Torbay Guild of Artists and Artizan Collective are pleased to announce the first ever English Riviera Open Studios, an exciting new arts event for Torbay.
Planned for Easter 2025, the two organisations hope the event will offer an ultra friendly, affordable, local open studios events, that will be a vibrant addition to the areas cultural scene.
Information for Audiences
Whether you're a Torbay resident or a visitor to the English Riviera, we know the event is going to be a must see for art lovers and culture seekers. As well as 9 days of Open Studios activity across this stunning coastal resort, we're also looking forward to signposting you to other regional arts activity and events that are on offer.
Event Dates
The event will take place for 9 days in Easter running from 5th - 13th April.
Standard opening hours for venues will be from 10am - 4pm with all venues open across both weekends and most weekdays.
More Information
We'll be updating this page with information about the event as we confirm participating artists for 2025. The best way to stay in the loop for now, is to sign up to our mailing list here: CREATE EROS LANDING PAGE
Information for Artists
"We want English Riviera Open Studios to be user friendly and accessible to our members as well as other Torbay artists. We'll be offering guidance, help and assistance on how to open your home studio to the public from our experienced members that have opened their homes and managed exhibitions before. Through this, we'll make sure you feel safe welcoming audiences, have systems in place for taking payments, and know how to make the event as successful as possible for your practice."
"We're modelling the event on the highly successful Devon Open Studios that many of you will have participated in, which is a wonderful regional event. Unlike Devon Open however, we wanted to offer something that will be more localised, and worked at a scale that the Guild and partners could offer dedicated support to its members and other local artists, to create an opportunity that was friendly, accessible and affordable."
What actually is an "Open Studios" event?
An Open Studios event is any event where artists open their studio spaces to the public to come and discover their work and see behind the scenes of their practice. Frequently, as is the case with our event, this can be done as an organised trail, with lots of artists opening their studios during the same period, so that audiences can spend a day, a weekend, or a whole week, exploring and discovering your unique work with the opportunity to buy directly from you.
Who can take part?
Any practicing artist can take part in the event and the trail is really about showing that studios come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you have a dedicated separate studio, a creative space in your home, or you work from your garden shed, exploring studios is an adventure for audiences and there’s no expectation that every studio be the same.
If you don’t have a venue, we’ll be doing our best to help find spaces that individuals can “pop-up” in and create temporary but authentic studio experiences for audiences to enjoy.
What do I need?
Because everyone’s studio is different there’s no set list of essentials. You’ll need a venue for people to visit you at but other than that what you offer is up to you. Below are some ideas to keep in mind and the Guild and Artizan will be around to give advice and help you prepare:
A venue: this is the essential part as the event is about giving audiences an experience of studios. Even if you’re not opening your own studio, you can still create an authentic offer by popping up somewhere else.
A visitor experience: this will be different for every venue, you may have lots of original work to show, or maybe you’ll use the time to make new work whilst selling prints and cards. Whichever it is, think about what your offer will be.
Payment systems: if you’re planning to sell work, you’ll want to make sure you have payment options that are easy for audiences. Frequently now this means having a card reader which we’re able to offer advice on.
A mailing list: because the event offers a great opportunity to meet new audiences, you may want to think about how you can turn visitors into long term relationships.
Refreshments: you may want to offer this if your venue suits it.
How does the trail work?
After artists have signed up to participate, they are given a venue number and added to a trail map. This is promoted in a number of ways, online, in events listings and editorials, through your own networks, and with a physical event guide. All participants are given copies of the guide to distribute, along with other print materials to promote their venue including arrows that can be numbered and posters.
Audiences can then either use the physical guide or a digital copy if they prefer, to decide which venues they want to visit.
Why should I take part in Open Studios?
There’s lots of reasons to take part in Open Studios that will be personal to each artist.
Sell your work direct to audiences
Promote workshops, events and other activity you’re doing across the year
Invite your existing audience to an enticing event with a wide offer
Attract new audiences to build a mailing list from
Be a part of our local arts community
Key Information
Key things you need to know about the event are:
9 day event in Easter including 2 weekends with the option to host your own launch events and activity the Friday before the event (8th April). Artists will be required to open both weekends and a minimum of 2 weekdays (6 of 9 days total)
Guidance and support throughout on taking payments, welcoming audiences, collecting audience information and fundraising
A full printed guide including venue listings, event map and other information about the area, as well as supporting digital and print marketing materials and templates.
Opportunity to promote workshops, classes and other activity both during the event and beyond
Opportunities for guild members outside of the English Riviera to get involved
Artist matching/venue finding for those without a studio to open
Low-cost entry fee of just £80 for guild members (payable as a one off or in installments)
Event raffle with top prize of £250 to spend at the studios
All event infrastructure and permissions organised by the Guild and Artizan Collective with Torbay Council for a safe and compliant event
But most importantly, the event will be simple, fun and friendly, adding value to our creative community, and enabling you to show your beautiful artwork and unique home studio situation.
What information we need
At this first stage, we'll ask you for:
Your Name
Contact Email
Contact Phone
Your Venue Address (if known at this time)
A Website where we can view your work
Your Torbay Guild Membership Status
Payment options
There are two payment options:
£100.00 standard sign up
£80.00 guild member sign up (use this reduced rate if you are an existing or newly signed up guild member)
At checkout, you'll also be offered the option to use "PayPal Pay in 3" to pay your fee in 3 installments. This requires a PayPal account.
Terms and Conditions
By making your payment it is understood that you have read and accepted the Terms and Conditions for participants available here.
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