Seasonal closure: Our offices will be closed from midday 24 December until 9am Monday 4 January.
We would like to thank everyone for their fantastic efforts in continuing to share photography throughout the challenges of 2020. We have received a great deal of correspondence telling us the difference it’s made to so many people around the world.
Thanks also to the hundreds of volunteers who helped create a wonderful range of online events and activities throughout the year alongside the RPS staff team. A unified aim of our events programme was to offer accessible learning, camaraderie and support in combatting loneliness during periods of lockdown. This proved so successful, with some events being attended by people from over twenty countries at a time around the world, that we will be continuing with this online activity indefinitely. A number of online talks are already bookable through to the end of April 2021.
We also wanted to quickly move our popular workshops online to ensure that our wonderful tutors continued to have some income during the pandemic. Thank you to all those who have supported this initiative this year - you can find workshops through to August 2021 here.
Distinctions are another area where our volunteers have excelled. We wanted there to be as little disruption to the Distinctions journey as possible for those who were thinking about applying for or already embarking on the path. This felt particularly important as it helped to give many people a welcome distraction and focus in uncertain times.
Alongside the Distinctions staff team, the volunteers worked hard to put on free talks (thank you also to all the speakers who gave up their time), offer 1:1 advice via the Portfolio Reviews and also keep the Assessments going. This called for some major adjustments in working methods in all areas to try and ensure as seamless a transition as possible. You can revisit any free talks you may have missed here, apply for 1:1 Portfolio Reviews from the 4th of January here and Assessments here: LRPS, ARPS and FRPS.
We hope to reopen our gallery in Bristol on 23 January 2021 with the International Photography Exhibition 162 and are reviewing the latest government guidelines on a regular basis. Any changes will be announced on our website, social media and mailing list. The IPE 163 will also be open for entries in January. Find out more here.
Finally, thank you to our Trustees who have worked tirelessly to help us navigate our way through a testing year whilst also moving things forward in other areas.
We wish all of you a happy, healthy and creative 2021.