Organizer Information
The Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) is an artist-run organisation founded in 1891, when a group of 30 artists met in Edinburgh to form a society separate from the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA), aiming to give younger artists exhibition space alongside distinguished painters and sculptors. Its first Annual Exhibition, held at what is now the Royal Scottish Academy building, showed 572 works, including loaned pieces by Rodin, Rembrandt, and Raeburn. The Society built an outward-looking, experimental reputation early on — securing loaned works by Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, and Vlaminck, and in 1931 mounting Edvard Munch's first UK solo exhibition, which shocked contemporary critics but drew record crowds and later influenced artists including William Gillies and William MacTaggart. Today the SSA describes itself as the largest artist-led organisation in Scotland, open to artists based anywhere in the world, and continues to produce its Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy without public funding.
Title & Description
SSA 128th Annual Exhibition — General Submissions
The Scottish Society of Artists is opening general submissions for its 128th Annual Exhibition, taking place at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, from 14 February – 10 March 2027. Produced entirely by artists with no public funding, the exhibition brings together work by SSA members and non-members, recipients of the 2026 SSA New Graduates Awards, and a range of invited artists, alongside separately curated installation, site-specific, performance, and moving image work. This general call accepts work in painting, printmaking, photography, textiles, drawing, sculpture, and all other media not covered by the Society's separate Proposals, Installations & Performance and Moving Image open calls; applicants unsure which call fits their work are asked to contact the SSA before applying.
Categories
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Photography
- Fiber/Textile Art
- Drawing
- Sculpture
- Multiple Disciplines
Eligibility
- Open to artists of all backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives, based anywhere in the world; artists do not need to be Scottish or have a Scottish connection to exhibit
- No restrictions on size, discipline, or media
- Professional Members of the SSA may submit up to 4 works in total across all of the Society's open calls (General Submissions, Proposals/Installations/Performance, and Moving Image)
- Artist, Student, and Graduate Members, and non-members, may submit up to 3 works in total across all of the Society's open calls
- Each artwork must have its own individual submission (unless part of a diptych/triptych); multiple works submitted as a single entry will not be considered
- Where two or more artists collaborate on a single work, the submission counts as one of the permitted entries for each collaborating artist
- Work must not have been shown in the RSA Annual Exhibition, must not be scheduled to show in RSA New Contemporaries, and must not have previously been shown in any SSA, VAS, or RSW Annual Exhibition
- No reproductions or copies of any kind will be accepted
- All selected works must be for sale, and may not be listed for sale on any other platform during the exhibition period (print editions are exempt)
Program Benefits & Awards
- Inclusion in one of the largest contemporary art exhibitions in Scotland, at the Royal Scottish Academy
- Work exhibited alongside installation, site-specific, performance, and moving image pieces from the Society's other open calls
- Sales support through the SSA sales desks, with a reduced 35% commission rate for Professional Members (40% for Artist, Student, Graduate Members and non-members)
- Group transport organised from/to Inverness for artists based in remote areas of Scotland who need extra support shipping work to the exhibition
- Mirror plates for hanging provided by the Society
Application Fee
Non-members: £20 for 1 submission, £40 for 2 submissions, £60 for 3 submissions. Artist, Student, and Graduate Members: free (cost included in membership subscription). Professional Members: free (cost included in membership subscription). In addition, works selected for the exhibition are subject to an admin fee of £10 per work for SSA members and £20 per work for non-members, payable on delivery.
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 7 October 2026
- Pre-selection Notification: 6 November 2026
- Artwork Delivery: Sunday 7 & Monday 8 February 2027
- Private View: 13 February 2027
- Exhibition Open to Public: Sunday, 14 February – Wednesday, 10 March 2027
- Collection of Unsold Work: Friday 12 & Saturday 13 March 2027
Location
Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 2EL, Scotland, United Kingdom
Additional Details
- Image file specifications: JPG or PNG, no more than 3MB; files should be saved with the artwork's title as the file name, and must not include invalid characters (' " & % * ( ) < > / ~ # + =)
- Video/moving image work: if video or moving image is the primary focus of the piece, applicants should submit to the SSA's separate Moving Image Open Call (details to be announced); if it forms one component of a broader installation, applicants should submit to the Installations, Proposals & Performance Open Call instead
- Gallery restrictions: works cannot be suspended from the ceiling or affixed to the gallery floor; any element requiring power must be able to sit directly over a floor socket, and bright cable matting is required, since power access is mainly centrally floor-located
- Delivery requirements: works must carry a stiff hanging label (name, title, price, contact phone/email) plus a permanent label with the same details; artists are responsible for sourcing their own courier (the SSA provides a list of recommended carriers) and for any customs/duty charges and documentation for work shipped from outside the UK; there is no car park at the gallery, and vehicular access is only permitted for large-scale or heavy works
- Insurance: the Society does not insure exhibited works and is not responsible for loss or damage in transit or during the exhibition; artists are advised to insure their own work
- Framing/finishing: no metal frames accepted; framing must be professionally finished and contemporary; works with wet paint will not be accepted; artists are liable for damage caused to other works by wet paint or protruding hooks/fixings
- Display equipment: artists must provide their own plinths, shelving, monitors, screens, speakers, headphones, or other display/technical equipment needed for their work
- Photography: it will be assumed that photographic reproduction of submitted works, and use of images for SSA promotion/marketing, is permitted by the artist unless otherwise indicated
- Works not selected in the final in-person selection must be collected by the stated date, as the Society has no storage space; any work not collected becomes SSA property and may be disposed of or recycled
- Artists may be required to install their own work depending on scale; they will be contacted in advance if this is the case