I'm publishing a list of summaries of ALL the current Calls for Entries for Open Exhibitions by the National Art Societies in the UK and Ireland which have been published to date.
#1 TODAY: I'm publishing the first half of the list - about the national art societies based at the Mall Galleries who have exhibitions in the period January - June 2025.#2 TOMORROW: I'm going to show you how well non members do at selling artwork at some of the Mall Galleries exhibitions IF:
- they get selected
- they price their work correctly
- You may be very surprised! I'll be speculating on the reasons why....
Calls for Entries by FBA Societies
Being exhibited in an important national exhibition is an excellent way of marketing yourself and your art. I've seen a lot of amateur artists develop into professional artists and become officers of leading national art societies in the nearly 20 years that I've been writing this blog.
Below are SUMMARIES of various Calls for Entries by Annual Exhibitions by all the national art societies which are members of the Federation of British Artists.
- Their exhibitions are all held at the Mall Galleries
- They are all holding exhibitions in the period January - June 2025
- This is the page where you can find all the Open Calls for Entries
My summaries are NEVER a substitute for you reading ALL the Terms and Conditions of Entries very carefully. I've provided links to where you can read these below.
- You can get selected and then not hung if you mess up.
- Pay particular attention to
- delivering artwork and its presentation for exhibition and
- VAT before entering or pricing. (see note at end)
Royal Society of British Artists
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| Royal Society of British Artists Open Call for Entries - Annual Exhibition 2025 |
- Website: https://www.therba.org/
- Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-society-british-artists
- Deadline for Entries: Wednesday 8 January 2025
- Exhibition: 26 February - 8 March 2025
- Venue: Mall Galleries
- Who can enter: Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.
- What can you enter:
- Painting, sculpture, drawing and original prints.
- nothing larger than 2.4m (longest dimension)
- all work must be for sale
- NOT previously exhibited in London
- original creation of the artist
- Pricing:
- minimum price of £300
- Prints only – framed £180, unframed £120
- 45% commission + VAT charged on all sales
- Entry Fee:
- non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work
- £14 per work for any artists aged 35 or under
Reasons to enter:
- lots of prizes - many of which are awarded to open artists
- RBA has a strong commitment to favouring the development of young artists
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours | 213th Exhibition 2025
The RI continues to see the importance of an open exhibition where work by members and non-members can be shown together. We are especially proud to have almost a 50/50 split between them and are sure that this provides opportunity to artists, both emerging and established, as well as quality and variety to our visitors. Chris Myers - President
- Website: https://royalinstituteofpaintersinwatercolours.org/
- Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-institute-painters-water-colours
- Deadline for Entries: Tuesday 28 January 2025, 12 noon
- Exhibition: 26th March - 5th April 2025
- Venue: Mall Galleries
- Who can enter: Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.
- What can you enter:
- Acceptable media; Watercolour or water-soluble mediums including watercolour, acrylic, ink or gouache (excluding water-soluble oils) on any appropriate support (define).
- all work must be for sale
- artwork completed within the last two years
- NOT previously exhibited in London
- original creation of the artist
If selected works arrive damaged, with unacceptable framing, size discrepancies from the original submission, not as shown online, or in the opinion of the Selection Committee as not being in the spirit of watercolour painting, then these will be withdrawn. All withdrawn artworks will need to be collected from Mall Galleries by the artist at their expense.
- Pricing:
- minimum price of £350
- 45% commission + VAT charged on all sales
- Entry Fee:
- non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work
- £14 per work for any artists aged 35 or under
Reasons to enter:
- This is the biggest exhibition dedicated to paintings in water colours in the UK.
- last year there were
- 465 paintings in the show
- around 50% of these are from the Open Submission
- displays a wide diversity in approaches to paintings using watercolour media and subject matter - from traditional to the more contemporary.
