DID YOU SEE LOOK/15? REVIEW
Sarah in front of Henry Iddon’s pictures of her and her mother, Women in the City, LOOK/15 provided by Caroline Ross, 2015
LOOK OPPORTUNITIES Would you like to be part of the LOOK success story? Promote your venue, product or organisation to our loyal, educated and professional audiences. We have a host of opportunities, including brochure and website advertising, marketing packages and event sponsorship. Please contact Emma Smith on 0151 291 6739 or email emma@lookphotofestival.com to find out more.
LOOK/15 IN WORDS LOOK15: Exchange developed from a strong vision, supported by rich partnerships and positive discussion. We aimed to create the largest, most accessible festival we’d ever created, generating a critical mass of photographic debate, exhibits and connections, showing historic and contemporary photography. We’re pleased to report that we succeeded. We know this because our audiences deemed it ‘dynamic, friendly and aspirational’; our volunteers called it ‘diverse, dynamic and interesting’ and our artists have described it as ‘diverse, inclusive and exciting’. This happened because LOOK made a decision to try to act with generosity at all times. This meant working hard to see ideas through, take risks and chase opportunities. It meant supporting creative thinking, sharing views, making introductions, creating exchanges and pushing skills to their limits. This created ‘learn by doing’ opportunities and generated a bespoke blend of events and exhibitions, which we shared with audiences. We placed these in a mix of high end galleries, public realm spaces and community level venues, to encourage new audiences and guide them to new locations. Doing so added variety and depth to the festival and its atmosphere. Including in-conversation events, workshop days, practical sessions, essays and blogs we were able to engage deeply with professional audiences. Our open call for Women in the City engaged high numbers of people, ranging from young, amateur snappers to seasoned photographic professionals. It developed considerable local interest and brought people into the act of making and enjoying photography. Exposing the shared themes between exhibitions and developing rich trails to follow encouraged visitors to spend an average of 3.5 days each engaging with photographic work. All this allowed LOOK to work with more artists and more partners and develop more connections than ever before. This proactive working method has led 100% of our artists and collaborators to want to work with us again and to them stating that LOOK is an important cultural contributor to the city and its festival programme. Additionally, over 90% believe we add value to the UK and global photographic offer, demonstrating that LOOK adds considerable value to Liverpool’s international position and its ‘cultural excellence’ offer. LOOK’s willingness to test ideas and work collaboratively means we almost doubled our original ambition of developing 30+ events; we developed tens of commissions (from essays, new works and publications); worked directly with 73 artists (15 local, 25 national and 33 international) and showed work from a further 636. We hosted an artist-in-residence; smashed the number of exhibition days predicted, generating 5 years of exhibition days and achieved many more goals besides! We maintain that LOOK’s festival delivers something unique to its field. That is partly because it is of and for Liverpool, but also because, as a festival, it addresses international work as a point of connection, rather than as a kite mark of success. It engages audiences in the artistry of photography without being elitist, although including elite work. It invites the audience to join in as makers and co-creators, whatever their professional standing and it develops friendships – artistically, professionally and
personally – in a way that people experience very deeply. For these reasons, LOOK is a compelling festival of note that has a bright future in engaging new audiences, developing rich connections and providing meaningful, long-lasting experiences that people can take with them, around the world.
Women in the City opening, 2015 © Anna Plant
The tremendous feedback we received from audiences, artists and stakeholders confirms that we are on the right path. The contents of this Board commissioned report demonstrates our success and shares our aspirations for the future. It shows that we have great ambition and are keen to find others who share our interests, support our work and would willingly collaborate to share great photographic art and opportunities with audiences. We’d like to thank our artists, partners, sponsors, collaborators, volunteers, venues, friends and every visitor and audience member for helping to make LOOK/15: Exchange the success it was. Thank you! Please, join us again for LOOK/17.
Emma Smith, Executive Director LOOK, Liverpool International Photography Festival Emma would also like to thank LOOK’s Board of Directors Adam Lee, Chair Tony Cearns Tadhg Devlin Lawrence Giles Colin Hughes Angela Samata Anna Taylor © Viktorija Grigorjevaite, Sane Seven, 2015
With additional thanks to recently retired Directors John Sutcliffe, Lorenzo Fusi and Paul Herrmann and LOOK/15’s Festival Coordinator, Anna Plant
LOOK/15 review | 3
LOOK COMMENTS Sheila Rock (Hawaii USA), artist, 18 June 2015 Energetic & thoughtful mix of work & talents. I found the whole experience uplifting & a positive affirmation of the Arts & photography in the UK. London is very egocentric and self-congratulatory. I had not experienced anything outside of its radius except in Europe & America. Liverpool was impressive and fun. LOOK was vibrant & a well-conceived festival.
