SPEAKERS

In 2019, ARTIQ CEO Patrick McCrae celebrates the tenth anniversary of ARTIQ, the art consultancy he first launched in 2009 to bridge the gap between the art and business worlds and to promote fair pay for artists. Today, ARTIQ is the UK’s leading art consultancy, working with an extensive client base throughout the EMEA to bring outstanding art and experiences to businesses and brands and to push barriers constantly in terms of what art can achieve and who it can reach and engage with.

ARTIQ’s ethos is to encourage businesses to embed creativity into their cultures, harnessing its power to improve wellbeing, enhance experience and promote the values and character of their business or brand. ARTIQ’s clients are proud art patrons, demonstrating their commitment to CSR and contributing to a sustainable arts economy through fair pay and exposure for artists. To date, ARTIQ and its clients have paid out over £3million to artists, makers and arts institutions. The company also founded and co-sponsors The Graduate Art Prize, now in its 7th year in 2019, to promote the best young artistic talent emerging from Britain’s colleges and universities. Constantly innovating, at the end of 2018 the company launched its new ‘ARTIQ in Residence’ programme, aimed at bringing experiential art to the guests of hospitality operators and starting with a tailored programme for Ennismore. The ARTIQ team is creative and diverse, consisting of experts in installation, curation, artist liaison, logistics and arts marketing. In 2017, ARTIQ launched its paid internship programme, bucking the trend for unpaid positions in the arts and allowing people interested in making a career in the arts to get a foothold.

Patrick himself is a passionate advocate of the power of art to revolutionise the workplace and to enhance guest experience in the hospitality sector. He has contributed thought leadership pieces to OnOffice, FX, Hospitality Interiors, Interior Designer, Space, Source, Sloan, Croner-i and Sleeper Magazines and been profiled by Guest Revu, Hotel Designs, Interior Designer and the Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality. In 2019, Patrick’s chapter on ARTIQ as an industry-disruptor was chosen as the opening essay of an American business book called ‘The Entrepreneur’. He has spoken at the IoD, Foster and Partners, Gensler, Cambridge University, WorkTech, The RAC Club, global conferences in Malta and London and Corenet. In 2017, Patrick was named ‘Creative Industries Entrepreneur of the Year (London and South East)’ at the Natwest Great British Entrepreneur Awards. ARTIQ was also shortlisted as one of the ‘Creative Industries Business of the Year’ at the Amazon Growing Business Awards 2018.         

Outside of work, Patrick is passionate about human rights, which has led him to compete in and latterly to train others for debating and public speaking, both nationally and internationally. Patrick is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ equality, curating events through ARTIQ and working personally with LGBT charities, including Stonewall, Switchboard and Diversity Role Models.       www.artiq.co