• About
    Shanshan Mo, Puppet Show, 2024 mixed media

    About

    RSA Blackadder Houston Bequest ECA Travel Awards (£3,000).

     

    These two annual awards of £3,000 are designed to fund a period of international travel for graduating and postgraduate painting students from Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) to research and develop a new body of work.

     

    Administered by the RSA, these funds are part of the RSA Blackadder Houston Bequest.

     
  • Eligibility
    Sophia Rehman, And They Took Your Teeth As Well?, (detail), 2026, oil, acrylic, oil pastel and chalk pastel on canvas

    Eligibility

    • Entrants must be painters.
    • Entrants must either be final year undergraduates, graduating in summer 2026, or currently studying at postgraduate level at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). 

     

    How to apply

    • Applications are closed for 2026, please check back in early 2027 for the next round of applications. 

     

    We are delighted to announce Quinn Elise Jenkins and Sophia Rehman are the 2026 winners. 

    Quinn will travel to London to gather visual research in person, combining it with personal exploration of the historical parts of the city, to ground their work further in an understanding of British culture, early modern history and folk tradition. 

    Sophia will visit Trinidad where she will learn more about ‘Mas’ and the transgressive element of festival arts and costuming which is central to Trinidadian carnival's highly effective approach to questioning systems of oppression. 
  • Previous winners
    Quinn Elsie Jenkins, Philia Cottage (with Wit Philia doll), 2026, modroc, cardboard, acrylic paint, wire

    Previous winners

    • Quinn Elise Jenkins and Sophia Rehman, 2026
    • Emilie Fielding and Shanshan Mo, 2025
    • Clare Cooper and Astrid Wigand, 2024
    • Megan Owen, 2023
  • The Blackadder Houston Bequest
    Elizabeth Blackadder RSA, Fred Sleeping on the New Duvet. Courtesy of the Blackadder Houston Trust.

    The Blackadder Houston Bequest

    In 2023, the Royal Scottish Academy received a significant bequest from the estate of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RSA RA (1931-2021) and her husband John Houston RSA OBE (1930-2008). With a value of over £7million, the RSA Blackadder Houston Bequest has initiated wide series of opportunities including new prizes, bursaries and travel awards for graduates and mid-career artists.

     

    Based on Elizabeth's wishes, the bequest has been invested to support a range of new initiatives, that launched in 2023 and continue to be developed. Each year, over 60 artists directly benefit from funding from the bequest.

     

    Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RSA RA (1931-2021)

    Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RSA is widely recognised as one of Scotland’s most significant contemporary artists. Born in Falkirk, she studied at Edinburgh College of Art under the tutelage of Sir Robin Philipson PPRSA and William Gillies RSA and lectured at the college from 1962 until her retirement in 1986. Elected as a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1972 and the Royal Academy in 1976, she was the first woman to become a member of both institutions. In 2001 Blackadder was appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland. Blackadder’s sensitivity to her surroundings inspired still lifes and landscapes, largely executed in oil and watercolour, but she was also well-known for her work in a variety of printmaking techniques.

    John Houston RSA OBE (1930-2008)

    John Houston OBE RSA was born in Buckhaven, Fife. After a brief professional football career, Houston attended Edinburgh College of Art where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Blackadder. Joining the staff at the college in 1955, Houston was a dedicated teacher and became Deputy Head of the School of Painting and Drawing, holding the position until his retirement in 1989. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1972, and appointed OBE in 1990. Although Houston and Blackadder travelled extensively, Houston is best known for his landscapes inspired by the east coast of Scotland, especially the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth.

     

    Banner image: Quinn Elise Jenkins, Excursion to the Shore, 2026, oil and acrylic on calico
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