The Contemporary Art Society Announces the Shortlist for the Annual Award for Museums 2012. The winning museum will receive £60,000 to commission an artist to make a new work for their public collection, generously supported by the Sfumato Foundation.

The Shortlist for 2012 is as follows:
• The Collection and Usher Gallery, Lincoln – proposal with artist Oliver Laric

• Leeds Art Gallery in association with Henry Moore Institute – proposal with artist Alice Channer

• Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery in association with Kettle’s Yard – proposal with artistJuliette Blightman

For the forth year of the Contemporary Art Society’s Annual Award – commission to collect, we are delighted to announce that the proposals listed above have been shortlisted.

2012 Selectors:- Michelle Cotton (Curator, First Site Colchester), Chris Hammond (Director MOT International), Moira Jeffrey (writer and journalist) andToby Ziegler (Artist)

The winner will be announced on 19 November 2012. Previous winners include Nottingham Castle with Christina Mackie, the Hepworth Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery for their proposal with Luke Fowler and Museums Sheffield, the Graves Art Gallery with Katherina Šedá.

This Award is the largest donation made specifically to a museum to enable them to work closely with their selected artist to directly commission a new work for a public collection.

This is another initiative that meets the Contemporary Art Society’s mission to develop public collections of contemporary art across the UK. The charity has gifted over 8,000 works over a period of 100 years, supporting artists when they were young and little known and ensured that some of the most important works are represented in collections across the UK.

The Shortlist for the Annual Award:

The Collection and Usher Gallery, Lincoln – proposal with artist Oliver Laric

Leeds Art Gallery in association with Henry Moore Institute – proposal with artist Alice Channer

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery in association with Kettle’s Yard – proposal with artist Juliette Blightman

For more information on the shortlisted museums and galleries:

The Collection and Usher Gallery (Lincoln)

Leeds Art Gallery

Henry Moore Institute

Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

Kettle’s Yard (Cambridge)

To download the full Press Release (pdf) click here

For any further information on the Annual Award for Museums contact Robert Dingle on +44 (0)20 7017 8405 or email robert@contemporaryartsociety.org