The Ada Award is designed to support the purchase of significant works by women artists in the UK.
Contemporary Art Society Museum Members are invited to apply to the Ada Award, a project established with the ambition of re-positioning women artists within the canon of British art history. The Ada Award is named for the grandmother of the funder.
The Ada Award is designed to support the purchase of significant work by a woman artist over 50 living and working in the UK. Artists will have a track record of exhibiting and critical recognition but be under-represented in public collections in the UK. The award is for existing work and applications are welcome for work in all media, including performance and film.
In its inaugural year a series of 12 photocopied monoprints from the series Love, Sex and Romance (1984) by Rita Keegan was acquired for Tate through the Ada Award. Keegan (born 1949) has not been represented widely in public collections in the UK, despite having been a key figure in the UK’s Black Arts Movement in the 1980s. Her series of monoprints is included in the current Tate touring exhibition Women in Revolt, curated by Linsey Young. Applications should be sent to christine@contemporaryartsociety.org
Applications should be sent by 2 May 2025, 10 am. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview via Zoom call on 4th June.
We strongly recommend that prospective applicants to the Ada Award arrange a preliminary conversation with a member of Contemporary Art Society’s curatorial staff. Please contact christine@contemporaryartsociety.org or caroline@contemporaryartsociety.org to arrange a meeting.
Ada Award Application Form
For more information
Please set up an appointment with Christine Takengny christine@contemporaryartsociety.org or Caroline Douglas caroline@contemporaryartsociety.org
Christine Takengny, The Roden Senior Curator
christine@contemporaryartsociety.org
+44 (0)20 7017 8404
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