Chichester Open Studios Art Trail 2025 is once again promising a celebration of creativity across the district.
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00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, group arts editor at Sussex Newspapers. It comes
00:06around so quickly, doesn't it? Lovely to speak to Jasmine Saunders, who is the chairman
00:10of Chichester Open Studios Art Trail. You've got a good crop of artists this year. It's
00:17May 17 and 18, May 24, 25, and then the bank holiday Monday 26. Nearly 150 artists, which
00:26is your sweet spot in terms of numbers, isn't it? Absolutely, yes. And how did that come
00:32together? Does it come together nicely this year? Absolutely, yeah. We have our artists
00:37waiting and ready to fill out the registration forms in November. We're possibly going to
00:43do it a little bit early for the 2026, so look out for the open call from about October,
00:50but in terms of the art trail for this year, it is very fastly approaching.
00:56And what's really impressive this year, roughly a third of the artists are first-timers,
01:02aren't they? That's impressive to bring in so many newcomers. It's just a great sense
01:06of renewal, doesn't it, within the organisation? Absolutely.
01:09How do you manage to do that? It's all word of mouth and them visiting artists
01:14over the years and building up the confidence to get their work prepared and join us.
01:20And the key part of that is having a mentor system. That really helps, doesn't it?
01:25Absolutely. So the fact that we are able to have volunteer mentors to be able to give new
01:32artists tips and tricks on how to actually set up their venue and how to price their work
01:37and just generally be able to ask them questions whenever they need so that they can get ready
01:43for the open trail themselves.
01:44And another change for this year. Previously, you had a limit of two artists per venue.
01:49You've extended that to six. What's the thinking there?
01:53Well, the ability to be able to have more people in one studio means possibly the encouragement
01:59of less venues to visit, but also that people who don't want to be alone or feel a bit vulnerable
02:06welcoming people into their homes get to have another artist with them, sharing their space
02:11to be able to have more togetherness.
02:15Fantastic. Brilliant. Well, it's a lovely thing to look forward to over the last two weekends
02:20in May. It sounds brilliant. And behind it, I'm sure there's a massive amount of hard work.
02:25So congratulations on putting it together.
02:28Thank you. It's absolutely brilliant event. It's an annual event for the Chichester District.
02:34Every year we have, we welcome over 25,000 or up to 25,000 visitors every year.
02:41It's a fantastic event. And, you know, you really want to get out there and see as many artists
02:45as possible and not forgetting the ones that are on their own, slightly off the borders of the map.
02:51Absolutely. Brilliant. Well, I hope it goes brilliantly. I'm sure it will.
02:54Lovely to speak to you.
02:55Thank you, Phil. Take care.
02:57And you.