Lakeland Arts’ Abbot Hall becomes the first UK public institution to receive new fund supporting the acquisition of work by an emerging artist from Frieze’s Focus section.
L-R: Peter Davies, Caroline Douglas, Dasha Shenkman, Will Cooper and Niall Hodson
Abbot Hall, part of the charity Lakeland Arts, is the inaugural recipient of the £30,000 Dasha Shenkman Focus Fund. The new fund, launched by the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) in partnership with Frieze, will enable Abbot Hall to acquire a work by an emerging artist presented in the Focus section of Frieze London 2026.
As the first organisation to receive the fund, Lakeland Arts is at the forefront of a new initiative, designed to champion the next generation of artists and strengthen contemporary collections across the UK. The acquisition will bring new and exciting artistic talent into one of the North of England’s most significant public collections.
The Contemporary Art Society marks its tenth anniversary of partnering with Frieze to support the acquisition of significant contemporary works for UK public collections. The Dasha Shenkman Focus Fund builds on the established CAS Collections Fund at Frieze, which has enabled museum curators to research and secure major contemporary acquisitions at the fair over the past decade.
The new fund has a particular focus on artists at an early stage in their careers. It will support the purchase of work by an artist exhibiting in Frieze London’s Focus section, giving their practice the opportunity to enter a UK public collection at a crucial stage in its development.
For Abbot Hall, the award is an opportunity to look to the future of collecting. The gallery has a long history of bringing important works of art to audiences in the Lake District. This new acquisition will broaden that story, introducing a new generation of contemporary practice and helping to ensure that the Lakeland Arts collection continues to evolve.
Abbot Hall’s Senior Curator, Will Cooper, and Keeper of Collections, Niall Hodson, will attend Frieze London to explore the Focus section and select the work to acquire. The chosen artwork will join the Lakeland Arts collection in Kendal, where it will be displayed alongside works spanning centuries of British and international art.
For more than sixty years, Abbot Hall has built a distinctive public collection. Its holdings range from watercolours by J.M.W. Turner and John Ruskin and a comprehensive collection of George Romney portraiture to modern and contemporary works by Barbara Hepworth, Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, Stanley Spencer and Charmaine Watkiss.
The acquisition continues this tradition, while opening the collection to new perspectives. It also reflects Lakeland Arts’ commitment to ensuring that ambitious contemporary art is not only collected and experienced in London, but reaches audiences across the country.
The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is a London-based charity founded in 1910 to promote the acquisition and study of contemporary art in the UK. Since its foundation, it has facilitated the donation of more than 10,500 works of fine art and craft into public collections. CAS currently has a membership of 78 museums across the UK, and past acquisitions made possible by the Collections Fund at Frieze include works by John Akomfrah (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), Kehinde Wiley (The Box, Plymouth), Ibrahim Mahama (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery) and Michael Landy (The Walker Art Gallery).
Long-standing CAS supporter and arts philanthropist Dasha Shenkman has a distinguished track record of supporting young creatives. Her new Focus Fund recognises artists at a moment of visibility and opportunity, when a place in a public collection can provide important critical endorsement and a lasting platform for their work.
For the artist selected by Abbot Hall, the acquisition could mark a significant milestone. For Lakeland Arts, it is a chance to discover an artist whose work may help shape the collection and its audiences for years to come.
Niall Hodson, Keeper of Collections at Abbot Hall (Lakeland Arts), said:
“Lakeland Arts is immensely proud to be the inaugural recipient of the Dasha Shenkman Focus Fund. To be the first organisation selected for this new initiative is a significant moment for Abbot Hall and for Lakeland Arts, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to bring an exceptional new work into the collection.
“Frieze’s Focus section offers an extraordinary opportunity to encounter some of the most urgent and compelling voices in contemporary art at a pivotal moment in their careers. We are excited to discover an artist whose work will not only enrich the Lakeland Arts collection, but also introduce our audiences in Cumbria and across the North of England to a new and exciting voice in contemporary art.
“Building a collection is about looking both backwards and forwards. This award allows us to continue Abbot Hall’s long tradition of ambitious collecting while broadening the perspectives and practices represented in the collection. It is particularly exciting to be able to support emerging talent at such an important stage in their development and to bring that work to Kendal, where it can be encountered by audiences for generations to come.”
Caroline Douglas, Director of the Contemporary Art Society, said:
“We’re thrilled to mark our tenth anniversary partnering with Frieze by opening an exciting new chapter connecting emerging artists with UK institutions thanks to the generous and visionary support of Dasha Shenkman and her newly launched Focus Fund. Abbot Hall is an especially worthy recipient, with its distinctive collection and marked commitment to bringing ambitious contemporary art to audiences in the North West. At a time when most UK museums have no core budget for acquisitions, committed philanthropy is one of the only routes by which work by contemporary artists work can enter public collections.”
