Marie-Alix at Ateo Finance
Marie-Alix Thomas is an exchange student from France that earned the Arts Administration Certificate at BU. She was able to land an internship at Ateo Finance back in Paris, France. Read on for an interview with Marie-Alix about this opportunity.
How did you find out about the position?
I found out about this position thanks to one of my friends (who is currently working in Boston as a Brand Ambassador for the French wine industry) who followed a Msc in Wine and Spirits Management at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux, France. Like at BU, she has access to the internship page on her school’s website where she found this internship offer.
Tell us more about Ateo Finance?
Ateo Finance is originally a firm that developed software for middle and back-office banks. The CEO, Laurent Courbin, is an art-lover and realized two years ago the need of the art market in terms of unbiased sales and price indexes. He gathered a team to work on a FinTech project that aims to provide objective verified trends and to track volatility of the market through a set of value over time that show which way the market is trending.
What will your role be and what are you hoping to gain from this experience?
This project would not be the same without a committee of experts that are to provide their mastery in the market they are evolving in. I am to be a business analyst in the company, acting as an intermediary between those experts (their understanding and experience of the art market) and the project team of Ateo (their statistics and economical points of view). At first I am to create and write the editorial line of the business plan destined to the experts for them to feel comfortable and excited about the project.
From this experience I am hoping to understand the market better. Meeting international experts from the Impressionist and Modern Art artistic period is undoubtedly thrilling! Working on such a massive project that could become a reference on the market is a wide entry point for me as a recent graduate student looking for experience in the art world.
What aspects are most attractive to you about this opportunity?
The environment of the Paris market and the relationships I built with my previous employers will help me keep a foot in more than one camp and help me observe and analyze a market while keeping hindsight and objectivity. As I intend to work in art and private collections management in the future, this experience will surely be insightful to build my own expertise of the market. The opportunity of a long-term experience in this firm is also really attractive to me. Finally, the challenging aspect of the mission are terribly interesting: business analysis is something I’ve never done before and I want that kind of environment for my final internship; something that excites me and scares me at the same time. Gathering those two feelings will ensure a fascinating experience.
How will your studies at BU translate to this opportunity?
As a business analyst it is essential for me to work as a profiler and to understand the market and the clients I am focusing on. These art experts are coming not only from France but worldwide. Having had an exposure of the US culture and the US vision of the art world is an incredible asset for me to be adaptable and efficient when I am working with them. My studies at BU not only allowed me to discover the US way of working in the art world, it allowed me to stand for the causes that are important to me and that I continue to support: young collectors, cultural heritage, and art education. I also improved my English and feel even more comfortable having a professional conversation with an English-speaking interlocutor.
Do you think your time and work at BU helped you in being selected for this position?
During my time at BU I conducted immense research on the art market for my papers (especially for the Art World Class – for which my subject was the education and networking of the Young Art Collectors) and a market monitoring in anticipation of my internship/job research. Through that work, not only have I improved my expertise of the market and the knowledge of its actors, but I also have improved my research and analytical skills which allows me to work faster and in a more efficient manner.
Interview by Samantha Lovewell, Arts Administration Graduate Assistant