Our Festival Story

The Festival Story

Established in 2018 in celebration of Scotland’s Year of Young People, our festival is now established as an annual event in Scotland’s photography calendar.

Run by a team of passionate volunteers, we have developed strong relationships across our community and have twice been Finalists in the Stirling Go Forth Business Improvement District Awards for our Outstanding Contribution to the City. Our festival features inclusive, free to attend exhibitions and events. We support home grown talent to achieve their creative potential by partnering with some of the newest and finest photographers from Stirling, Scotland and further afield.

Since first established we are very proud to have worked with a great number of Scotland’s most celebrated contemporary artists, including Alex Boyd, Jennifer Charlton, David Eustace, Kierian Dodds, Frank McElhinney, Simon Murphy, Ron O’Donnell, Frances Scott, Kim Simpson, Scott Hunter and Margaret Mitchell. Involvement from artists including Leeming+Paterson, Coulson & Tennant, Helene Schmitz of Sweden, Mihai Moiceanu of Romania, Brett Meikle in Tasmania and Michael Carroll of America has grown our international following. Collaborations with Stirling’s leading creative and cultural organisations mean our events are hosted in the city’s most prestigious venues including the Barracks Conference Centre, the Tolbooth theatre, Creative Stirling’s King street venue, Historic Environment Scotland’s Engine Shed, The Smith Art Gallery and Museum, and at the University of Stirling with the Art collection and the Macrobert Arts Centre. We also pop up in community spaces and work with other artists, community groups and charities supporting good causes, like Equi-Power Riding for the Disabled, Strathcarron Hospice and Argaty Red Kites.

Our wider network includes our membership of the Scene Stirling Culture Collective, a group of arts and community organisations working together on a Creative Scotland funded programme of participatory art activity embedded across the region, running through 2026 and into 2027. The festival is also a member of Photography Scotland, a group championing photography at a national level. A special partnership developed over the years has been with Street Level Photoworks of Glasgow who have been instrumental in bringing some of the best contemporary photography here to us in the heart of Scotland.

In 2026 we are delighted to add The Royal Photographic Society to our list of partners.