galleries and awards the winner a prize that covers their booth fees. In 2017, Athena awarded Mariane Ibrahim the first Presents Prize and the recognition it garnered was pivotal in raising her profile and that of the artists she represents such as Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo, whose work is included in Art Equity Fund III. More recently, Yieldstreet has also sponsored important public arts organizations, such as  Creative Time. In 2019, we awarded Shaun Leonardo with the first Athena Art Finance Social Impact Award. Leonardo is best known for his performance work that explores relationships between masculinity, race, sports, and culture.

Beyond these events and sponsorships, Yieldstreet also partners directly with artists to support their work and foster engagement with our investors. In 2021, Yieldstreet launched an interactive event at the Armory with artist Mike Perry that was very well received, and attracted fairgoers who stopped to add their artistic touches to the massive installation. And during 2022’s Frieze LA, we collaborated with Phillips auction house and Brooklyn-based emerging artist Saya Woolfalk, who spoke with Yieldstreet investors about her creative process and the amazing mural she made for the event and that was dismantled and distributed to the event attendees. 

To learn more about the Art Platform and become a part of our upcoming events please visit Yieldstreet’s Art Finance website.