The Contemporary Art Society is the national non-profit agency that supports contemporary artists thorough the promotion of collecting and commissioning by individuals, and public and private bodies across the UK. 

Since 1909, we have used our curatorial expertise to acquire the work of living artists, often early in their careers, in order to give them to our national membership of collecting bodies.  We do this for two reasons: firstly, to ensure that the contemporary art and craft is accessible to the most diverse national audience today; and secondly, to ensure that the work of living artists considered significant in our own times is represented in historic collections for the audiences of tomorrow.  In the last ten years alone we have bought and commissioned more than a thousand works of art for museum collections throughout the world.  Through our National Programmes we provide professional development for curators and opportunities to both acquire and commission museum-quality works of contemporary art and craft with our support. 

We generate the funds to do so by: offering membership and patron schemes for private individuals embracing contemporary art enthusiasts and novice collectors through two established collectors; bespoke art consultancy services for individual collectors and the corporate sector; and organising an annual selling exhibition - ARTfutures - designed to support both emerging and established contemporary artists and encourage affordable collecting opportunities, the profits of which are reinvested back into acquisitions and new commissions.

image credits, top: © Langlands & Bell, Moving World, 2008, Heathrow Terminal 5 commission (photo: © Stephen White); middle: International 3 at CAS Rotate until 29 August 2008 (image: © Rachel Goodyear, Fawn with Hand, pencil, watercolour, gouache on paper, 22 x 22cm, 2008, courtesy the artist and International 3; bottom: Offsite / Insight – the new CAS public programme featuring Conrad Shawcross, Simon English, Fiona Banner, Diann Bauer, Barnaby Hosking and Christian Ward (image: © Conrad Shawcross, 3 Etymologies and their inter-relations, 2005, courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery)