Oakham Decorative and Fine Arts Society was founded in 1999; initially as the Barnsdale Fine Arts Society, and then almost immediately, as the Catmose Decorative and Fine Arts Society.  

In 2005 it was renamed the Oakham DFAS. In 2017 the name changed again to The Arts Society Oakham as part of a global branding change initiated by the main organisation.

From the outset, meetings were held in Oakham's Victoria Hall until its sad demise at the end of 2025.  We were then able to relocate to the Rutland County Museum where we were very well looked after ... until the Museum closed for a major renovation with no current timing for its reopening!  The Committee then scoured the town for a venue of sufficient size to be able to handle our typical lecture audience size and usage pattern. We were delighted, not to say relieved & extremely grateful, to be allowed to use Rutland's largest church for all our meetings from January 2027, although this will necessitate holding our meetings on Tuesday mornings rather than Thursday.

The Society holds lectures on ten months of the year, in 2027 these will be on the fourth Tuesday morning of each month at 11.00am, there are no lectures in July and December.