Aesthetica highlights 10 gift ideas perfect for arts and culture lovers this season. Our 2023 list offers a variety of inspiration – including art books, magazine subscriptions and gallery memberships.
Aesthetica | Gift Subscription
Give the gift of art and culture. Our bi-monthly independent print publication highlights key creatives who are redefining the boundaries of contemporary art. With a gift subscription, you’ll discover new talent and key artists working worldwide. Be inspired all year round with six issues delivered direct to your door. Start your collection with our December / January edition: Power of Experimentation. Click here to Subscribe & Save 40% + Free Gift Wrap & Personal Message.
Homeware Gifts | National Portrait Gallery
The refreshed National Portrait Gallery reopened in London this June, following a three-year transformation. Its three new shop spaces are filled with fresh designs. Central is a vibrant homeware collection, alongside exclusive artist collaborations and limited-edition objects. The Enfilade range is made using offcuts from the fabrics lining the new Gallery walls. Designed as “collector’s items of the future”, each piece is limited in number and inspired by the bold colour combinations of the National Portrait Gallery. Click here to shop the collection.
BFI Membership
This festive period, you can support film culture by gifting a membership to the British Film Institute – an ideal present for cinema-lovers. It offers year-round benefits, including ticket discounts and priority booking for BFI festivals, BFI IMAX and BFI Southbank, as well as discounts at BFI Shop. The recipient will enjoy special events, previews, Q&As and screenings, plus 15% off Sight & Sound magazine annual subscriptions and much more. Click here to learn to purchase a membership.
Thames & Hudson | Unforgettable Books
Thames & Hudson is one of the world’s leading publishers of illustrated books. It offers over 2,000 titles in print across all areas of visual creativity – from the arts, design and photography to history and music. Treat everyone on your list this season to unforgettable books on Lee Miller, Saul Leiter, Vivienne Westwood, Johannes Vermeer, Pablo Picasso and more with these artful picks for Christmas. Browse their Gift Guide to see a full list. Click here to shop Thames & Hudson’s books.
Delayed Gratification | Subscription
Delayed Gratification describes itself as “the world’s first slow journalism magazine,” taking a novel approach to delivering the news. Each issue revisits the events of the last three months and takes time to offer in-depth, independent journalism in an increasingly frantic world. This quarterly print publication looks back to the big stories that mattered – and the ones readers may have missed – to unpack what happened after the media cycle moved on. A gift subscription includes four print editions, unlimited online access and a gift certificate. Use code AESFIVE to save £5.
Ainsty Ales
York-based Ainsty Ales Brewery & Taproom is a drinks sponsor of Aesthetica Film Festival. Founded in 2014 by Andy Herrington, the award-winning independent serves up the taste of the York & Ainsty Wapentake, using traditional brewing methods and ingredients to create craft beers in cask, keg, bottle and can. From Pale Ale to Stout, each drink is crafted by Ainsty Ales’ dedicated brewing team in small batches.
Click to shop. Save 20% with code AesthetAinsty.
Barbican Centre | Gift Membership
The best of London’s Barbican, all wrapped up. Gift Membership entitles your loved one to a year of art, music, film and theatre. They’ll enjoy free entry to all exhibitions, discounts, priority booking, Members’ events and access to Barbican’s Members’ Lounge. They can choose when to start their year of benefits. Plus, you can buy right up until the last-minute with an instant email voucher. 2024’s visual arts programme includes shows Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art and Francis Alÿs. Click here to find out more.
Curtis Brown Creative | Gift Vouchers
Looking for the perfect gift for the writer in your life? Curtis Brown Creatives offers expert teaching from acclaimed writers and top literary agents. Their course gift vouchers are ideal if you’re looking for ways to support someone on their writing journey. Help your loved one unleash their imagination and achieve their writing goals. Digital vouchers can be used as a partial or full payment towards any of CBC’s four-, five-, six- or ten-week online creative writing courses across a range of different topics and styles at a range of prices, from £35-£220. Click here to shop gift vouchers.
Aesthetica | Art & Creative Writing Books
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award champions exceptional literary talent from across the globe. The short fiction and poetry included in the brand new 2024 anthology takes the temperature of society as we know it today and demonstrates the strength and resilience of the human spirit. For contemporary art lovers, Future Now 2023 introduces 125 talented creatives working today from Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Ukraine the UK and USA. It’s a place to discover painting, photography and sculpture to installation, mixed-media, video and digital art.
Lead image: SHVETS production.