- relatively little of what I tend to term the "can't draw, can't paint, won't sell" school of painting which lacks application to both concept and craft
Royal Society of Portrait Painters | Annual Exhibition 2025
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| Royal Society of Portrait Painters Open Call for Entries - Annual Exhibition 2025 |
One of the factors which makes this Annual Exhibition special is that it is selected exclusively by practising painters. They know what they're looking at and so inclusion in the show is a truly meaningful accolade.Anthony Connolly - President
- Website: https://therp.co.uk/
- Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/royal-society-portrait-painters
- Deadline for Entries: Tuesday 4 February 2025, 12 noon
- Exhibition: 8-17th May 2025
- Venue: Mall Galleries
- Who can enter: Any artist aged 18 or over may enter, from anywhere in the world.
- What can you enter:
- paintings, drawings and original prints - including digital/iPad prints - the primary source should be from life.
- Sculpture and photography are NOT admissible.
- completed in last 3 years
- NOT previously exhibited in London
- original creation of the artist
this is a very competitive open exhibition. This year the RP received 3,500 entries (which is more than BP Portrait used to get!) Royal Society of Portrait Artists Annual Exhibition 2024
- Pricing:
- works may be listed as "not for sale"
- minimum price of £300
- Prints only – framed prints: £180, unframed prints £120 (latter to include cost of postage)
- 45% commission + VAT charged on all sales
- Entry Fee:
- non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work
- £14 per work for any artists aged 35 or under
Reasons to enter:
- the 2024 exhibition was one of the very best RP Annual Exhibitions I've ever seen
- 241 portraits
- 125 artworks selected from the open exhibition
- an exhibition which displays one genre - portraiture - of a very high standard - with a wide diversity of subjects, styles, sizes and media.
- the standards of execution are uniformly high and some portraits in 2024 were of the very highest standard - whether by RP member or open entrant
- the artwork leans heavily towards realism although a lot does not try to look photographic
- very high quality entries from the open submission have influenced members over time!
- READ Royal Society of Portrait Artists Annual Exhibition 2024 which inlcudes links to where you can see my photos of artwork in the exhibition
New English Art Club | Annual Exhibition 2025
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| New English Art Club Open Call for Entries - Annual Exhibition 2025 |
At the heart of the NEAC is the search and propagation of meaningful, resonant art. It is committed to authenticity through the observation of life, as well as the task of articulating and communicating ideas with the beauty of skilful language. NEAC Annual Exhibition
- Website: https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/
- Call for Entries: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/new-english-art-club
- Deadline for Entries: Friday 14 March 2025, 12 noon
- Exhibition: 12th - 21st June 2025
- Venue: Mall Galleries
- Who can enter: Any artist over 18 may submit, in the UK, EU, and outside the EU
- What can you enter:
- Paintings, drawings, and original framed prints (NOT photography or sculpture)
- all work must be for sale
- all work must have been completed in last 2 years
- NOT previously exhibited in London
- original creation of the artist
I saw a lot of younger artists receiving awards - which is good and augurs well for the future Review: NEAC Annual Exhibition 2024
- Pricing:
- minimum price of £300
- Prints only – framed £180, unframed £120 (latter to include cost of postage)
- 45% commission + VAT charged on all sales
- Entry Fee:
- non-refundable submission fee of £20 per work
- £14 per work for any artists aged 35 or under
Reasons to enter:
- READ Review: NEAC Annual Exhibition 2024
- 409 artworks in the exhibition
The PV felt to me as if there was a bit of a sea change was in the offing. The art looked a bit different and the people looked a bit different.
VAT for International Artists
Note that all artists who are not resident in the UK but are resident in the EU or elsewhere have a responsibility to register and account for UK VAT with H.M. Revenue & Customs. Otherwise your work may get stuck in Customs.
(see VAT re. "Cross-border supplies and sales of Art and Distance Selling of Art" near the bottom of my page about VAT for Artists on my Art Business Info for Artists website)
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