OUR AIMS
To promote an interest in the fine arts and to encourage members of all ages to develop their skills and creativity.
To promote contact with like-minded people whether interests are traditional or modern.
To provide artists with the opportunity to exhibit their work.
To provide the opportunity to attend workshops and painting days.
To enjoy a year’s programme of events full of interesting demonstrations, lectures and visits.
BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
We hold monthly demonstrations or lectures by professional artists on a variety of subjects. Regular visits are arranged to major exhibitions with a coach leaving from the centre of Stratford upon Avon going to London and other cities. We also organise workshops which are delivered at the Shottery Studio by professional artists.
We now have agreements with Foster Frames and Papersky, both located in Stratford. Society members are eligible for substantial discounts on framing, details will be available for new members upon sign up. Papersky and Fosters both offer a wide range of services which are suitable for artists in all mediums and are well respected members of the Stratford business community.
The Annual Art Exhibition of members’ work is usually held during the last two weeks of August. This event was established over 50 years ago and has become well known in the art world, attracting visitors from far and wide.
The Annual Founders’ Lecture is held in the 2nd week of May each year at a theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where an eminent art specialist lectures on a specific subject.
The Annual General Meeting is held in March and followed by a demonstration of works. Please see the 'Monthly Demonstrations', and 'Workshops' pages for the full details of the current activities.
the management team
See below to learn more about who runs Stratford Upon Avon Art Society. All committee members can be contacted via stratfordartsociety@gmail.com. Alternatively, Members of the Art Society can find out more about specific Committee Members and their roles on the Members page.
ANDRIS
President
PAUL
VICE PRESIDENT
MIKE
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
BOB
ASSISTANT MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
RUPERT
IT MANAGER
CHARLI
WORKSHOPS MANAGER
LISA
TREASURER
SARAH
COMPETITIONS MANAGER
ROSEMARY
TRIP COORDINATOR
SUE
PROGRAMME MANAGER
KIM
FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER
LIZ
EXHIBITION MANAGER
RACHEL
ASS. TREASURER
JO
WEBSITE MANAGER
SUE
PROGRAMME MANAGER
YULIA
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Our History
The Stratford-upon-Avon Art Society is celebrating its 63rd Anniversary this year and was born after a meeting on the 8th May 1959 between W.T. Rawlinson, Wilfred Puddephat, Louise Bomford and others who thought it would be a good idea to form an art group. An open exhibition was held at the NFU Insurance Society’s sports day at Tiddington to advertise, inform and encourage people to join what they decided to call the Stratford Arts Circle. The Society aimed to be open to everyone who practised or appreciated visual art. An inaugural meeting was planned for Friday18th September 1959. 87 people turned up, and at the end of the meeting, 70 people had paid their subscription of 10/6d. The Stratford Art Circle held its first exhibition in Stratford in September 1959 with 171 works submitted by local artists. After one year, the membership had risen to 96. In 1968 the Art Circle renamed itself the Stratford upon Avon Art Society, and in 1970 the group decided to transfer its annual exhibition to King Edward VI Grammar School (William Shakespeare’s School), where it is still held today.
Founder of the Society
Louise Bomford
Past Presidents
1958 – 1974 Wilfred Puddiphat A.T.D.
1974 – 1988 William T Rawlinson A.T.D.,F.R.S.A.
1988 – 1990 Arnold Suttleworth A.T.D.,F.R.S.A.
1990 – 1990 Dorothy Cross
1991 – 1992 David Phillips A.T.D.
1993 – 1994 Stanhope Hodson Dip. Arch., RIBA
1994 – 1996 Claire Austin–Rich
1996 – 1998 Ronald Robinson
1998 – 2000 Stanley Morris
2000 – 2003 Pauline Bamber
2003 – 2005 Kate Carr
2005 – 2007 James Henly
2007 – 2012 Prunella Webb
2012 – 2015 John Freeth
2015 - 2023 Michael Culverwell
President
2023 - Andris Ievins
POLICIES including terms and conditions of being a member
Personal information
All personal data is held by the Membership Secretary and will be treated confidentially and with sensitivity for the benefit of Stratford Art Society members in the following way: to aid communications between Committee Members and other members for general administration such as sending out newsletters; information pertaining to forthcoming meetings; trips; the annual Art Exhibition and other events. The data is available to other Committee members, as appropriate, but will not be passed to other organisations. It is a condition of membership that you agree to your data being used for the above purposes.
