The Arts Society Falmouth

Falmouth

The Arts Society Falmouth is the most southerly society in Britain, situated in a county that is extremely rich in artistic tradition and also has a flourishing contemporary art life. There is a great interest in all aspects of art among people living here - something that is reflected in the success of our society, which is very active and has enthusiastic and supportive members.

History

We held our Inaugural Meeting on 13th October 2000 with a Founder Membership of 212. By the end of the first year we had a waiting list of 75 and felt confident enough to increase our total membership to 230. Membership currently stands at over 300 with new members joining all the time.

Art Projects

The Arts Society Falmouth has been involved with various art projects in the local community. For several years we funded an award to students in the new 20th Century Art and Design course at University College Falmouth (formerly Falmouth College of Art), which was presented for the first time at our AGM in 2003. In addition we funded a Young Arts project for pupils at the Falmouth School.

We have also been supporting, together with University College Falmouth, a Children's Illustrations Archive at the award-winning Falmouth Art Gallery. The archive was created in December 2004, and The Arts Society Falmouth has funded some purchases of children’s book illustrations, adding to an already existing collection in the gallery. It is hoped that the illustration archive will also attract gifts from professional illustrators.

In 2010 the society donated £1,000 to the Falmouth Art Gallery which enabled the gallery to ‘unlock’ the main sum from the Art Fund to acquire the painting entitled Innocence by Thomas Cooper Gotch (1854 – 1931). In 2012 we made a small contribution to help with the acquisition of Anne Killigrew’s ‘Venus attired by the Three Graces’.

During the summer of 2012 we donated £2,000 to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth to enable the creation of a Museum Assistant (Graduate Trainee) work placement. The key barrier to any young person gaining a job within the heritage sector is a lack of experience, specifically a lack of initial paid experience. The graduate trainee work placement was a new initiative by the Museum that aims to address this issue by providing invaluable experience, knowledge and transferable skills to a young person at the start of their career.

In 2015 we supported the Kennall Vale School Young Arts Project, where the students were engaged in the design and creation of signage to put on the classroom doors.

In 2016 we funded Spectrum, a local charity who work to support people and their families living with autism, to employ a London-based street artist. The outcome was a colourful mural painted in a tunnel leading up from the quay car park to Church Street in Falmouth.

In 2021, during the Covid 19 pandemic and children were being ‘home schooled’, we provided the funds to allow students to receive a pack of art materials, delivered to their homes, which supported them through an online Fashion Illustration Course/Competition.

In 2023 we provided funding to Cornwall Music Service Trust, an independent charity which provides music tuition in schools in Cornwall.

Volunteers

The Arts Society Falmouth has been involved with many varied projects such as costume conservation at Helston Museum, and documenting the Jewish cemetery in Falmouth. One of the longest running and still active project is at the Bartlett Research Centre and Library, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth. For more information see the Heritage Volunteers.

A Church Recording Group has recorded five local churches and have recently completed a record at St Maylor Church.