Core Acquisition Schemes

Since 1910, the Contemporary Art Society has gifted over 10,500 works to public collections across the UK and the Commonwealth. The schemes we have offered, to acquire and gift works to museums, have changed over the years depending on funds available and the priorities of the time.

The Fine Art and Craft Acquisitions Schemes were initiated in 2008 and have been developed to enable us to work closely with collections curators and other museum and gallery staff as we acquire new works with them for their collections. In 2014 the New Story of Craft Scheme was re-launched as the Omega Fund, named in honour of one of the founders of the Contemporary Art Society, Roger Fry. The principal aim of our Omega Fund is to purchase the work of artists who show much promise, are exhibiting widely but may still be at an early stage in their career. There are currently twenty-five participating members in the scheme and at this time membership stands at £550  for which we are able to commit in return a total of £4,000 towards a purchase. 

Over a four-year cycle we will work with the curators of each Museum Member to research and purchase works that fit or extend existing collections. Works are acquired with funds from the Contemporary Art Society and gifted to the Museum Member. Each Museum Member is guaranteed a work every four years on the condition that the Museum Member commits to the necessary time and resources to research and identify work for purchase.