David Lockwood (UK), partner from Hugh Baird, 12 June 2015 LOOK/15 was a fantastic opportunity for our College and students to exhibit in an international festival and get exposure for their work. Our students really appreciated the experience and the work that the LOOK team put in to the organising of our event was great and the event very successful. We would welcome and embrace the opportunity to be part of the festival again in the future.
Ignacio Acosta (Chile & UK), LOOK/15 Artist-in-Residence, 18 June 2015 LOOK provided a great platform to develop a new body of research and opened a window to reach new audiences.
Jona Frank (California USA), LOOK/15 artist, email, 4 June 2015 I had a great time being a part of LOOK and I want to thank you for the opportunity. The biggest thing for me was to see how all of these ideas I have been working with played out […] I really enjoyed the other photographers I met and hearing about their process. WE accomplished A LOT! […] I truly felt like LOOK opened people and made them observe and think about their world differently. Bravo!
Dr Casey Orr (Delaware USA & UK), artist, 15 June 2015 I would love to work with LOOK further. My late entry into the festival was accommodated really well. Taking Saturday Girl to Liverpool has enabled me to expand the scope of the project into something that is far more interesting and powerful. My work has moved further into the debates of contemporary photography through its inclusion in the festival and I think this will continue to create opportunities for me.
Tabitha Jussa (UK), artist, 12 June 2015 There was a really great atmosphere created during LOOK/15 which I feel was down to the staffing of the festival. There was no pretence, but very successfully delivered to a high professional standard. The breadth of the programming was great, with the strong emphasis of inclusion coming across very well. The theme and emphasis on females in photography was interesting. For me as a female photographer it did highlight the fact that so few established photographers are female. This still needs to be addressed across the whole photography industry. It is a tough area anyway which is not helped by being female. James Lawler (UK), Duovision collaborator, 12 June 2015 We were extremely pleased to be part of LOOK/15 the experience was made easy by the friendly and professional coordination. We received great reviews, press and feedback from visitors to our exhibitions and events and this would not have been possible without the support of LOOK/15. We would definitely like to continue a relationship with the festival, as would the exhibitors we worked with. A very impressive festival.
Workman (name unknown), recorded at WarpLiverpool, 16 May 2017 “How much creativity is in this room?” 4 | LOOK/15 review
Workman at Warp, LOOK © Anna Plant
Twelfth Lady Mayor, Councillor Erica Kemp, with Hugh Baird student and Exchange artist, Hayley Flanagan, in front of her Women in the City entry Once Upon a time in a Garage, 2015
Sharon Baddeley, visitor, in an email, 17 Jun 2015 I really enjoyed the festival (I went on 3 days) and we are so lucky to have it here on our doorsteps. Thanks very much Lisa Phillips, Hugh Baird student and LOOK/15 artist I am part of the show and I am from Hugh Baird College. To be part of the show has been a huge privilege. It has shown me how amazing it is to be part of an exhibition Rene Lumley, arts educator Lisa Phillips! I LOVE your work. So beautiful and sensitive. You are a really talented photographer. Please follow us [on] twitter @arts_minds. I have taught photography for over 15 years, and I think you are one of the best undergraduate’s I have seen. Well done, you should be proud. Funders – keep on funding C.Evans, Liverpool What an excellent, creative, exciting, stimulating display. Really glad we caught it Karen Falconer, Journalist, Radar, the Independent, 30 May 2015 There is much to see, too much for anyone who doesn’t have days to spare. And plenty of value – some purely on photographic merit; others for their concern with the city’s history and evolving future
Miranda Gavin, Journalist, Culture 24, 22 May 2015 It is a photo festival of connections and dialogues, both locally and internationally. And while some associations appear tentative, others are more obvious. However, with limited time to cover an entire festival, this review can only hope to offer a snapshot Alex Taylor, Journalist, Huck, 30 June 2015 The LOOK/15 festival is a really interesting chance to see what a lot of photographers are doing right now. Whether you’re more interested in the work being done to document the city’s youths or want to look further afield, the festival has something that’ll fascinate any visitor. Heather Garner, artist and writer, the Double Negative, 7 May 2015 So, what can we expect from this year’s LOOK/15? To put it simply, photography at its most culturally relevant and egalitarian. This year’s festival continues its forge forward into new territories by reaching out in search of photographic talent from beyond the local sphere, whilst remaining thoroughly embedded in Liverpool’s own unique cultural identity.
