Information for exhibitors
Photo Fringe is open to all and everyone's invited.
Lens-based practitioners of all career stages and working in any genre are invited to join our mission to develop new ways of seeing together.
Our next biennial Photo Fringe festival is scheduled to run 4–27 October 2024 with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across and beyond Brighton & Hove.
As ever, our open-platform festival will present a vibrant mix of self-curated shows and work selected from open calls in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations and other extraordinary spaces.
Exhibitors
Photo Fringers come from all levels of experience - from seasoned professionals with international reputations to recent graduates or first-time exhibitors. Photo Fringe is a great opportunity to make connections with fellow photographers and to share your work with new audiences.
All our exhibitors, whether they're exhibiting in a physical venue or not, will also be able to use a series of easy-to-use flexible templates to exhibit their work digitally on our festival website.
Photo Fringe is a nurturing space to experiment with how you present work, or to try out a new direction in your practice.
We'll be here to offer advice and ideas on presenting your work and networking events in the run up to the festival will connect you with fellow exhibitors.
A small show in an unusual venue that might expect modest audiences outside of the festival can become a must-see on a tour of Photo Fringe exhibitions.
Business owners too are often more interested in hosting an exhibition that’s part of something bigger than they might be on “taking a risk” on an individual show.
Venues
We're planning to present work by photographic collectives, selected from open call, at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton. Funding permitting, a Photo Fringe exhibition of single images, also selected from open call, will show in an outdoor exhibition.
For all other exhibitions in the festival, exhibitors are responsible for securing their own exhibition spaces, though we will do our best to advise you, to connect you with offered spaces and/or to other artists sharing larger spaces.
We urge you to think experimentally. Photo Fringe exhibitions aren't always held in traditional spaces. You might be able to share your work in a cafe or restaurant, a shop, a co-working space, a market stall, a waiting room, or even a garden shed.
Your space doesn't need to be open seven days a week, nor even for the full length of the festival. All we ask is that you bear accessibility in mind and that it be open, free of charge to the public, at the times and dates you advertise.
We encourage Photo Fringers to run events to help connect work with new audiences. Again, the trick is to think outside the box. It might be as simple as a meet-the-artist afternoon, or maybe a workshop, a photo walk, a quiz, or even a yoga session. Exhibitors can list their Photo Fringe events for free on the festival site.
If you're looking for a venue, please drop us a line. We'll do our best to offer advice and to connect you with offered spaces and/or other artists sharing larger spaces.
Likewise, if you're able to offer suitable space for an exhibition, please email info@photofringe.org
Promoting your work
You’ll be supported by the Photo Fringe team and by fellow exhibitors to help promote your show and your events.
In-venue shows will be allocated a Photo Fringe venue number and form exhibition trails across Brighton & Hove and Sussex.
Every show will include an online exhibition at photofringe.org and we’ll be inviting editors, curators and influential professionals to suggest trails from amongst these digital exhibitions.
Our social media following is 30K+ and our festival social media content for our next edition will be more extensive than ever. We aim to broadcast as many Instagram live walkthroughs of in-venue and digital shows and Q&As with exhibiting artists as we can.
Included in our tool kit of resources for exhibitors will be a range of design assets to help promote shows in print and online.
Selling your work
We're delighted to include an online shop through which we can sell your prints of exhibited work and/or relevant books. Photo Fringe will charge a 30% commission on products sold. Exhibitors will be responsible for fulfilling their own orders.
Our theme
The theme for our 2024 festival will be announced in April.
Many of our exhibitors will choose to present work responding to our theme - although it is by no means compulsory to do so and exhibitors are free to interpret the theme however they wish.
Photo Fringe 2024 Exhibitor Registration
Registration is scheduled to open in June.
Photo Fringe is a registered charity run by a voluntary Board of Trustees. We invite exhibitors to be part of the festival and share the costs, to enable us to collectively produce a high-quality event accessible to as many people as possible. The Board raises funds from public and private sources to pay for the charity’s core costs, participation programme, and artist opportunities. Photo Fringe exhibitors collectively contribute to festival costs including design, website maintenance and marketing. We strive to keep exhibitor contributions as low as we can.
Photo Fringe 2024 Exhibitor Contributions
In-venue and Digital:
Solo Exhibition listing (plus up to 15 images exhibited online) - £90
Group exhibition listing (plus up to 30 images exhibited online) - £140
Digital only:
Solo Exhibition (up to 15 images exhibited online) - £60
Group exhibition (up to 30 images exhibited online) - £100
Event listing: Includes image, description and link - FREE
Bursaries and Pay it Forward
Many people are experiencing financial hardship.
We have a small number of bursaries available to practitioners who would benefit from exhibiting, but cannot afford an exhibitor contribution. If you believe a bursary would be suitable for you, please send us an email showing the work you would like to exhibit and outlining how exhibiting would benefit your practice. All requests will be treated with discretion.
Alternatively, if you are in the fortunate position of being able to “Pay it Forward” please consider making a donation to Photo Fringe that could enable an additional exhibitor’s bursary. Please note, to protect the privacy of bursary applicants, we are unable to match donors with prospective exhibitors.
Danny Wilson Memorial Awards
All Photo Fringe exhibitors are automatically entered into the prestigious Danny Wilson Memorial Awards. Read more about the awards here.
The Danny Wilson Memorial Awards were established to commemorate the life and work of the late Director of Brighton Photo Fringe who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in 2008.
We are grateful for the continued support for the awards wards from Photoworks and UAL London College of Communication.
Prizes include: a bursary, mentoring sessions and artist talks.
As ever, if you have any questions, or would like to discuss your ideas with us, please drop us a line at info@photofringe.org
We can't wait to see you again, meet new exhibitors, discover your work and enjoy your events.
[Above] Reflections Of Us image ©Jamila Prowse