The wait is over for artists anxious to enter the 2013 National Contemporary Art Award now that Waikato Society of Arts has confirmed they will sponsor the award this year.
Waikato Museum Director Cherie Meecham welcomes the partnership with Waikato Society of Arts (WSA), after entry to the award was delayed until a new sponsor was confirmed for 2013.
“We have had a lot of enquiry from artists wanting to enter the award, so this is wonderful news.
“Waikato Society of Arts has strong connections to the arts community and a special history as the founders of the National Contemporary Art Award. Their support has enabled us to keep this award alive, here in the Waikato.”
Waikato Society of Arts launched the National Contemporary Art Award in 2000. Key members of the WSA initiated what we now know as the National Painting and Printmaking Award and the National Contemporary Art Award. Both awards have continued to this day, under the management of the WSA and Waikato Museum respectively. Waikato Museum has administered the National Contemporary Art Award since 2006.
“The National Contemporary Award is brave, exciting and wonderfully unpredictable. We like that it promotes contemporary art, and our reasons for developing it in the first place have not changed. We are here to support the arts and this award is very important to the arts community,” said WSA president, Melany Sutherland.
Jon Bywater, a well-known art critic and senior lecturer at Elam Art School will judge the 2013 National Contemporary Art Award sponsored by the Waikato Society of Arts. Entry to the award is now open and will close on 31 May. Entry is online at waikatomuseum.co.nz. The winner and merit award winners will be announced at a gala opening on 16 August at Waikato Museum before the exhibition opens to the public from 17 August until 10 November.
“This award is an important event on the New Zealand arts calendar and contributes greatly to Hamilton’s reputation as a city with an outstanding arts and culture offer,” Ms Meecham says.
The winner of the 2013 National Contemporary Art Award sponsored by Waikato Society of Arts will receive S15,000 from the sponsor.