FRIENDS

Welcome to the Friends of the National Open Art Competition.

Our President His Grace The Duke of Richmond set up the charitable Chichester Art Trust in 1996 as a part of his dream to see Chichester become a national and international City of The Arts by 2020.

The ensuing competition and exhibition has gone from strength to strength. In our 13th year in 2009 we received over 1300 artists submissions from across the entire UK. The judging panel of four, chaired by Gavin Turk working with art historian and curator Catherine Lampert , James Stewart and David Barrie were then tasked with choosing a selection of 120 paintings for The National Open Art Exhibition. Each autumn this exhibition runs for two weeks at The Minerva Gallery at The Chichester Festival Theatre and in 2009 we had over 5000 visitors. The prize winning works were once again showcased for a further week in the internationally prestigious Pallant House Gallery.

But so much of this success is down to the continued support and encouragement of our many supporters without whom we would not still exist. We try to recognise this by offering a dedicated scheme for our Friends’ enjoyment.

We hope you will help to support this important national competition by joining The Friends of The National Open Art Competition and enjoy the opportunity to attend special events, take a look behind the scenes as the competition unfolds and, of course, provide a sneak preview of the short-listed work.

We actively encourage our Friends involvement in this annual event and welcome any ideas that may help us to continue our work. We receive no public funding and rely on the generosity of our Sponsors, Patrons and Friends.

If you have any ideas which would help us to fund raise or if you would like to discuss ways of providing additional donations or indeed fund an annual prize in your or your company’s name please do contact us.

We look forward to welcoming you at all times and with your help and as a team we are enjoying making this one of the most important annual art competitions in the United Kingdom.

Click here to find out about membership benefits and to subscribe.

To contact us for more details email:

Kerry Betsworth – Administrator for the Friends
friends@thenationalopenartcompetition.com

Or, telephone 01243 574869

Click here to go back to more details about the Competition