Yesterday, the Royal Academy of Art opened for registration and submissions to the Summer Exhibition 2025.The submission deadline is 23:59 (GMT) on Tuesday 11 February. However read the first "need to know" item below - because it's might actually be much earlier than that!
The RA Summer Exhibition is the largest open exhibition in the UK - with well over 1,000 exhibits - so you need to take the statistics around selection into account before deciding whether or not enter.
This is about
In effect this means the deadline for entries is not as stated, the ACTUAL deadline for entries is when all the forms for 18,000 entries have been purchased!
You can
- key things you need to know about the Call for Entries
- aspects worth bearing in mind if you're thinking about submitting
IMPORTANT Things You Need to Know
How many people enter?
The cap on the number of submission entries is 18,000. Once that limit has been reached you cannot enter. So you need to register and pay your entry fee - to access an entry form - quickly if you want to be sure of being able to enter. (In 2024 it was 16,500).- enter one or two works,
- for a fee of £40 per work and
- you can pay online by credit or debit card.
Once the 18,000 digital entries have been reviewed, 4,000 will be asked to submit their artwork for the final selection in front of the team of selectors.
However most people do not get selected!
- 18,000 entries reduces to
- 4,000 shortlisted - and need to submit the actual artwork for further judging
- BUT ?? from the open entry get exhibited. I'd guess maybe 1,000?
Many people overprice their artwork - including RA members!
I might have another go at last year's exhibition which is still online
How do I know what I need to know?
The overall process - from beginning to end - is MUCH MORE COMPLICATED than anything else you apply for so you need to get it right.
The RA have been doing this for a long time and have LOTS of information for you - and you do need to read it.
So if you're not a fan of reading get a friend who is picky about details to do it for you.
The RA provides some
- helpful guides (see below) plus
- lots of answers to the very many FAQS (see next item)
How to Enter - The Basics
You must first register and buy your entry form. Next you complete it before the deadline for entries.
- Terms and Conditions of Entry - Why they can't make this a PDF I do not know. I recommend you "print to PDF" and save it as it's something you'll be wanting to use as a checklist. Do NOT rely on reading it just once!
- Instructions for Entering Work - Ditto, this also needs to be a PDF
- Exhibition Schedule - this lists all the dates for what happens when
- Suggested Transport Agents - list of recommended art couriers. None list their prices - which will vary depending on how far they are transporting. Remember their prices will include the time for packing and unpacking.
Very Useful Things to Know
TIP: Don't forget to get your artwork photographed BEFORE it is framed!
ESSENTIAL NEED TO KNOW: Selling your Artwork
Sales are handled very differently than those for other open exhibitions and you must make sure you understand what's involved before you submit your entry.
- VAT Information - International Artists This is a MUST READ FOR ALL INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS. It's not something to sort out later.
- Guide to Selling - the way sales work is like this:
- YOU are the seller
- The RA introduces you to a buyer - and take a commission for so doing
- it's a distance sale if the person buys via a phone/online - and all relevant distance sales regulations need to be observed (see the T&Cs)
- the seller pays the RA a deposit - which is retained by the RA as the commission
- Additional checks are now required by the RA on sellers if the sale exceeds £7k via the RA in the space of 12 months. This is because they MUST comply with the new money laundering legislation. (see my Art Business Info for Artists page about Momey Laundering)
Customer Due Diligence The government has introduced new legislation that affects all art dealers, galleries and buyers. If a buyer purchases over £7000 worth of artwork at the Summer Exhibition over the course of 12 months, we are obliged to perform identity checks, similar to those made when an individual opens a bank account. For more information, please visit royalacademy.org.uk/guidance
- your end of the sale is completed when you present an invoice the the seller and they then pay you the balance due.
- what you must state in your sale agreement and invoice is stipulated in the Guide to Selling. Do not mess about with this and cause hassle for the RA if you ever want to exhibit again in future!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
- Creating an Artist Account - to register for an account see the menu line top left of the page
Once You have purchased an Entry Form, You must submit the details and digital photographs of Your Work(s) online by the deadline given in the exhibition schedule. Entries cannot be submitted after the deadline.
- Photographing Your Artwork for Digital Submission - READ/VIEW THE GUIDES
- Retail Price of Artworks and VAT
You should decide what you want to receive from the sale once our commission of 35% of the net price plus VAT is taken into consideration. If your work is an editioned print, you should also factor in the cost of inland (UK) postage and packaging for unframed prints and the cost of framing the work intended for display.
- Commission on Artwork Sales - interestingly they no longer allege that funds from the Summer Exhibtion support the RA Schools. It's now very clear that funds generated by the exhibition support the RA as a whole
- Artists Living Outside the UK
the RA's commission on artwork sales is 35% of the net price plus VAT
If your work is for sale, you must supply us with a UK VAT number or register with a UK address. Please see the VAT Information – International Artists document under Helpful Links on the homepage. If your work is not for sale, you do not need to supply us with a UK VAT number.
