royal ulster academy of arts 145th exhibition

Date

18th October 2026 - 3rd January 2027

Age group

All

The Annual Exhibition

The Royal Ulster Academy of Arts returns to the Ulster Museum this year, bringing together RUA members, invited artists and artists selected through open submission. The RUA is Northern Ireland’s longest-established body of practising visual artists and a registered charity.

3,000+ artists entered this year’s exhibition.

350 works are featured. Media includes painting, drawing, original print, photography, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and contemporary craft.

More than £10,000 in prizes will be awarded directly to artists.

Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery Project Funding supports the 2026/27 Annual Exhibition Education Programme. Belfast City Council and Dormant Assets NI / The National Lottery Community Fund support the RUA’s wider development and sustainability

^{Hero image:}^{Kissing, Cutting,}^{Martha Still. Oil on calico. Image supplied by the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts.}

This year's exhibition brings together work by established artists, emerging talent and artists exhibiting with the Academy for the first time.

Visitors can discover around 350 works across painting, drawing, original print, photography, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and contemporary craft. Work by Royal Ulster Academicians is shown alongside pieces selected through the RUA's Open Submission and work by specially invited artists.

Among this year's invited artists is contemporary British landscape painter Andrew Gifford, whose recent work has explored the surviving Atlantic rainforests of Britain and Ireland.

A painting showing a sun-dappled grove, full of lush greens. — *Alders on Sphagnum Moss, Glengarriff, West Cork,* Andrew Gifford. Oil on canvas. Image supplied by the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts.

The exhibition also reflects the RUA's commitment to supporting younger and emerging artists, with graduates and early-career painters exhibiting alongside established artists and Academicians. This year's younger voices include artists such as Martha Still and Alana Barton, the latter a former winner of the KPMG Young Artist Award and newly elected Academician for 2026.

Also newly elected to the Academy is artist and theatre designer Stuart Marshall, while prize-winning sculptor John Rainey, elected in 2025, also exhibits.

A substantial contemporary craft presence, developed with Craft NI, further explores the crossover between fine art, craft and making, with ceramics, textiles and other forms of contemporary craft integrated throughout the exhibition.

Founded in 1879, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts is Northern Ireland's longest-established body of practising visual artists.

The RUA is a registered charity working to support artists, encourage public engagement with the visual arts and provide educational opportunities. The Academy also cares for its significant Diploma Collection, built up through generations of Royal Ulster Academicians.

The Annual Exhibition remains one of the highlights of Northern Ireland's visual arts calendar, bringing artists, audiences, schools and collectors together at the Ulster Museum each year.

Find out more on the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts website.