Norfolk Contemporary Art Society is a charitable association, which promotes contemporary visual art and artists working in the region.
It was founded in 1956 to help and encourage the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery to acquire work in the modern idiom to balance its fine collections of the nineteenth-century Norwich School of painters. Over the years, ncas has provided the means to augment its contemporary art collection and this now forms the basis of holdings in post-war art in the Castle.
The Society also mounts a lively programme of monthly events, mostly in Norwich, which include lectures by artists, critics and art historians, studio and gallery visits, art auctions, invitations to private views, and other social events for its members. Speakers at our meetings have included Maggi Hambling, Ana Maria Pacheco and Cornelia Parker.
New from 2023, ncas now offers small grants of up to £500 twice a year to artists and other creatives who are ncas members & have strong links to Norfolk. Our first round last autumn proved popular and three grants were awarded (see under News for details). The next deadline is Thursday 29 February at midnight. (If you would like to apply, please click on the following pink tab to link to the online form on 'Jotform'. This can be completed online or submitted by email. Please read the guidance for applicants on the Jotform before applying.)
We seek to curate & show the very best of contemporary art across the region. Recent exhibitions include: the ncas Biennial Exhibition in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 held at the Norwich Forum, and in the Norwich Cathedral Hostry in 2019 and 2021; the Port to Port Exhibitions in the Fermoy Gallery, Kings Lynn & the Fisher Patterson Gallery, Great Yarmouth in 2019; Making in 2006 and Photo-ID in 2009 at The Forum, Norwich; newly commissioned installations in Felbrigg Hall in 2014 and 2017; and Geoffrey Lefever Crypt Gallery, Norwich in 2022.
Members are kept informed of the Society's forthcoming programme and of other local art events via our quarterly mailings and events leaflets, by email alerts and by the upcoming events page on this website.