Colin McPherson @germanocean, May 18 Another tremendous day @LookPhotoFest talking projects with @Redeye @louisquail the saintly @caravangallery & others #look15 8 retweets 6 favorites The Caravan Gallery and 1 other retweeted Pete Carr @petecarr, May 18 I had a really great day listening to photographers at the @RedeyeNetwork @LookPhotoFest talk. Loved @ caravangallery :) #look15 3 retweets 4 favorites Othello De’Souza and 1 other favorited Sam Bytheway Carr @sambtwcarr, May 16 Saw some great #look15 exhibitions today followed by an interesting talk by @ othellodesouza and Tricia Porter. Inspiring stuff
LOOK/15 review | 5
LOOK SCORES Artists gave LOOK 4H+ feedback for ...
% at 4H
Q: How likely would you be to recommend LOOK to your…
social media activity
flyer & brochure
events programme
exhibition’s programme
inclusivity
% at 5H
Q: Has LOOK been important to you and if so in what way?
%Yes
1H
support for the artist
• has (or will have) a short-term career impact for them, while 75%+ believe it could also have medium and long term impacts.
festival welcome
• is an important contributor to the city and its festival programme (and 90%+ believe LOOK makes a valuable contribution to UK and world photography)
LOOK/15 theme
• is an organisation they would like to work with again, with 95.5% stating they’d like to be back for 2017
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
overall visit
• provided a 4H+service in terms of festival hospitality, accommodation, overall visit quality, venue quality, festival welcome and volunteers
festival hospitality
100% of our artists believe that LOOK
2H
%No
3H 4H 5H
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
... friends and family
70
80
90
... professional network
... individual artists
... peers
0
10
20
30
100
%Yes
0
2.2
1.05
%No
... the city
... the city’s festival programme
... photography in the UK
... photography in the world
6 | LOOK/15 review
70
80
90
My career
Short term impact
Mid term impact
Long term impact
90.91 95.45
0
60
My organisation
100% of artists believe LOOK is a cultural contributor to the city and its cultural programme 100
50
Me
Q: Do you consider LOOK to be an important cultural contributor to…
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
40
Girlfriend at Constellations
100
LOOK/15 IN NUMBERS
551,983 people shared in LOOK/15’s ideas by visiting galleries, community venues and public realm spaces
73 artists were showcased and developed with LOOK to generate the festival and we showed the work of 636 more!
60 events were developed by LOOK/15 including film screenings, workshops and practical sessions
5 years worth of exhibitions days were run in conjunction with LOOK/15 - a total of 1829 days!
Public £££s - LOOK/15 was awarded a total of £80,800 of public money, which means each visit cost just £0.15
39 venues collaborated to deliver LOOK’s events, in partnership with dozens of people and organisations
27 blogs were written specifically for LOOK/15 from artists, visitors, thoughtleaders and volunteers
51+ days of participation took place across the festival as people enjoyed camera workshops, portfolio reviews, talk and tours, engaging 4,600+ people
36 exhibitions meant there was something for everyone, including elite ‘stardust’ shows, public works and emerging talent!
LOOK/15 review | 7
LOOK/15 IN STATISTICS STATISTICS • 15-31 May 2015, LOOK received 206,749 visits. In total, using conservative estimates on individual exhibition attendance and public realm work, we believe in excess of 551,983 visitors saw work as part of the wider LOOK/15 programme, which delivered 36 exhibits and 60 events, including launches, training sessions, talks, networking and festival events, across 39 venues •E vent audiences and participants totalled more than 4,600 people, undertaking 1,238.5 hours of engagement (or 51.6 continuous days). This does not include our online exhibitions, which were engaged with by in excess of 38,000 individuals worldwide
AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS & BEHAVIOURS 38% 1 of Liverpool International Photography Festival’s audience are between 25 and 44 years old, with a further 57% 2 being over 55. Only 15% of LOOK’s respondents are below 25 and the largest cohort run is 45-55 year olds, who form 28.35%.
Audience declaring a professional connection to photography:
• LOOK/15’s involvement in TATE Liverpool’s LightNight activity brought them the second highest visitor figures they’d ever had, the first being their own twenty-five year anniversary celebrations in 2013.
