Arts Council England has committed to continued support for the Contemporary Art Society for the period 2015-18 in the funding round confirmed in July this year. Funding for the CAS North scheme by Arts Council England was not included however and will cease at the end of the current financial year.
CAS North was founded in 2009 in order to stimulate the market for contemporary art in the region through a membership scheme that provides access and opportunities for engagement with contemporary art, allowing members to build confidence in collecting.
In the past five years CAS North has collaborated with a total of 86 cultural partners based in the North and CAS North members have been introduced through its programmes to 73 artists, from emerging through to established, who live and practice in the region. Since 2012, approximately £300,000 has been directly invested into the art ecology of the North of England through art purchases, funding to support residencies and donations to patron projects run by our cultural partners. Options are being actively sought for alternative funding through other institutional partners to keep the membership group together and continue this activity.
The Contemporary Art Society remains wholly committed to the support of all its museum members in the North. Twenty-seven museums, nearly half of all the Contemporary Art Society’s Member Museums, are located within the Arts Council’s northern region and our work with them remains unaffected.
For all enquiries please contact:
Sophia Bardsley, Deputy Director
Sophia@contemporaryartsociety.org
+44 (0)20 7017 8410