Sotheby's Institute of Art

Sotheby's Institute of Art is a private, for-profit institution of higher education devoted to the study of art and its markets with campuses in London, New York City and online. The institute offers full-time accredited master's degrees as well as a range of postgraduate certificates, summer, semester and online courses, public programmes, and executive education. It is a subsidiary of Sotheby's fine art dealers. History Originally conceived as a training program for connoisseurship by Sotheby's auction house in 1969, Sotheby's Institute of Art aims to provide students with education on the business of art while exploring both the scholarly and practical sides of the art world. In 1995, Sotheby's Institute of Art – London was granted the status of an Affiliated Institution of the University of Manchester's Department of Art History and Archaeology. At the end of 2002, Sotheby's sold its Institute to a US-based information and educational services firm, Cambridge Information Group (CIG), which retains the Sotheby's name. Sotheby's Institute continues to have strong links with Sotheby's auction house, having members on the Sotheby's Institute of Art – London advisory board and students having access to internships, auctions and exhibitions at Sotheby's. From September 2023 a partnership with Culture&, a Black arts and education charity, attempts to increase diversity in the UK art world by offering scholarships for courses within the Institute's Masters programmes to students from under-represented communities. In September 2006, the Institute broadened its course offerings in New York and in 2010 the New York Institute received degree-granting authority from the Regents of the State of New York. It has been an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design since 1989. Between 2013-2019 Sotheby's Institute in partnership with the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, established a new master's degree in Art Business. Jonathan T.D. Neil was the Director of the Los Angeles campus. The Institute also began offering courses in mainland China in 2013 and in March 2014 announced a partnership with Tsinghua University to offer a six-week international field study programme with a professional certificate.