Member Artist Application Process: How to Apply . . .

The NEAC welcomes new members through an election at the end of the Annual Exhibition. Places are highly sought-after and strictly limited (in a typical year we may have up to three vacancies).

Membership is open to anyone who is eligible to enter the Annual Exhibition and the process is summarised as follows:

Any non-candidate with work selected for the NEAC Annual Exhibition, who also had work in at least one of the two most recent previous Annual Exhibitions, is automatically long-listed for the membership election.

Shortly after final selection for the Annual Exhibition is announced, long-listed artists are invited to submit a portfolio of images online.

A selection panel consisting of NEAC members views the portfolios anonymously.

The shortlist of candidates for membership comprises:
1. A select number of the long-listed artists chosen on the strength of their online portfolio, and
2. Existing candidates who also have work selected for the Annual Exhibition of the election year.

For the final election, candidates are invited to deliver sketchbooks, portfolios of drawings, and original paintings. These are viewed by the membership before ballots are cast to determine which, if any, of the candidates are elected as members of the NEAC.

Anyone successfully short-listed remains a candidate for five consecutive elections (including the current one - so a span of four years) and can participate in any of these provided they have work selected for the Annual Exhibition in the year of the election.

If after these five chances, an artist has not yet been elected a member, they can continue to try by getting long-listed again. In such cases, sufficiently recent Annual Exhibitions that occurred during the artist's spell as a candidate can contribute to the satisfaction of the criteria. In other words, artists are not sent back to square one: the "two most recent Annual Exhibitions" could correspond to the artist's two most recent election attempts.

There is no limit on the number of times an artist can be long-listed or short-listed.

In a nutshell, the first step towards becoming a member is to submit work to our next Annual Exhibition.