Held on April 13 at Menara Imperium in Kuningan, South Jakarta, the event was organized in collaboration with painter Hanafi Muhammad, popularly known as Hanafi, as well as literary writer, visual artist and Komunitas Salihar cultural center manager Goenawan Mohamad.

The Samuel Exchange Club was part of organizers’ efforts to promote an upcoming collaborative exhibition by Hanafi and Goenawan called 57 x 76, which will run through June and July in the Indonesian National Gallery in Central Jakarta.

The upcoming exhibition will showcase 47 artworks jointly created by Hanafi and Goenawan as part of their 57^th and 76^th birthdays, respectively, which also inspired the name for the exhibition.

The event was joined by artists, art collectors, art enthusiasts as well as financial and business stakeholders. During the discussion, Hanafi and Goenawan explained their inspirations, creative process as well as the latest developments in the contemporary arts and culture scene.

SAM decided to cooperate with the artists because it recognizes investment in the arts as a lucrative opportunity, considering the rise of art collectors in Indonesia. Which is why the company, whose main business is managing capital and financial markets, has participated in various arts and cultural events recently.

“Besides serving as a very personal aesthetical expression, which is not meant to be shared with other people, a certain segment of society also views art as an investment instrument that could be accumulated for future purposes,” said SAM president director Agus B. Yanuar.

Art investment allows art collectors to support artists by buying their artworks, according to Agus. Therefore, by helping the collectors learn about art investment strategies and setting up a financial platform for the sector, SAM aims to help more artists build sustainable careers, while encouraging more Indonesians to pursue the arts.

Agus said the discussion also sought to help artists become more financially literate through sound financial planning.

“A lot of times, artists are very consumptive when they are still at their productive age and at the prime of their careers. By the time they move past their peak, unfortunately, most of them have spent all their money and even have to depend on their friends [to make ends meet],” he said.

For this reason, SAM frequently organizes financial literacy events among creative workers and artists alike, as well as local art institutions such as galleries and schools.

Through their understanding of the importance of financial planning and management, many artists have also decided to invest in SAM’s investment products to cover their day-to-day expenses, as well as to prepare for a more prosperous retirement period.

In its annual Market Outlook activities with customers, where SAM outlines market conditions and investment strategies in line with that particular year’s financial climate, the company also covers Indonesian cities that are rich in their arts and culture potential, in order to help artists find prospective investors and boost their businesses.

After all, SAM considers managing an investment to be an art in itself. In concocting the right portfolio, besides referring to rational and valid investment decision-making methods, a financial planner also has to add an element of art into the work, particularly in terms of being intuitive when it comes to determining the timing, magnitude and main industrial sector for the customer, in alignment with the market’s direction and pace.

The company sees the art of creating a portfolio as no different from what chefs do in the American television series MasterChef, where each chef is able to pull out distinctive flavors and aromas out of the same ingredients.

By combining science and art in investment management, SAM has been able to produce high-performance, top-tier investment products that are sought-after both in Indonesia and abroad.

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