Membership

RBSA Members & Associates

Dating back to the early 1800s, the RBSA is one of the oldest art societies in the UK and officially formed as the Birmingham Society of Artists in 1821.  It has a central governing body, the RBSA Council, and is made up of artists who are elected to be RBSA Members, Associates, and Honorary Members.

Every three years, early-career artists are also elected to be Graduate Artists as part of the RBSA’s career development programme.

Election Process

The RBSA (the Society) is an artist-led charity made up of a membership of some 190 artists, sculptors, textile artists, ceramicists, and jewellers. It is a charity with the aim of furthering artistic practice and the public understanding of art.

To become a member of the Society it is necessary to be elected by the existing Members and Associates at an annual election in April.  You may be eligible to apply for Self-Nomination – see details below. The RBSA is one of the few Societies that owns a gallery, giving our RBSA membership excellent opportunities to show their work. All members pay an annual subscription, currently around £235, and there is a 50% discount for artists aged 35 years or under.

Note: If you are accepted as a Candidate for Associateship there is an admin fee of £60 to be paid prior to the Candidates Exhibition, which will be in the Gallery between Thursday 10 and Sunday 27 April 2025. This fee should be paid via the Front of House team.

All Candidates must first be elected an Associate by the existing Members and Associates of the Society. There are two ways of being nominated to become an Associate outlined below.

APPLICATIONS FOR 2025 ARE NOW OPEN.

Artists’ Briefing
Sunday 12 January 2025 2pm
For all those artists contemplating applying for RBSA Associateship, you are welcome to attend an artists’ briefing in the Gallery to learn more about the Society and what becoming an Associate involves. We would strongly advise you to join us and ask hat you contact the Gallery to register your interest in attending this session.

Please see application documents at the bottom of the page.

Application deadlines:
All Nomination Forms should be returned by email to the RBSA Honorary Secretary Rob Leckey by 4pm on Friday 31 January 2025. Email rob.leckey@icloud.com

All Self-Nomination Forms should be returned by email to the RBSA Honorary Secretary Rob Leckey by 4pm on Wednesday 22 January 2025. Email rob.leckey@icloud.com

RBSA Associate Membership

Firstly, a candidate can be nominated by two full Members (known as Associate Nomination) or, secondly, via Self-Nomination. Self-Nomination is for an artist who does not know any Members but has shown at the Gallery in the past and wishes to become an Associate.

There are two separate procedures for the different nomination paths, however, all potential candidates should read and download the Associates Application Pack to understand the nature of the RBSA as an artist-led charity and the benefits and responsibilities of Associateship.

Note: The Society expects those contemplating nomination to have a substantial body of work already in their portfolio from which they can select work to be shown in the Candidates Exhibition.

RBSA Associate Nomination

Those Candidates who have two full Members (not Associates) to propose and second their Nomination, should download the form and complete it with all details including the original signatures of the proposer and seconder, and send it, with SIX digital images, to Rob Leckey, Honorary Secretary.

Artists should also complete the section showing evidence of previous connections with the RBSA, indicating the exhibitions and events in which they have participated. This is important as the RBSA Council have indicated they are unlikely to approve a Nomination for Associateship unless an artist has some previous relationship with the Gallery. In this instance, the Council may decide to hold the Nomination over for a year to enable the Candidate to establish a record of exhibiting.

RBSA Associate Self-Nomination

To qualify for self-nomination, an artist must have had one work accepted in a minimum of three RBSA Open and/or Prize exhibitions over the last six years – that is from the period beginning January 2019. Exhibition acceptances for the Friends Exhibition or by organisations other than the RBSA do not count for this purpose. This is to demonstrate that candidates are familiar with and have shown some commitment to the RBSA by submitting consistently high-quality work.

If this requirement is met, the artist should download the Self-Nomination Form, complete the details, including the dates of the exhibition acceptances, and send it to Rob Leckey, the Honorary Secretary with a CV of approximately 250 words and SIX digital images demonstrating their current practice.

The President and a small group of senior members will evaluate all applications with the images. A decision on whether to accept each nomination will be made in February by the RBSA Council. There is no limit on the number of nominations approved by the Council. For those who are unsuccessful at self-nomination, the Council has decided that candidates should not expect to receive any feedback. A further application for self-nomination cannot be submitted within three years.

RBSA Member Nomination

An artist must first be elected as an Associate before being considered for election as a full Member. The RBSA Council has decided that they will not normally approve a nomination for Member unless the following criteria are met:

  1. The nomination is not made before the third anniversary of their being elected an Associate (eg for those elected at the 2022 AGM as Associates, they would be eligible for nomination for the elections in 2025).

  2. Nomination can be made with the support of two existing Members or by the process of self-nomination.
  3. The Candidate is able to demonstrate participation or some other contribution to the Society over the period of their Associateship.

  4. None of the six works shown in the Associates Candidates Exhibition may be shown in the Members Candidates Exhibition.

If these criteria are met, the Membership nomination form should be downloaded, completed, and returned to Rob Leckey.

If elected as a Member, it is a requirement of the Society for the artist to donate a Diploma work to the Permanent Collection which must be representative of their current practice.

If you have any queries or questions, please contact our Honorary Secretary Rob Leckey via email rob.leckey@icloud.com.