Frequently Asked Questions

  • We are asking artists for a ///what3words link so we know your studio location.

    What is it? what3words cleverly divided the entire world into 3x3 meter squares, with each square assigned a unique three-word combination. Using your unique ///what3words link we will know your precise location, and it will help visitors. See the SVA what3words for an example.

    Here are some quick instructions:

    1. Head to what3words.com

    2. Click in the address search bar, type your address and select the address that appears.

    3. Click on the square that is closest to your studio entrance and three words should appear.

    4. Click the ‘copy’ button in the address bar which will copy the text, and you can paste this directly into your form.


    Or you can     click here for a Help Guide to what3words.

  • For more information about fees find the Fees page.

    • Solo Artist : £240: 1 x artist (£210 + £30 membership fee)

    • 2-4 artists : £219 per artist (£189 + £30 membership fee) 10% discount

    • 5 or more artists : £198 per artist (£168+ £30 membership fee) 20% discount

  • As well as the discounts for sharing a studio with other artists, we offer:

    • 50% Discount for Young Artists (30 and under)

    • 20% Discount for artists in Cam, Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge or in between

    • Artist Bursaries for artists aged 30 and under

    Get in touch to apply for these discounts.

  • We are offering 5 Artist Bursaries for artists aged 30 and under, to work with an established artist mentor.

    The bursary will include:

    • a fully funded Open Studios registration, with the value of £234.

    • mentor match with an established OS Artist

    • shared studio space with the mentor (should you need it)

    • and the opportunity to use the Site Festival platform to further your art practice and visability.

  • By participating in Open Studios you will also become an SVA Member for a year, and your work can be publicised on our the Artist Network website. 

    Anybody who is a visual artist and becomes an SVA Member can have their profile on our Artist Network website, meaning that there is an online source of information for other artists and for the general public.

    This means it’s especially helpful if you don’t have a dedicated website for your art practice, or simply wish to add to your online exposure. Many organisations or clients will search online for your name or practice, and having a profile like this can really help with reputation.

  • We primarily communicate via email, using a mailing list. We sometimes find that artists don’t always receive their emails, so it’s best to check your spam folder. If you haven’t heard anything within the first 2 weeks of sending your registration, please get in touch with us.

    If communicating via email is likely to be a barrier, then do let us know.

  • Don’t worry! On the form there’s the option to tell us, however you will need to pay the full fee and then be refunded the difference. We aim to refund you within 10 working days of you informing us.

    So, for example, if you're based at a larger studio such as Victoria Works or Three Storeys, but you're unsure if it will be 2-4 artists, or 5 or more artists, you should pay the full fee and be refunded the difference when you confirm how many will be in your group.

  • Someone in the SVA office can be available to help with completing your registration form, by appointment.

    Please email kazz@sva.org.uk with a time you'd like to come in to make sure someone can be available, and feel free to mention any access needs.

    Don’t forget to bring your images on a device (with a cable to connect it to a computer), and payment card. If possible, take a look at the form first to see what information you will need to know beforehand, and what you might need to bring.

  • As an Open Studios artist you get :

    • A profile in the directory about you and your work

    • SVA Associate membership for the year; with addition to the Artist Network website and other benefits.

    • To take advantage of the Payback Scheme, where you can get up to £50 of your fee paid back to you for doing up to 5 hours work.

    • To take part in the Site Exhibition.

    With a Listing and Feature you get :

    • A profile with information about an exhibition specifically, within the main part of the directory. It’s in the same format as the Open Studios artists so that the design flows well. It also flows in terms of the route, so that visitors can find it easily on the map. There is still the restriction of 165 characters for the description however, so there isn’t much room to mention individual artists.

    • A listing in the back of the directory with full information about the exhibition.

    • An online listing in the Events section of the Site Festival website.

    Find out more about Listings and Features.

  • Your registration fee and membership is included in your studio rent, however you still need to:

    • complete the registration form before the deadline so that we have up-to-date artwork and information for you.

    • You will still need to include your studio address, and if you can include your studio number it would be a big help for the designers.

    • Look out for the email or text from us about how to do the form as an SVA artist and for the discount code.

  • We host regular Open Studio Socials - usually an informal meeting at SVA, and they are a great chance to meet others. It’s a really good opportunity to meet others who may be on the same route as you, and share ideas.

    We email information about these socials and on our social media, so keep an eye out, but feel free to contact us with any questions.

  • You don’t need a studio address before you register, so you can register for Open Studios and insert 'TBA' in the address section.

    We connect with many artists, plus we work with lots of different artists and partner organisations, so there may be a space for you in a mill building, empty shop or another artist's studio for example.

    However, we need a lot of time to help you! The sooner you contact us, the quicker we can help you find a studio before the routes are set. Locations need to be finalised by March in order for the directory to be designed, and it can sometimes take several weeks to find the right place for you. So if you need a studio for Open Studios, contact us as soon as possible.

  • You’ll be refunded to the bank card you paid with, and we aim to pay people for the Payback Scheme within 30 days of the work being completed (and/or once we’ve seen proof, such as a completed timesheet).

    The support work doesn’t have to be completed during the busy Open Studios period, it can be completed before or afterwards.

    On the Payback Scheme page you will find a range of Payback Roles that we are looking to fill for this year, so let us know on the registration form which ones you would like to apply for.

  • We use Jotform for the registration form, and they have a ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the form. There are images for this tutorial on the Registration Guidelines page.

    1. Once your email address is on the form, which is one of the first questions, you can save the session. Head to the bottom of the page and find the ‘Save’ button.

    2. You can either create a Jotform account (with Google, Facebook, or with an email address) or the smallest writing at the bottom of the message says “Skip Create an Account”

    3. Once you’ve clicked that option, it should say “Your form has been saved as a draft” and you can enter your email address to send it to yourself.

    4. Check your emails (especially check the spam folder because it might go in there), and you can continue the form another time. Hooray!

  • The design takes all images to the "bleed edge" for printing, so we ask for images that don't have important detail/features at the very edge of the images.

    So if your image ends up on the side edge of a page, then it may get cropped on one side by the printing.

    All images have an edge along the top of each page, so please be aware that you will lose 3mm off the top of the image. In printing terms it’s called the “bleed edge”.

    See this helpful PDF for information.

  • Per month we receive around 300-2000+ images from artists at SVA, and the most reliable way for us to identify the artist is from the image filename.

    So if we get an image called “IMG.2057” we won’t know that your image belongs to you!

    Plus, it’s standard practice to make sure your artwork has your name on it.

  • If you’re getting an error message it might be because your image file isn’t between 1mb and 10mb.

    If you are not sure how to resize your images there are a variety of websites that offer a resize tool.

    We found this one to be easier to use, and it’s free to use : www.canva.com/photo-editor