Enhancing your Professional Credibility, as an Artist
A Membership in the VAA offers tools and resources that demonstrate your integrity and credibility as a professional artist.
FAQ
What is Professional Credibility?
Professional Credibility is your reputation as a professional, this is the trust your buyers have in you. Your professional credibility can be built by your experiences and the organisations you associate with.
What Does Credibility Mean for Artists?
An artists credibility means two things: That they have integrity in their practice, and that they are reliable and professional in their business.
How Can I Improve my Credibility?
The first step in improving your credibility is joining an organisation like ours. We provide our members with a Customer Quality & Care Charter to follow in their professional careers.
Resources
Learn more about a few of our credible artist resources.
Code of Ethics
As a Visual Artists Association Member, you are recognised for your professionalism, integrity, and credibility. This is a quality recognised by buyers, galleries, and the many industry professionals in association with us.
By remaining professional and responsible in your practice you encourage client care and trust within the art world. We are a close-knit community and it is important that our members represent professional values.
Proof of Membership
Our members have access to a Membership Verification Badge, this verifies their role as a professional in the art industry.
You can use a VAA Members Logo on:
- Social Media
- Website
- Email Signatures
- Art Fair Stalls
- Promotional Materials
Download your Membership Verification Badge & Logo Guidelines Here
Certificate of Authenticity
Our Certificate of Authenticity has been cited as a essential resource by the members of the Visual Artists Association.
A Certificate of Authenticity is required for any professional artist. This verifies your artwork and your business, many buyers request a CoA upon purchasing an artwork. With a membership to the Visual Artists Association, you receive an expert-approved Certificate of Authenticity Template to use in your own practice.
VAA Professional Artist Code of Ethics
- Creative Practice
Artists should commit to developing their professional creative practice: self, peer, and public.
Quality areas include how art is produced and presented, originality and distinctiveness, relevance, and rigour. These are open-source international quality standards set by cultural organisations as published by The Arts Council of England.
- Provenance & Records
Good provenance leaves no doubt that a work of art is genuine. Artists should keep artwork records in a durable medium (online or offline) as link number one in the sale of artwork.
Artists will provide a signed or stamped Certificate of Authenticity (COA) with each sale, detailing key information about the artwork (art title, medium, dimensions, edition size, date etc). The COA will identify the artwork as one-of-a-kind, a limited edition (including the number in the series), or an open edition.
- Copywrite & Description
Creative integrity is of utmost importance, artists will not plagiarise or break copywrite laws. Artists will sell work that is ‘as described’ and of ‘reasonable quality’.
- Product Safety
Artwork will not contain unsafe, harmful, or toxic products unless these are labelled and permitted by law. Artists should give advice on any safety requirements for storage and display i.e. weight restrictions.
- Fair Pricing
Artwork will be priced fairly to reflect the current market value. This takes into account the artists’ individual experience and skill levels, alongside the sale price of comparable artworks.
- Delivery
Artists will use reasonable care in the delivery and timescales of the artwork or service.
- Consumer Information
Artists will manage data in accordance with data protection laws: fairly, lawfully, and transparently. This information should be made available upon request.
- Consumer Communications
Artists will deliver their services in a friendly and inclusive manner. They should deal with customer requests, queries, and concerns reasonably and promptly.
- Equality
Artists will treat all customers equally without discrimination.
Trading standards and legislation vary from country to country. VAA’s Quality & Customer Care Charter is independent and supplementary. Members can access the charter guidelines, supporting materials, and brand collateral in the VAA Resources Vault.
For more information relating to the VAA Customer Care & Quality Charter, please contact us via email: hello@visual-artists.org