At the time of writing, LOOK/15’s visitor figures are in excess of 550,000, showing a festival-onfestival growth of +56%
40.16%
Yes 59.84%
No
LOOK/15 audiences travelled: 3.94%
WEBSITE, SOCIAL MEDIA & PR LOOK’s social media grew by 20%+ over the period of LOOK/15, primarily across Facebook and Twitter. We are proud of having trended nationally during our launch. In terms of reach, we generated a potential of 204,658,427 connections using our PR, print, commission and internet figures. This represents reaching every member of the UK 3 times and/or 2.8% of the global population! Based on 551,983 visits, LOOK/15 attracted – in person – 0.87% of the total UK population 3. LOOK/15 received features in the Guardian, Radar and the Independent, SMBH, Huck, Dazed Digital, Creative Tourist, Dafty News and many more.
1
55% in 2013 2 10% in 2013 3 U K population = 63,920,190 according to Worldometers, accessed at www.worldometers.info on 17 Sept 2015. World population (from same resource) = 7,367,620,100
8 | LOOK/15 review
Nationally 19.69%
Internationally 76.39%
Locally
77% local visits is lower than Market Liverpool’s estimate of 81%.
Over 75% of respondents stated that engagement with LOOK was their main reason for travelling into the city This is a steep rise from 64.04% previously and shows that we are a key driver for city visits
LOOK’s visitor figures suggest we brought in 120,405 4 visitors from out of town (24%) and, with a conversion of 0.04 generated 481 overnight stays. Based on an average of £67.73 per night per room (Liverpool Vision Hotel Update, April 2015 5), this generated a city income of £32,620. Of our survey respondents 9% were from London, 8% from Wales and many came from Warrington and Wallasey. International visits came from Romania, Finland, America and Eire.
LOOK originated work and collaborations generated 203,783 visits, accounting for 67% of that achieved by the lead venues, across the total exhibition run.
Exhibition run
Analysing the audience data, we can see the various aspects of the festival that visitors attended.
John McDonald discussed his work at St Luke’s Church
86,974 305,760 116,809
63,105
Festival
61% of attendees in 2015 had visited LOOK/13 (a steep rise from a re-attendance record of 34% in 2013). This means we are generating goodwill festival to festival, but can still celebrate encouraging c.40% new audiences.
107,423 36,222
During the festival, 15-31 May 2015, LOOK’s originations and collaborations achieved 92% of that achieved by the lead venues
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
LOOK originated programme
250,000
300,000
350,000
Venue originated work
Established galleries attract the largest audiences, but during across the exhibition run 15% did visit work in public realm and community level venues. This rose to 22% during the festival (15-31 May 2015)
Exhibition run
Collaborative originations
45,691 441,370 22,482
Festival
23,215 170,046 13,489
100,000
Public realm
Of the respondents, Open Eye was cited as the gallery most frequently visited, with the Bluecoat in second position and Women in the City (Thomas Steers Way) being third. This presents a great opportunity to work with Open Eye on developing this relationship in future. 41% of visitors enjoyed the contemporary work most of all while 34% preferred the historic works 6. 75% respondents stated that they visited on more than 1 day. Not only has this improved, but we have extended the amount of time they spend in the city from 2.76 days per person to 3.58. 4
61,750 out of town visits in 2013 www.liverpoolvision.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/PMD-560-HotelUpdate-April-2015-PUBLISHED-FINAL-VERSION.pdf accessed 14 July 2015
5
200,000
300,000
High end gallery
400,000
500,000
Community venue
Extrapolated, this accounts for 383,380 7 spending a minimum of 1,372,501 days in the city! Key influencers in deciding to attend LOOK/15 include the website (46%), word of mouth recommendations (40%) and social media (29%) 8. This testifies to more people using websites and seeking experience recommendations from friends. It also shows that the recommendation rate has risen slightly from festival to festival. We should question why the social media rate seems low by comparison.
6
50% contemporary and 30% history bias in 2013 227,500 in 2013 8 Key influencers in deciding to attend LOOK/13 include the website (40%), word of mouth recommendations (36%) and social media (31%). 7
LOOK/15 review | 9
QUALITY 87% of visitors scored their visit to LOOK exhibitions 4H+, with 49% of event attendees scoring the events at 5/5. At first glance this looks like an exhibition score drop from 91% in 2013, but when we consider the community level organisations used, as opposed to high end art galleries, this drop was a) expected and b) surprisingly low. It should also be noted that the size of the LOOK/15 programme was almost three times that of LOOK/13 (exhibitions: 36 vs 11; events: 60 vs19), so to suffer this very small decrease on a festival provided at a similar funding level to its predecessor should be taken as a great success. With this in mind, when rating the quality (all based on 1– 5H scores: 1H = very poor, 5H = very good) of the exhibition programme, 81% respondents scored 4H+ (growing from 80% in 2013) and 75% gave the same rating to the events programme, demonstrating festival-on-festival stability. Social media scored highly in quality terms with 81% grading it at 4H+; the website received 62% for the same score range, showing we need to improve this. The brochure achieved 75% (an improvement on 2013’s 73%).