After the first round of judging the status of your entry will change to Shortlisted or Not Selected on your artist account. You will also receive an email notification.
- Conditions of a Valid Entry - READ CAREFULLY!
Can I enter an AI work?
If your work is generated, partially or entirely, using artificial intelligence, then you must declare it on your artwork form by adding ‘AI’ to the medium field.
- Notifications
- Barcodes and Labels for Shortlisted Works
- Delivery of Shortlisted Works
- Collection of Unselected Works
- Prizes
- Information for Exhibitors - if your work sells, it's up to the buyer to collect the artwork from the RA, but only after you have received your money and generated a Removal Order from the RA i.e. the RA plays not part in sending the artwork to the buyer and you don't have to send it either. Unless it's an unframed print.
- Collection of Exhibited Works Normal stuff about how to collect work - by both buyers and artists.
- If the buyer resides outside the United Kingdom, they should bear the transportation costs, but you are the seller and the final arrangement is between you and the buyer.
- Booking delivery and collection slots If you get selected you will be asked via email to book a delivery slot. I guess that reduces queuing.
- NEW New HMRC reporting requirements. From 1st January 2024, UK legislation came into effect requiring organisations operating ‘digital platforms’ to report sales over defined thresholds to HMRC. The thresholds are:
- sellers who sell more than 14 works of art,
- or those who sell work(s) with a value of £750 or more
The Selectors
The selectors are this year called The Exhibition Committee and they are
- Exhibition Co-ordinator Farshid Moussavi OBE RA
- Royal Academicians Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald, Vanessa Jackson, Christopher Le Brun, Sikelela Owen, Helen Sear, Caragh Thuring and Richard Wilson. (I must be getting old - I've only heard of one of them so most must be very new!)
The Exhibition
The exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday 17th June and continues until Sunday 17th August. So basically it's open for two months.
Reviews of past Summer Exhibitions
I've stopped reviewing the Summer Exhibition in recent years, mainly because I let my Friends of the RA membership lapse because the expense way exceeded the value. Besides which I can see what got in from the comfort of my own sofa!
2024:
2023:
2021 - which became a winter exhibition because of Covid!
2020: Another exhibition badly affected by Covid
- VIDEO: Royal Academy Winter / Summer Exhibition 2020
- TIPS for entries to the 2020 RA Summer Exhibition
- RA Summer Exhibition 2020: Call for Entries (SHORT version)
2019
- OFFICIAL: No 12,000 cap on entries to RA Summer Exhibition + dates change
- RA Summer Exhibition 2019 UPDATE + prediction re emphasis of selected work
- RA Summer Exhibition 2019: Call for 12,000 entries
2018 (THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR)
- RA Summer Exhibition - a curious exercise in pricing and sales VERY USEFUL
- What's different about the 250th Summer Exhibition curated by Grayson Perry?
- MUST VIEW online: 250 years of the Summer Exhibition Chronicle
- The agony and the ecstasy of art competition judging
- Rejection from the RA Summer Exhibition
- Call for Entries - RA Summer Exhibition 2018 - the 250th Anniversary one!
2016:
- 10 artworks of merit at the RA Summer Exhibition 2016 This post is about the ten artworks which remain most clearly in my mind at the end of my visit to the 248th Summer Exhibition at the RA 10 days ago.
- RA Summer Exhibition - open and online - with prints for sale About the virtual version of the RA's Summer Exhibition and scope to buy prints online for the first time.
- Pricing prints for the Summer Exhibition One very small artwork on display at the 2016 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts very neatly illustrates a very important point about pricing for art competitions and the Summer Exhibition in particular.
- 10 reasons why the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 might surprise you Overview of the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 - and how it is different this year RECOMMENDED.
- Three celebrity portraits at the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 This post asks some pointed questions about celebrity portraiture within the RA's Summer Exhibition 2015.
- The Summer Exhibition on the BBC A review of the BBC coverage of the Summer Exhibition 2015 at the Royal Academy of Art.
- Summer Exhibition 2014 at the Royal Academy of Arts RA Summer Exhibition 2014 - a review of the key facts and an overview of changes in 2014.
2013:
- 10 reasons to visit the RA Summer Exhibition 2013 Review of the 245th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly.
2012:
- Review: 244th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts It has a much fresher feel this year ...
- Exhibition review: The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition 2009 I visited the Royal Academy of Art last week to see the Summer Exhibition 2009. I honestly can't recommend the exhibition this year.
- Innovation and tradition at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The 239th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition at Burlington House opens to the public today.
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