Stirling Photography Festival
The Stirling Photography Festival is an inclusive celebration of community. Our mission is to develop skills, create opportunities, and build relationships through a series of events, workshops, and exhibitions. Partnering with some of photography’s newest and finest talent from across the World, our aim is to connect our community through photography.
The Festival Story
Established in 2018 in celebration of Scotland’s Year of Young People, our festival is now in its 8th year and is now an annual event in Scotland’s photography event calendar. Run by a team of passionate volunteers, we have developed strong relationships across our community and have twice been nominated for and been finalists in the Stirling Go Forth Business Improvement District Awards - Outstanding Contribution to the City. We are supporting home grown talent to achieve their creative potential by partnering with some of the newest and finest photographers from across Scotland and further afield.
Our festival features inclusive, free to attend workshops, exhibitions and talks. We are proud to have worked with and exhibited some of Scotland’s renowned contemporary artists, including Alex Boyd, David Eustace, Kierian Dodds, Frank McElhinney, Frances Scott, Kim Simpson, Leeming + Paterson, Coulson &Tennant, Scott Hunter and Margaret Mitchell as well as international artists including Helene Schmitz of Sweden, Mihai Moiceanu of Romania and Michael Carroll of America.
We work with some of Stirling’s leading creative and cultural organisations who host our events in the city’s most prestigious venues including the Barracks Conference Centre, the University of Stirling, the Tolbooth theatre, Historic Environment Scotland’s Engine Shed and The Smith Art Gallery and Museum. We also pop up in community spaces and work with other artists, groups and charities supporting good causes, like Equi-Power, Riding for the Disabled and Argaty Red Kites, a local conservation organisation committed to wildlife protection and rewilding.
Partnerships with Scotland's leading centres for photography, including Street Level Photoworks and Stills, strengthen our professional network and allow us to bring leading artists to Stirling.