Royal West of England Academy

Did you know that prizes awarded in our Annual Open 🎨🏢

Awards are given out to a wide range of mediums from architecture to sculpture to print - and everything in-between, plus there are specialist categories for emerging and early career artists.

This year we have the new RWA Architecture Award, open to any works selected under the Architecture category with judges looking for 'emotion and communication' in the winning entry.

Our Academy Award has a prize of £3,000 for 'an artist whose work demonstrates exceptional skill in its ex*****on and challenges the definition and purpose of contemporary art'.

Plus, with have many other prizes thanks to our generous sponsors and supporters including: Cass Art - Derek Balmer Painting - Evolver Magazine - Friends of the RWA -Niche Frames - Pangolin - Andrew Cole - PJ Crook + others

Fancy be part of the Open? Head to rwaopen.co.uk to submit your work - but be quick, submissions closed on 29 June at midnight

Creating Moments of Joy with Happy Mondays 🫶

As part of our Happy Mondays programme we welcomed students from Briarwood Senior School to our summer exhibition 'Dance Out'

The students particularly enjoyed interacting with the BEAT BLOCKS haptic dance floor where staff supported the session, adjusting the music in real time and taking requests from the young people.

💬 "It was the most expressive session with a SEND group in the gallery space - full of moments of pure joy”

Happy Mondays is just one way we are creating lifelong journeys with art - head to blog to find out more: www.rwa.org.uk/blogs/news/creating-moments-of-joy-with-happy-mondays

You can catch 'Dance Out' at the RWA until 9 August

📸 Dance Out install. Alastair Brookes /KoLAB Studios

🚨 Final week to get your submissions in 🚨

🤩 Grab this opportunity to exhibit in the South West’s largest open exhibition between 12 September 2026 – 3 January 2027 and have your work seen by thousands of visitors.

Reasons to submit:

🌟 Have your work seen by our expert selection panel including RWA Academicians, curators, writers and educators
🌟 Sell your work at a price set by you – tell us how much you want to sell it for and we’ll do the rest
🌟 Become part of a legacy of exhibiting artists which includes Vanessa Bell, David Hockney, Mary Fedden, and Sir Frank Bowling

We can’t wait to see your work!

⭐ Entry deadline is Monday 29 June at midnight
🔗 www.rwaopen.co.uk

🥳 Congratulations to Aly Dalrymple who won the People's Choice Award for her embroidered textile piece, 'Wild', featured in the Friends of the RWA exhibition.

“The Friends Exhibition Committee were thrilled when we added up the votes for The People's Choice to discover that Aly Dalrymple was the outright winner for 'Wild'.

There were so many positive comments from the visitors about her work throughout the eight weeks of the exhibition and we were not at all surprised when the artwork was sold.

Aly's work is so unique, beautifully worked and shows her deep love of nature, wildlife and folklore. She is a very worthy winner.”

The biennial exhibition is a celebration of the talents of the RWA’s community of Friends, and this was the most successful open call exhibitions to date, welcoming over 3,600 visitors and with 45 artworks sold.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for their favourite, and thank you the Friends for organising such a spectacular exhibition!


👉 Become a Friend and join a thriving community offering events and benefits for its members: rwa.org.uk/friends

dalrymple
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Need some weekend plans? Head to the RWA on Sunday 21 June for - an epic celebration of free music 🪇 🪘

We are joining up with city-wide venues to host a range of singing and instrumental groups in this free day long celebration of all things music!

Head to the RWA and catch:

🎶 10:30 Toot Suite - a recorder quarter playing an eclectic mix of music from the 15th to the 21st century

🎶 12:00pm Heartwood Chorus - new arrangements of traditional & contemporary folk songs

🎶 2:00pm Narges Sartavi - showcasing her favourite violin pieces

We can’t wait to see you! 🧡

This event is part of a musical trail, with other events at St George's, RWA, Bristol Cathedral, We The Curious, Bristol Old Vic, Sparks Bristol, John Wesley's New Room, Bristol Folk House and pop up in the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Head to our website to find out more

🎶 Migration. Memory. Music. Movement 🎶

Join Karnival King Julz Davis for a journey through Bristol's histories of migration, protest, carnival and cultural resistance through storytelling, film, public history and live conversation.

Taking place on Independence Day and the weekend St Pauls Carnival would ordinarily have filled Bristol's streets with music and movement, IndepenDance is a guided civic walking experience inspired by the life and legacy of Carmen Beckford MBE - community leader, cultural activist and co-founder of St Pauls Carnival.

The experience begins at the RWA, where participants can explore Dance Out before heading out into Clifton where you’ll discover the area’s hidden and not-so-hidden multicultural and countercultural histories.