If you suspect that these privacy policies have been violated, please contact us and we will do what we can to investigate.
Disability
Our Monthly Meeting and Workshop venues are both wheelchair accessible.
Insurance
The Stratford upon Avon Art Society is not responsible for any personal accident, or loss, damage or theft of members’ personal property whilst engaged in Stratford upon Avon Art Society events, nor for any loss of or damage to any items by a member at the location(s) visited. This is the member’s own responsibility.
Stratford upon Avon Art Society is covered by an Insurance policy in respect of damage to property and/or injury to members of the public and to Stratford upon Avon Art Society members volunteers, against any proven liability arising from the Third Party Bodily Injury or Property Damage or Accidental Negligence to goods in the Insured Persons’ care and/or control during the course of their activities carried out on behalf of Stratford upon Avon Art Society. The insurance also includes member to member liability. Limit of indemnity £5,000,000 any one incident. The limit for cash in transit or at the meeting place is £1,000. Cheques to the value of £5,000 are covered. There is no cover in respect of cash at a Society’s meeting place except during the course of normal activity.
Copyright
We believe the images on our website are either copyright-free, or owned by Stratford upon Avon Art Society. If we receive any legitimate objections in respect of copyright, we undertake to acknowledge ownership or remove them.
Data Protection
Definitions
The Society - means the Stratford upon Avon Art Society
Member - means any Full, PALs, Honorary or Associate member
Data – means any information held relating to any member as detailed in the section Data below.
Members System – means the Stratford upon Avon Art Society Members System
Data Controller – means the person within the Society responsible for the collection, use and sharing of the Data.
Senior Information Rights Owner (SIRO) – means the person who oversees the data policies
Data
The Society holds personal details for each member as follows:-
Title
Name
Postal Address
Telephone contact number/s
Email address
This data is held in order to establish the membership lists, to allow communication with the members to inform the members of the benefits, services and events provided by the Society or in which the Society has an interest, to provide information to members on third party events that may be of interest and to facilitate the general administration of the Society.
Sharing of Data
The Society will not provide any data to any third party individual or organisation.
An individual Member’s data is not available and will not be shared with any other member of the Society except between members of the Society’s Management Committee where it is necessary in order for that committee member to carry out their duties in the Society.
In the event of a member wishing to contact another member, the Society will only pass on that information after receiving permission to do so.
Paper Records
The Society maintains paper records of the data in the form of the annual renewal forms and the new member application forms.
Membership is renewed each year and the paper records are destroyed within three months of the end of the calendar year to which they relate.
Computer Records
Data is held in three ways.
- The Members System
- E mail address lists within the Society’s communication systems
- Various Excel and Word documents used for statistical analysis and the administration of the Society.
Data held on the Members System is reviewed at the end of each calendar year and deleted where it relates to a member who has resigned or left the Society.
Data in the Society’s E mail address lists is deleted within one month of the member resigning or leaving the Society.
Data held for administration and statistical purposes in Excel/Word format is retained in full during the membership year to which it relates and in anonymised form thereafter. It is deleted completely when it no longer serves a useful purpose.
Members are able to access, examine and amend their Data via the Members System.
Right to Object
A Member has the right to object to the collection and use of their Data by the Society.
However, in the event of a Member or prospective Member exercising this right, the Society will be prevented from providing any of the benefits and services.
The Society reserves the right to remove any Member or refuse membership to any prospective member who exercises this right.
Data Controller
The Data Controller is the Membership Secretary of the Society.
SIRO
The SIRO is the President of the Society