Artists Open Houses
Artists Open Houses is a Brighton & Hove not-for-profit that runs biannual May and Winter festivals where local artists exhibit in their own homes across neighborhood trails, supported by a printed brochure, an artist directory microsite, and council and corporate sponsorship.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersHove, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Artists Open Houses does
Artists Open Houses (AOH) is a not-for-profit community organization (UK company registration number 5420675) that coordinates and promotes two annual open-house art festivals in Brighton & Hove: a four-weekend May festival aligned with Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe, and a three-weekend Winter festival in late November and December. The organization serves practicing artists — from emerging to professional — who exhibit in their own homes, shared studios, and pop-up venues across neighborhood trails (Brunswick Town, Central, Hanover, Hove, Kemptown, Seven Dials, West Hove, and others), as well as art-lovers, buyers, and industry professionals who visit these exhibitions. Festival Director Judy Stevens oversees programming.
The product surface comprises the biannual festivals themselves, a printed brochure and leaflet map with a 40,000-copy run distributed across Brighton, Sussex, the South East, and London, and an Artists Seeking Houses microsite (artists-seeking-houses.aoh.org.uk) that operates as a parametric-search directory where artists pay £25 for a 12-month listing and Open House venues search for guest artists to host. Underlying technology is modest: a WordPress-based public site, the directory microsite, email delivery via Sendgrid to a 10,000+ subscriber list, payments via Opayo, analytics via Google Analytics, and video embedding via Vimeo. The organization maintains a 30,000+ combined social following across Facebook, Instagram, and blog, and an annual AOH Awards program including Best Open House and Brochure Cover Artist categories.
AOH monetizes through four streams: artist directory subscriptions (£25/yr), tiered venue listing fees (double listing for 15-25 artists, full page for 25-35), brochure advertising for commercial premises and larger events, and sponsorship from Brighton & Hove City Council plus a roster of minor corporate partners (LS Printing, Hamptons, Pack & Send, Brighton i360, CASS). Distribution combines organic social, an email newsletter, billboards and citywide poster campaigns, PR coverage in local and national press, and reciprocal marketing partnerships with Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe, Visit Brighton, Culture Calling, and Latest TV. During the May 2022 festival the website recorded 150,000+ unique visitors. As a small (1-10 employee) regional nonprofit, AOH is primarily a coordination and marketing platform for a long-tail of independent artists rather than a scalable technology business.
Artists Open Houses firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Artists Open Houses
- Legal name
- Artists Open Houses
- Website
- https://aoh.org.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Artists Open Houses is a Brighton & Hove not-for-profit that runs biannual May and Winter festivals where local artists exhibit in their own homes across neighborhood trails, supported by a printed brochure, an artist directory microsite, and council and corporate sponsorship.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Artists Open Houses industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Arts Festivals
- NAICS
- Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Creator Events & Experiences (Trips, Houses, Retreats) (MPAAAHAN)
Keywords
Where Artists Open Houses is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hove
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Artists Open Houses business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Artist Directory Subscription: Artists pay £25 for 12-month subscription to be listed in the Artists Seeking Houses directory, allowing Open House venues to find guest artists for their exhibitions.
- Venue Listing Fees: Open House venues pay per-listing fees based on size. Venues with 15-25 artists require minimum double listing; venues with 25-35 artists require full page listing. Larger events may be asked to purchase adverts instead.
- Brochure Advertising: Commercial premises and larger arts events can purchase advertising space in the printed brochure in addition to standard listings.
- Sponsorship: Corporate sponsors including Brighton & Hove City Council, LS Printing, Hamptons, Pack & Send, Brighton i360, and others provide financial support in exchange for branding visibility.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Artist directory subscription for 12 months |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Double listing for venues with 15-25 artists |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Full page listing for venues with 25-35 artists |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Artists Open Houses product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Artists Open Houses is a not-for-profit community organization that coordinates and runs twice-yearly art festivals in Brighton & Hove (a May festival and a Winter festival), where local artists open their homes and studios to the public as exhibition venues. The organization provides an online artist directory and £25/year subscription listing service that connects artists with Open House venues seeking guest artists. Supporting offerings include tiered venue listing fees, printed brochure advertising, and corporate sponsorship packages.