Part walking tour, part performance and part public conversation, IndepenDance invites participants to experience history not simply as something to remember, but as something to move through together.

🎟️ £15
🔗 rwa.org.uk/events

📣 Coming soon… Folly | 23 June – 30 August 2026

Curated by Peter Burke RWA, and including works by four RWA Academicians, the artists in this exhibition explore the tradition of folly building which began in Britain’s stately homes several hundred years ago.

Wealthy individuals chose to demonstrate their prosperity by commissioning ornamental structures in their newly landscaped grounds, often taking the form of towers or mock ruins.

Today, the wider built environment is filled with structures shaped by political, religious, or commercial ideologies. Many were once symbols of ambition and prestige but have since become redundant or obsolete. Can these be considered modern follies?

Featuring Peter Burke RWA, Judith Jones RWA, Jemma Gunning RWA RE and Karl Singporewala RWA RIBA.

🎟️ Free
🏛️ Join us for a Meet the Curator talk with Peter Burke RWA on 18 July
🔗 rwa.org.uk/events

Artworks: 'Tin Coast' (2026), Jemma Gunning RWA RE and 'Divo (blue)' (2025), Karl Singporewala RWA RIBA

🚨 Time isn't always on our side, but we are.

With so many competing priorities, we know how hard it can be to find the time to apply. To make things a little easier, we’ve extended the deadline for the 173rd Annual Open by one full week, until Monday 29 June.

We really want to see your work – and we can’t wait to review your submission.

⭐ Entry deadline is Monday 29 June at midnight
🔗 www.rwaopen.co.uk

🔦 Spotlight on the 172nd Annual Open Academy Prize winner Eric Butcher

Eric is an abstract painter who has 'committed to use only those materials already available in the studio; using up, repurposing and recycling what he already has without consuming more'.

Eric's works, T/R. 1047 and T/R. 1059 were selected for the Academy prize in 2025 with former President of the Academician Fiona Robinson noting that these works "question both the validity of painting and the inherent consumerism of making art."

The Academy Award, presented each year to an outstanding work in the Annual Open Exhibition, is awarded in recognition of an artist whose work demonstrates exceptional skill in its ex*****on and challenges the definition and purpose of contemporary art.

See your work in our 173 Annual Open 🎨

🗓️ Submit your work by 22 June
🔗 www.rwaopen.co.uk

📸T/R 1047 2024 and T/R 1059 , Eric Butcher, 172 Annual Open , photographer Khali Ackford / KoLAB Studios

Here is what’s on this June at the RWA ☀️

💃 Beginners Cuban Salsa Classes | 1 June – 6 July | Mondays 7.30-8.30pm
Join Abelardo Salabet of Salsa is Life for Salsa in the galleries. Open to people of all ages and abilities.

🧘 Morning Movement with Phoebe Prideaux | 12 June | 8.30-9.30am
Join us in the galleries before the busyness of the day begins, and take time for yourself in this uplifting, thoughtful yoga class.

🎧 This is Jungle: Listening Lab | 13 June | 5.30pm -7.30pm
Take a deep dive into the record boxes and vinyl history of two of Bristol’s most influential DJ/producers.

🎤 Sukina Noor Poetry Workshop | 16 June | 1.30-3.30pm
Bristol City Poet, Sukina Noor, invites you to explore the body in motion and the subtle choreography of everyday life through crafting your poems.

👉 Dance Out Gallery Tour | Every Tuesday | 12-12.45pm
Take a tour of our summer exhibition, Dance Out, with one of our brilliant RWA volunteers.

🖼️ A Story Full of Dancers Lecture | 17 June | 5.30-7.30pm
Join Dr Justine Hopkins for her final lecture titled, ‘Once More, With Feeling: Dance and Art in the Modern World’.

🇮🇳 Indian Folk Dance for Women | 17 June | 10.30-11.30am
Sayambrita Mukherjee invites you to explore movement, rhythm, and expression in Indian Folk Dance.

🍼 Baby Tour | 18 June | 11am-12.30pm
Baby Tours are relaxed, informal sessions held in a safe and comfortable space for parents and caregivers with babies aged 12 months and under.

💎 Latin Gems Workshop | 20 June | 10.30am-12pm
Join the Latin Gems for a dance demo and an opportunity to learn some Latin dance moves. Introductory level, no partner required.

🎛️ Skankin’ In Ya Area - The Bristol Sound through creative folk dance | 26 June | 6:30 - 8:30pm
Join dance animator Cleo Lake on a journey through Bristol Sound classics, from Trip Hop to Jungle Drum and Bass and some of the influences in between.

Book your tickets 👉 rwa.org.uk/events

Images: Alastair Brookes and Khali Ackford/KoLAB