Your Support Can Keep Widewalls Alive as We Find a New Owner
Donation protected
Who We Are
Widewalls, although a small company in size, is one of the top digital magazines and marketplaces dedicated to modern and contemporary art, globally. Built by a gallery owner, Francis Berthomier, passionate about art, we have been connecting art galleries, collectors, and professionals since 2017, focusing on creating a pro-gallery ecosystem. Our platform includes a widely read art magazine, a marketplace featuring over 40,000 artworks, an academy with some of the best art instructors, and more. Over the years, Widewalls has become a respected resource within the contemporary and modern art world.
Why We Are Fundraising
We are at a critical juncture in our journey, as we have run out of financial resources and are working to secure the future of Widewalls through an accelerated sale. However, to maintain the platform and ensure a smooth transition during this period, we need your support. Your donations will help us keep the platform running for a few more months, covering essential technical upgrades and operational costs.
- With just €15,000, we can keep Widewalls running for three more months, ensuring that our community of galleries, collectors, and artists continues to receive the support they rely on.
- With an additional €40,000, we can reimburse staff with unpaid salaries, including those who have continued working to keep Widewalls operational during this challenging time.
- And with €50,000 more, we could resolve the major technical issues currently holding us back, preparing Widewalls for a stronger and more sustainable future.
Your contribution will allow Widewalls to continue supporting the art community, giving galleries a space to thrive online, and ensuring that our magazine, marketplace, and academy can continue to serve those who love and work in the art world.
What We Built
Our strategy aims to build a series of complementary projects serving a cohesive community of art lovers, collectors, and professionals.
- Widewalls Magazine: A unique tool for art galleries to promote their exhibitions and artists. Media partner of over 40 international art fairs. 27018 articles published to date.
- Widewalls Marketplace: Recently redesigned to provide the best possible user experience for buying or selling artwork online safely.
- Widewalls Newsfeed: A recent addition to our editorial content, allowing art professionals, lovers, and collectors to stay informed daily about the art world. A project that we built primarily to keep art professionals informed about everything important in the art world, with a 5mn daily read.
- Widewalls Academy: A series of carefully curated art courses in nine categories. We have partnered with some of the best instructors globally!
- Widewalls Events: A free platform for part professionals to publish their art events.
-Widewalls Auctions: Dedicated to promoting some of the best art auctions in the world, with over 1.5 million auction prices available for free.
- Wide Gallery, Walls Gallery, Widewalls VR: we also have a few other interesting projects that are well underway.
Not long ago, we had 730000 monthly visitors on the platform and 4.4M pageviews. Not bad for a team of fewer than 20 people.
The Challenges We Faced
Despite the online art market's healthy growth from $4.82 billion in 2017 to approximately $9.18 billion in 2023, our model has faced constant challenges:
- Fierce competition from well-funded new entrants and disruptive platforms.
- Shifts in search engine models to "pay-to-play," affecting content-marketing-dependent platforms like ours.
- Limited financial resources constraining our ability to maintain and upgrade our platform.
An Opportunity for the Art Market
Despite these challenges, Widewalls has maintained its strong reputation and position as one of the top platforms of its kind globally. However, our financial performance has remained disappointing, and our shareholders have decided to organize the accelerated sale of Widewalls.
Our platform remains operational, maintained by a very small but dedicated team of amazing people.
But we need more time to achieve this and save Widewalls.
Support Widewalls During This Transition
As we navigate this critical phase, we ask art lovers and our community members to help support Widewalls during the final months leading up to its sale. By contributing a small donation, you’ll help us maintain the platform, resolve key technical issues, and ensure a smooth transition. Every contribution makes a difference, and will give us more time to find a buyer who shares our vision.
Your support not only helps Widewalls continue its mission to serve the art community but also gives you the chance to be part of the solution. If you wish to be recognized for your contribution, leave your name when donating, and we will feature your story in Widewalls Magazine. If you prefer to remain anonymous, we fully respect that as well.
Our Gratitude
Every donation, no matter how small, makes a difference to us. Knowing that the community values our platform as much as we do fills us with gratitude. Seeing your donations will remind us that the art world continues to believe in the value Widewalls supports, and we cannot express how much that means to us.
We have partnered with the Art collective SUPERFLEX for this campaign - and we will share a 5% cut of all donations to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a charity also associated with SUPERFLEX, notably on their Super Reef Project, focusing on protecting the environment and biodiversity.
THANK YOU!
Featured Photo: Superflex. It Is Not The End Of The World, 2019. Installed at La Pista 500, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin 2022. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Organizer
Francis Berthomier
Organizer