As part of the deal, WME|IMG will sponsor the Frieze Tate Fund. Established in 2003, the fund has allowed the Tate to acquire 100 new works by 69 different artists for the Tate Collection. This October, the Frieze Tate Fund will be providing the Tate with £150,000 (about $213,000).
In a statement, Frieze cofounders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover said,
“We’re really pleased to form a partnership with WME | IMG that will help us increase the value of what we do for the galleries we work with. This partnership will open up a broad range of opportunities across all of Frieze’s activities and enable us to start realizing innovations we’ve been developing over the last year, which we look forward to announcing soon.”
There has been ongoing speculation that Frieze may try to start another fair in order to compete with the Basel brand, which operates in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach, Florida; and Hong Kong. To that rumor, as the Art Newspaper notes, Sharp told the Financial Times, “Never say never.”