Notes arising from the survey show that people •W ould like to see some website improvements – we believe these to be around simpler listings and calendar functions (14.49%) •A re no longer concerned with a fairness of programme •W ould like a longer festival (13%) •W ould like more city and general signage (14%).
78% of visitors said they would be ‘very likely’ to recommend LOOK. If we add those who said they would be ‘quite likely’, 94% of visitors would recommend us!
E-newsletters improved their quality score by over 10% variance, rising from 59% to 69% of respondents marking at 4H+. Growth of the subscription list should be monitored and encouraged in the inter-festival down time.
Audiences called LOOK/15 ‘dynamic, friendly & aspirational’; volunteers called it ‘diverse, dynamic & interesting’ & artists found it ‘diverse, inclusive and exciting’ In addition to matching the notes above, which are outlined in LOOK’s Business Vision, we are also proud that… • We improved the 5H rating given to our welcome from 34% to 47%, a variance of 13% • We increased our 5H quality rating for overall visit from 46% to 51%, a variance of 5%. Sadly our 4H figure dropped, so overall, our 4H+ rating goes down from 92% to 87%. To have managed a variance of 4.75% across a festival of 3 times the size is commendable • LOOK/15’s publicity and promotion score improved by a variance of 11% at the 5H rating, from 26% to 38%. However, in real terms our 4H+ rating dropped from 68% in 2013 to 65% in 2015. Again, this is probably a reflection on the enhanced programme, range of locations and sheer volume of information to be conveyed • 5H ratings for the quality of the exhibitions lifts, in 2015, from 40% to 51% and in the 4H+ from 80% to 81% meaning we improved the exhibitions programme. The events programme suffered a little falling from 75% in the 4H+ rating to 69% (a variance of 6%). Again, considering the programme growth and the move from high end gallery to community level organisations, this is a minimal drop in real terms. 10 | LOOK/15 review
Casey Orr, Rollers in Hair from Saturday Girl, Liverpool 2015
LOOK/17’s PRIORITIES Having reviewed our work, measured the success of LOOK/15 and evaluated the feedback, LOOK have determined that these are the six things we want to focus on improving
Support photographic artists and audiences by offering strong and diverse platforms, commissioning and opportunities
Export LOOK nationally and internationally to improve our reputation as experts and thought-leaders and to develop professional connections
Focus on securing industry and media support, using strong curatorial leadership that develops the festival’s core messages and drives city partnerships
Create a strong social space at the centre of the festival to promote collaborations, discourse and friendships
Develop photographic education links to gain access to future generations of photographers and pursue academic research and scheduling opportunities
Improve LOOK’s digital offer, including web content and functionality, user generated content and social platforms/outputs
5H RATING GOALS 5H rating for exhibitions
80%
5H rating for events
75%
5H to “I will recommend the festival”
75%
LOOK/15 review | 11
This photograph was submitted to LOOK by Caroline Ross during the festival. Caroline is the mother of Sarah (pictured pointing). Both feature in the image that Sarah is pointing to, which was taken by Sarah’s father, Henry Iddon, in an image entitled Woman in labour, Liverpool Women’s Hospital 2004. The original image was submitted to LOOK’s Women in the City competition, which called for people to submit images of women, to complement the One Magnificent City and Three Queens celebrations. This interaction between artists, audiences and time is reflective of a number of stories, which show the meta-layering that occurred between the themes and exhibitions of LOOK/15.
Front cover image: Sarah in front of Henry Iddon’s pictures of her and her mother, Women in the City, LOOK/15 provided by Caroline Ross, 2015
THANKS LOOK/15: Exchange was brought to you with support from:
to whom the team and Board are most grateful. Thank you each of them and thank you to all our partners, artists, collaborators, volunteers, friends and the City, without whom LOOK would be lost. Design: nonconform.co.uk
LOOK Company number 05812912 LOOK is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales lookphotofest.com lookphotofestivalblog.wordpress.com @LookPhotoFest /Look-Liverpool-International-Photography-Festival +44 (0) 151 291 6739
12 | LOOK/15 review
LOOK would like to thank Diane Brown, BFG Associates, and Paul Mathews, P M Associates and Business in the Arts: North West for assistance provided through the Mentoring programme www.businessinthearts.co.uk