ROSL Arts

ROSL ARTS

A cultural organisation providing performance opportunities, and support for young musicians and artists throughout the commonwealth.
ROSL ARTS

The ROSL Annual Music Competion is in its 66th year, and is open to citizens of the Commonwealth. It awards more than £70,000 in prizes each year.
ROSL ARTS

Recent Gold Medal winners include Huw Wiggin (saxophone), Sean Shibe (guitar), Jonathan McGovern (baritone) and James Buckle (bass trombone).
ROSL ARTS

Performance opportunites for ROSL Competition prize winners include Wigmore Hall, Brighton Festival and St Martin-in-the-Fields
ROSL ARTS

An annual programme of concerts in Scotland with the ROSL Edinburgh Fringe Festival series.
ROSL ARTS

Commonwealth travel scholarships for young musicians enabling summer periods of study and performances in the UK
ROSL ARTS

ROSL ARTS exhibits the work of exceptional early career talent from around the Commonwealth in our London and Edinburgh clubhouses
ROSL ARTS
Partnering with Galleries and Organisations to bring the best exhibitions into our London clubhouse.
ROSL ARTS

Recent Arts scholars include Dineo Bopape (South Africa), Tamara Henderson (Canada), Madiha Aijaz (Pakistan) and Stephanie Hier (Canada).

ROSL’s renowned ARTS programme has worked for nearly 70 years to support the careers of emerging talent in the fields of music, visual arts and literature, and the programme continues to grow. We run competitions, scholarships, residencies and concerts and events at our headquarters in London and around the world.

ROSL is unique in having in house arts facilities including a professional concert hall and exhibition space:

- Princess Alexandra Hall. Refurbished as a professional concert hall in 2006 by Bryan Avery Architects, the hall has Steinway D and Steinway B pianos and a new A/V system with integrated HD cameras and Rode TF5 microphones for recording, filming and live streaming. The hall seats up to 150 in concert format.

- Central lounge exhibition area and Gibbs Staircase. Housed in the centre of our clubhouse this area is home to our rolling exhibition programme.

- Clubhouse walls – ROSL owns a large collection of artworks, many of historical value as well as original works created through the ARTS programme. We regularly update our walls to reflect the evolution of our collection.

Our principal activities include:

ROSL Annual Music Competition

One of the most renowned competitions in the music industry, our Annual Music Competition awards nearly 80k of prizemoney every year. Our ARTS team work to offer mentorship and further performance opportunities for our prizewinners. These winners join a family of exceptional musicians who can call ROSL home for the length of their careers.

ROSL Composition Award in association with London Sinfonietta

A new biennial competition starting in 2020 this award offers six young professional composers the opportunity to workshop a short original work with the London Sinfonietta, following which one person will win the award and a commission to compose a work for a London Sinfonietta concert.

Pettman Scholarship for a New Zealand Chamber Ensemble.

Sponsored by Barrie and Maureen Pettman for nearly 20 years, this scholarship offers a chamber ensemble from New Zealand several weeks in the UK to receive tuition, give concerts, attend a summer school and perform at ROSL's annual Edinburgh Fringe Series. Auditions take place in New Zealand in October.

ROSL Visual Arts International Residencies with The Art House

Each year two Commonwealth artists are offered a two month residency at The Art House in Wakefield to work on their creative practice and development in a supportive environment. This fully funded period includes time at ROSL to meet industry figures in London and attend Frieze and an exhibition at The Art House.

ROSL Photography Competition

A biennial competition to find and promote the finest photographic talent. Our first competition in 2019 garnered over 250 entries from 21 countries and culminated in an exhibition at ROSL of the 21 shortlisted entries.

ROSL Exhibition Programme

ROSL presents a rolling exhibition programme (usually five per year) in our central lounge and Gibbs staircase area. The exhibitions are focused on emerging talent and many are promoted with partner organisations, including The Royal Society of British Artists, Liberty Gallery and the UK Printmakers Council. We also present our biennual Incognito charity postcard exhibition, in which any budding (or professional!) artist can submit postcard artworks for sale to support ROSL's charitable causes.

ROSL concerts and events

ROSL presents regular concerts and art and book talks in our Princess Alexandra Hall. These events are open to all including non-members (ROSL members pay a discounted rate) and many include dinner and bedroom offers attached for ROSL members.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Concert Series

ROSL presents a series of at least 30 different concerts over two weeks each summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, all given by prizewinners of our Annual Music Competition. Now taking place at The Royal Scots Club the concerts provide an oasis of exceptional music making and great performance opportunities for our ROSL musicians.

Caine Prize for African Writers

ROSL has supported the Caine Prize since its inception, offering accommodation to the shortlisted writers during the period of they stay in London each year for the week of the prize announcement. In 2018 ROSL ARTS initiated a ROSL members prize in which members can vote for their favourite of the shortlisted short stories. The winner receives £1,000 and a commission to publish an original piece in the ROSL Overseas Magazine

Grassroots arts education

ROSL has a partnership with the Griffin Schools Trust, offering outreach and development opportunities to school age students. Griffin students have benefitted from workshops with Britten Sinfonia and Kabantu here at ROSL as well as visual arts sessions with Eilidh McCormick, ROSL Visual Arts Curator. In 2020 we have co-commissioned a Childrens Oratario in partnership with Buxton International Festival. 40 Griffin Schools students will perform in the world premiere in Coventry.

ROSL ARTS also supports the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra, with ROSL prizewinners working with the orchestra each summer on their orchestra courses.

Support us

ROSL ARTS programme is principally supported by the membership and clubhouse operations of the Royal Over-Seas League and the ROSL Trust (registered charity no 306095), as well as donations and sponsorship from other sources. Our Friends of ROSL Arts donation scheme directly supports the work we do, while connecting with our engaged audience. We can do so much more work with you support and our team are always happy to chat with you about the work we currently do, and our aspirations for the future.