At its core, the Guernsey Photography Festival is an organisation dedicated to learning. Our commitment to the engagement of young people in art and culture across the Channel Islands, and beyond, plays a crucial role in growing our audience every year.

We aim to bring about an understanding of how vital art and photography is to not only the cultural life of our community, but the emotional and intellectual growth of each of us. The young people of Guernsey deserve the opportunity to experience firsthand high quality art. Not every young person has the chance to travel abroad and visit art galleries and museums; art must come to the island.

GPF is proud to deliver an enlightening and robust educational programme, highlights of which include:

Competitions

Since 2014, we have held both local and international annual student photography competitions which see entries from hundreds of young people across the world every year. International winners are awarded £1,000 and local winners receive £250; both have the opportunity to exhibit their winning work at the festival.

Photography Workshops


Since 2019, we have delivered photography workshops to students at Les Voies School, Saint Sampson’s High School and Action for Children. Students produced their own photography series’ which will be exhibited in an outdoor display in the near future. We are thankful to the support of partners Rothchilds & Co and John Ramplin Foundation for making this project possible.

Exhibition Guided Tours


In May 2021, over 300 students across Guernsey attended a guided tour of our major Alec Soth exhibition at the Brian White Gallery, delivered by our Artistic Director Jean-Christophe Godet. We are excited to say there will be a series of guided tours for students to attend during the festival as well as part of our exhibition programme in 2022.

Access and Exposure


As part of our commitment to accessibility, we ensure the majority of our exhibitions are free to attend for all.

We invite renowned photographers and curators from around the world to our annual festival. A programme of workshops, exhibitions and talks gives young people the unique opportunity to meet artists and industry professionals face to face.