Brighton Artists Open Houses: what is coming next

If you have never done it, the premise of Brighton's Artists Open Houses is hard to beat: for a few weekends, hundreds of local artists throw open their studios and homes across Brighton and Hove, and it costs nothing to walk in. It is a citywide festival in its 45th year, and the 2026 edition ran across the first four weekends of May, with 197 venues and more than 1,000 artists taking part. The reach went beyond the city, stretching out to Rottingdean and Ditchling, and the whole thing was free to visit.

The festival is deliberately open. It welcomes artists of all ages and stages, from recent graduates and school or college students to people who are otherwise excluded from the mainstream art world, including those who have experienced homelessness, are in recovery, or live with intellectual disabilities or mental health issues. The work on show covered painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, jewellery, photography, installation, performance and newer forms like bio-art. Many houses laid on workshops and events for adults and children, and home-brewed tea and biscuits were a common fixture.

There were some genuinely odd and striking stops this year. At the Regency Town House basement, internationally acclaimed artist Anna Dumitriu showed BioArt Transformations, working with living bacteria, DNA and cutting-edge technology. Inflatable sculpture made its debut with Mandeep Dillon on Harrington Road, whose work took in photographs and moving image as the only lasting records of what they describe as the transient physicality of more-than-human beings. Over at The Secret Garden, a walled garden dating from the 1820s, a collection of sculpture was curated in partnership with the Surrey Sculpture Society. For something more playful, Boogaloo Stu filled Wild Iris Perfumerie with colourful dioramas and talking ceramics, while The DOG SHOW dedicated itself entirely to dog-themed art, with flash tattoo events by Eli Inking on the opening weekend.

Family and craft were well represented too. LAND, SEA AND SKY showed three generations of women from the Christopherson family painting together, and Plung Creations opened its studio for one weekend only to give a behind-the-scenes look at the team that makes costumes for The Masked Singer and props for The Traitors. Kate Jenkins, known for her crochet, designed the brochure cover, and Dion Salvador Lloyd marked his 25th year with the festival by opening his Victorian home to show contemporary oil paintings.

None of the above is available to visit right now, but the festival is not finished for the year. Registration for the Winter 2026 edition is open from 1 to 30 September, with the festival itself running across 28–29 November, 5–6 December and 12–13 December. If you missed the spring run, that is your next chance to catch it. The festival director is Judy Stevens, and the campaign was launched by JACK ARTS. The cover artist, Alej Ez, produced three designs reflecting Brighton and Hove and the rural and marine landscape, with each postcard available to pick up from a small box next to the poster.