We are launching the online edition of the Second International Meeting of Photography Festivals to make this gathering accessible to photography professionals and cultural managers worldwide who cannot attend in person in Barcelona.
This initiative responds directly to the feedback shared during virtual meetings with festival directors and managers, with the aim of encouraging broader and more diverse participation and strengthening the global photography festival community.
All sessions can be attended live or watched later as recordings with subtitles, allowing flexible access across different time zones and schedules.
*The conferences take place in Spain time zone (GMT+1).
Friday, July 3
Online
Program
10:00 - 11:00 Welcome & Opening Session of IPFA Meeting 2026
In this welcome and opening event, the coordinators of the meeting, Pablo Giori, Laura Ligari and Pedro Pereira, offer a visionary look at a bold initiative aimed at transforming the global photography festival landscape. As photography festivals continue to flourish across continents, the International Photography Festivals Association (IPFA) emerges as a platform for connection, cooperation, and collective growth. This opening session introduces the IPFA’s mission to unite over 1,000 festivals worldwide, creating a space where directors, curators, producers, and artists can share knowledge, build networks, and shape best practices. Emphasizing inclusivity and horizontality, the association welcomes participation from both emerging and long-established festivals, fostering a global culture of mutual support and innovation in the photographic arts.
11:30 - 13:30 Best Practices Manual for Photography Festivals - Towards a Shared Vision
This talk, led by Pablo Giori and Laura Ligari, presents the draft for the Best Practices Manual for Photography Festivals (2025), with recommendations and guidelines on how a festival can adapt to its own reality and context to make the best version of itself. Following the talk, the floor opens for small-group discussions to refine proposals, define amendments, and plan the final approval process. The open dialogue among directors, cultural managers, curators, artists, and other audiences culminates in the collective and consensual version of the Best Practices Manual.
15:00 - 16:00 Presentation of the II Report: Global Economics of Photography Festivals
Pablo Giori presents the findings of the Second IPFA Report: Global Economics of Photography Festivals. Drawing on data from 119 festivals across 49 countries and five continents, the report maps the financial structures, funding models, labour ecosystems, and production costs that define how photography festivals operate worldwide. The presentation examines what sustains these festivals, what makes them viable or fragile, and how their economic models shape their futures. The report emerges at a moment of significant pressure on the sector. Many festivals operate under conditions of structural instability, with limited budgets, high dependence on public funding, and limited capacity to build reserves or plan ahead. The research does not reduce festivals to numbers. It examines the material conditions that make their existence possible and that determine their ability to develop strong programmes, care for their teams, fairly remunerate artists, and maintain meaningful relationships with their communities. The aim is to open a collective conversation about what economic structures festivals need in order to remain relevant, and what policies, models, and forms of international collaboration can help build a more sustainable ecosystem.
16:00 - 17:00 Open Forum: What Photographers Expect from Festivals
In this open discussion, guided by Pedro Pereira, Photographers from different countries and backgrounds share their needs, frustrations, and ideas to improve open calls, communication, and selection processes. The session will create a space for honest dialogue between photographers and the festival ecosystem, addressing common challenges such as accessibility, transparency, feedback, expectations, and the relationship between artists and organisations. Through multiple perspectives, the conversation will explore how open calls can become clearer, fairer, more inclusive, and more useful for photographers at different stages of their careers. Rather than offering fixed answers, this discussion aims to listen, exchange experiences, and identify practical ways to improve how opportunities are communicated, managed, and shared within the photography field.
17:00 - 17:30 Report on Open Calls and New Tendencies by Emily McSweeney from Picter
Emily Sweeney presents Picter’s report on open calls and new tendencies. The photography industry is rapidly evolving, and Open Calls sit at the heart of how talent is discovered, celebrated, and brought to market. This report presents an analysis of global Open Call data collected through Picter, examining submission and participation patterns, as well as industry data reflected from the host organisations. Combined with broader industry signals and insights from Grants, Exhibitions, Scholarships, and Photography Festival Open Calls hosted on Picter, we explore what the data reveals about where Open Calls are headed. Whether you are refining an existing programme or shaping your next one, the findings presented are designed to inform and support stronger Open Call practices.
Saturday, July 5
15:00 - 16:00 How to Organise Photography Festivals in Different Contexts
In this conversation, festival directors and curators Federico Botto, Dyan Barceló, Friso Wijnen, Teona Gogichaishvili and Katarzyna Gębarowska explore how festivals operate in diverse cultural and economic environments across Europe and Latin America. During the talk, they will be discussing funding strategies, collaborations with venues, and ways of working with artists, communities, and local partners. Given how geographically scattered the talk participants are, new knowledge synergies and perspectives arise.
16:00 - 17:30 Funding Lab: Stronger Grant Applications & Teams
In this collaborative session, Pedro Pereira, David Pujadó, Nuno Salgado, Emily McSweeney, and an Institut Ramon Llull representative share practical strategies for growing festivals through funding, partnerships, and team development. The session covers artist mobility support, European cooperation projects, collaboration with embassies and cultural institutions, and how to navigate open calls and funding opportunities across Europe and Latin America.
18:00 - 19:00 Digital Futures for Festivals and the Role of Festivals in a Post-Digital Era
This talk, guided by Laura Ligari, Ioana Cobzaru, and Roosje Klap, explores how digital tools are reshaping contemporary photography festivals. The speakers examine the impact of AI, the metaverse, and visual saturation on audience experience, and discuss new approaches to communication, community building, online programming, and innovation that are transforming how festivals operate and connect with their publics today.