Close Request Information

Tailoring our unique expertise in art and business to your requirements.


Sotheby’s Institute of Art holds two decades of experience of delivering custom-built, high-quality learning programs direct to businesses and executives, governments, museums and galleries, educational institutions, and other clients throughout the world.

Our approach is client-focused and collaborative. The Director of Lifelong and Continuing Education and his team works closely with custom clients to create highly-tailored learning programs for groups of any size – large or small. Custom clients come to Sotheby’s Institute for courses based in the intellectual rigor of higher education combined with our business sector expertise on enterprise, technology, and the market.

The format and delivery mode of our programs is tailored to your needs. Online, hybrid and in-person options are all available, at our campuses in London or New York – or we’ll come to wherever you are.


The Institute’s faculty and team continue to innovate and create new material for custom programs that can be open to the public or closed to a specific cohort. The content of our programs usually falls into one of three strands.

Professional Development including: Acquisitions and Building Collections, Appraisals and Valuations, Art Crime and Art Law, Art Logistics and Operations, Art Writing, Creative Leadership, Curatorship, Gallery Management, Luxury Retail, and PR, Marketing and Branding

Art Business including: Art Investment, Art and Technology, Business Start-Ups and Entrepreneurship, Finance, Data and the Art Market, Luxury Trends and Futures, and Real Estate Trends and Futures

Cultural Education programs at all levels, from 16 years upwards, including: Global Art History, Design and Architectural History, Fashion and Luxury, and Art Crime


While we consider standalone and short-term projects with organizations, custom programs thrive through relationships built over time. Our long-term clients benefit a more impactful partnership that delivers lasting learning and objectives within an organization’s long-term mission.

For in-person options we like to extend learning beyond the classroom to include relevant behind-the-scenes visits to auction houses, galleries, museums, luxury retailers and others. We also value opportunities to allow participants to network and learn from each other in informal environments, which may include drinks receptions, a supper at a private venue, or similar program of extra-curricular events.

The Institute also offers a One-to-One Coaching service provided by highly-qualified executive-level coaches with experience in the art world and luxury retail, designed especially for mid- to senior-level leaders in these fields.

Case Study: Deconstructing the Art World for Emerging Artists

with the Royal Bank of Canada

Case Study: Understanding Buddhist Art

For Xia Jing Shan Arts and Culture Foundation, Taipei


Contact Us

Please contact us if you would like to know more about what we do and how we could help your organization.

Grace Purdy-Gray
Program Manager
executive@sothebysinstitute.com
+44 20 7462 3218