Artwave 2026: last day of the open-studio festival

Brighton and Hove have spent the last fortnight turned inside out, and today is the final day of it. Artwave, the open-studio festival run by Artists Open Houses, has been running since 5 September and wraps up this evening, so if you have been meaning to get round to it, this is your last chance.

The premise is simple: hundreds of artists open their homes and studios to the public, turning the city and the surrounding area into one big gallery. It is not a curated show in the usual sense, but a chance to walk straight into someone's working space and see what they make. The work on offer runs the full spread — jewellery, ceramics, textiles, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation and performance — and the best part is that you can buy original pieces directly from the artists. A lot of people pick up their first piece of original art at an Open House and keep coming back year after year.

It is also a genuinely open-door affair. Entry to the houses is free, and many of them put on workshops and events for both adults and children, so it works as much for families as for serious collectors. There is almost always homemade tea and cake, or at least a plate of biscuits, which is a nice touch when you have been on your feet for a few hours. The festival is built to be inclusive, too, welcoming artists of all ages and stages, from recent graduates and students to people who would otherwise be shut out of the mainstream art world.

If you are planning a last-minute route, it helps to know how it is laid out. Most houses sit on one of 14 trails, which are grouped geographically so the venues are usually within walking distance of each other. That makes it easy to do a couple of hours on foot rather than spending the day in the car. Beyond the houses, the festival spills out into potteries, disused windmills, farms and churches across Lewes, Seaford and Newhaven, so it is not strictly confined to the city.

One of the headline sponsors, Gorringe's, has been exhibiting work by Lord Gage in its Lewes galleries throughout the festival, with a number of pieces available to buy, and its saleroom stays open Monday to Saturday for free valuations if you have something at home you would like looked at. Over in Hove, Hove Arts has added several new houses to its trail this year, and its artist Kate Scott has made the AOH Painter of the Year shortlist. The festival has grown into something of a South East institution — now in its 33rd year, it pulls in tens of thousands of visitors, with an estimated 62,000 or so people turning up over the three weeks last year.

If you do not make it today, the good news is that there is a winter edition to look forward to, running across three weekends in late November and early December. Registration for that one is open until the end of September, so if you have been thinking about showing your own work, now is the time to sign up. Either way, today is the last day to catch the autumn edition before the studios close their doors again.