Prior to writing this piece, I took the time to look back over the 8 previous newsletters, dating back to Spring 2002 (all of which are archived on this website). Over the last 4 years, the Discerning Eye has not only continued to mount extremely successful exhibitions, but it has extended the number and range of its other activities, regularly assisted by additional finance from Arts & Business. This helps illustrate how high the DE′s reputation now is. However, what struck me most from the archives was how close the relationship between DE and its sponsor ING has been.

ING has been DE's constant companion now for many years and has played an integral part not only in the annual exhibition but also in a great number of those other activities, many of which have been jointly developed and have come to fruition on the 5th Floor of ING's London headquarters.

Until now, this relationship, through ING′s sponsorship, has been renewed on an annual basis.

However, I am delighted to announce that DE and ING have for the first time signed a three year sponsorship deal to cover the 2006 to 2008 exhibitions and that the main exhibition is to be renamed The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. In addition, ING has also agreed to increase the value of its main purchase prize to £5,000 (previously £3,000).

Such a commitment from ING is great news for artists; not only does it secure the future of one of the most prestigious exhibitions truly ′open′ to submissions from anybody, but it also helps to put the Discerning Eye charity on a firm financial footing. This will enable us to continue to create new initiatives to promote activities in the visual arts. It underlines ING′s genuine commitment to the arts - you can read more about ING′s art collection inside this issue.

Of course, it takes the support of many people within a global organisation the size of ING before a long term sponsorship deal of this kind can be signed off. So, we thank all of those key decision makers who supported the continuation of our relationship and in particular John Howland Jackson the new CEO for ING UK & Ireland, who by approving a 3 year deal has challenged us to achieve even greater things together.

Finally, Jane Wright, our Friends and Members Scheme secretary, has stood down and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her efforts in establishing and keeping this initiative running so smoothly.

Responsibility for Friends and Members will be taken over by Mary Dodwell, editor of the Newsletter and Website. Mary reports on the 2005 Exhibition and many other activities in this issue which I hope you will all enjoy reading about.

Thank you as ever for your continued support as we move into a new an exciting era and the newly branded ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. This year′s Exhibition will run from Thursday 16 November to Sunday 26 November and will be open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm daily, admission is free.

 

Copyright © 2002-2010 The Discerning Eye  ~  Web site by Shepperton Software