Applications for Membership
The NSA invites applications from professional, contemporary fine artists working in any media, who live and work in the South West or who have strong connections with the area.
The Society actively promotes members’ work in other venues locally and nationally, and our website at nsanewlyn.com promotes the work of members through artists’ pages, news and links, as do our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram
We also provide support to members in their working practice at whatever stage in their careers and enable communication and exchange within a network of artists working in the South West of England through social and skill-sharing events.
Members are expected to regularly submit work for selection to exhibitions, to provide up to date images and data to the website, to attend the Annual General Meeting and to make some contribution to the running of the Society.
All exhibitions are selected and curated either by the committee or an external curator, and while every effort is made to include as many members as possible priority is given to the curation of the exhibition. Members whose work is selected are expected to participate in the setting up and invigilation of the exhibition, and might want to be involved in Artists’ Talks.
For artists applying who live outside Cornwall, please be aware that you will be responsible for arranging logistics to ensure that your work arrives for submission for an exhibition, and that unsold work is collected afterwards. You will also be expected to invigilate for a day during a show if you have work hung, and to contribute to the running of the Society in some way.
The full committee will consider applications for membership twice a year, in early March and early September.
Application Process
If you would like to apply to become a member of the NSA it is important that you review the reasons why you want to join. The selection protocol involves meeting several criteria.
What we look for in applications
- A current practice which shows a distinctive creative voice.
- A coherent body of work which demonstrates a line of enquiry in your practice, linked through themes, ideas, methods or process and which should include some of your most recent work.
- A level of proficiency in your chosen media to enable you to render your ideas effectively, and for your work to fit within the standards of our current membership.
- Evidence of self-promotion, eg. artist-led exhibitions and other activities that demonstrate the application of energy to getting your work shown.
To apply
- Please explore our website thoroughly, and if possible visit one of our exhibitions to get an idea of the quality and range of our members’ work.
- Submit:
i. A selection of no more than ten high quality jpeg images (max 2MB each), which demonstrate the range and quality of your work, including video extracts where appropriate. Please include dimensions of the artwork.ii. A statement of no more than 500 words (as a Word document) that describes:
[a] your current practice and the dominant themes of your work, and how this constitutes a coherent body of work.
[b] the relationship of your work to contemporary art critical discourses.
[c] why you wish to become part of the NSA, stating what you could offer the society and how you might be proactive in its development.iii. A brief, current CV (as a Word document) including details of exhibitions, residencies and related activities, your name, address, mobile number, email, website address and details of any dedicated artists pages on Instagram and Facebook.
Please email your submission to NSA Admin(link sends e-mail)
The importance of good quality jpeg images and a high standard of presentation cannot be overstated. Applicants may be asked to submit actual works to a subsequent meeting at the committee’s discretion.
Every effort is made to inform applicants of the outcome as soon as possible after each meeting. The decision of the committee is final and the committee cannot enter into discussions concerning individual applications or give feedback.
We do consider re-applications, in which event we would wish to see a new body of work produced between the time of the two applications which demonstrates significant development in the applicants’ practice according to the criteria above.
For Current Members
An annual subscription of £75 is payable on 1st May each year and must be paid by standing order. [Chasing unpaid subscriptions is an unwanted administration cost.]
There is a half-cost membership of £35 for those under 28 for two years.
Please set up a standing order with the NSA bank details you received with the NSA welcome email. Please use your own name as a reference, or the members name if paying for someone else, or from a joint account as otherwise we won’t know which members are paid up.
