The Art Fund increased its membership by 15 per cent in 2011, putting the charity on track to increase its art acquisition fund to £7m by 2014.

The 18,000 new members acquired by the Art Fund last year have been attributed to the charity’s launch of its National Art Pass last April. The pass was launched to draw new members to the charity which supports museums and galleries around the UK in developing their collections.

At the launch of the pass last year, the Art Fund said it wanted to increase its acquisition and show programme from £4.5m to £7m a year up until 2014, in response to the drop in government funding to the arts. While the organisation had made pledges or commitments of £4.4m for this programme last year, a spokeswoman for the charity said that Art Fund is on track to hit the £7m milestone as projected.

“We’re certainly on target,” she said. “It’s a wonderful achievement.”

Just ahead of the launch of the National Art Pass last year, the Arts Council revealed the extent of the impact of government funding cuts to its programmes, funding 154 fewer organisations and cutting its grants programme by 14.9 per cent.

Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: “At a time when Britain’s museums are facing cuts of at least 15 per cent, our success with the National Art Pass in bringing a 15 per cent growth in membership has shown that the public’s appetite for great art remains undiminished.”

The spokeswoman for the charity said that they would hope to build on the success of 2011 in terms of acquiring new members, but that retaining existing ones would be equally important.

The National Art Pass offers members discounts and free entry to art venues across the country.