Product overview
Artists Open Houses is a not-for-profit community organization operating a bi-annual arts festival in Brighton & Hove. The core offering consists of the May and Winter festivals, which connect local artists with audiences through home and studio exhibitions. The platform comprises an online artist directory (Artists Seeking Houses microsite), festival trail system organizing venues by neighborhood, printed promotional materials (brochure and map), and digital marketing campaigns. Artists can subscribe to listing services to showcase their work to Open House venues seeking guest artists. The organization also provides PR campaigns, social media promotion, and annual awards programs to support participating artists.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Artists Open Houses Festival A twice-yearly community art festival in Brighton & Hove where local artists open their homes and studios to the public for free, connecting artists with art lovers, buyers, and industry professionals. Held across the first four weekends of May and during November-December weekends annually.
- Artist Listing Subscription A 12-month subscription service priced at £25 per year that allows artists to showcase their work on the Artists Open Houses website via the Artists Seeking Houses microsite, enabling Open House venues to discover and contact them for guest artist exhibitions.
- Venue Listing Registration Per-festival registration listings for venues hosting Open House exhibitions, priced based on size tier. Venues with 15-25 artists require minimum double listing; venues with 25-35 artists require full page listing. Larger events may be required to purchase advertising instead.
- Brochure Advertising and Sponsorship Advertising space in the printed May festival brochure (40,000 print run distributed across Brighton, Sussex, SE region, and London) and corporate sponsorship packages providing brand visibility during festivals in exchange for financial support.
Quantifiable outcome
- 150,000+ unique website visitors during festival period
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Artists Open Houses
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Artists Open Houses technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Artists Open Houses partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Brighton & Hove City CouncilcoreCity council sponsorship providing funding and institutional support. The council supports the festival as part of cultural development initiatives in Brighton & Hove.
- LS PrintingminorPrinting services sponsor supporting brochure and promotional material production.
- HamptonsminorReal estate company sponsorship supporting the festival.
- Latest TVcoreLocal TV partner providing digital and TV marketing campaign support.
- Visit BrightoncoreOfficial tourism body partnership for digital and TV marketing campaigns promoting Brighton as a cultural destination.
- Brighton FringecoreReciprocal marketing partnership with the major arts festival. The AOH May festival coincides with Brighton Fringe, providing cross-promotional opportunities.
- Brighton FestivalcoreReciprocal advertising partnership with Brighton's major cultural festival. The May festival coincides with Brighton Festival timing.
- Pack & SendminorPackaging and shipping services sponsor.
- Brighton i360minorBrighton waterfront attraction sponsor supporting the festival.
- CASSminorSponsor supporting the Artists Open Houses festival.
- Culture CallingcoreDigital and TV marketing campaign partner covering London and South East region, extending festival reach beyond Brighton.
- Figment ArtsminorAOH partner organization planning a new creative community base called 'A Room of Our Own.' AOH is supporting their crowd-funder campaign.
- Sussex NightstopminorCharity partner for Art with Heart charity sale. AOH artists donated artwork that raised approximately £4,500 to help young people find safe accommodation.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Artists Open Houses competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Bucks Open Studios: Buckinghamshire-based annual open studios event coordinating artist participants across the county. Same community-led, directory-driven festival model as AOH but in a different UK geography, making it a direct format peer.
- Devon Open Studios: Annual open studios event across Devon, UK where artists open studios to the public. Same fundamental model as AOH — coordinating geographic trails of artists' spaces for festival-period visitors — but operating in the South West rather than Brighton & Hove.
- Hampshire Open Studios: County-wide annual event where Hampshire-based artists open their studios to the public over two weeks. Directly comparable to AOH's twice-yearly festival format and community-coordinated open-house model, serving a different UK region.
- Figment Arts: Brighton-based arts community organization and explicit AOH partner, currently planning 'A Room of Our Own' creative community base. Closely aligned community-driven arts organization with overlapping geography and shared audience of Brighton artists.
- Norfolk & Norwich Open Studios: Largest open studios event in the UK, coordinating hundreds of artists across Norfolk over a multi-weekend festival. Closely comparable to AOH in format and audience (art buyers visiting artist studios) but operates at substantially greater scale in East Anglia.
- Sussex Open Studios: Sussex-wide annual open studios event featuring artists across the county, directly mirroring AOH's model of artists opening workspaces. Operates in overlapping geography (Sussex) with same event-led, community-coordinated format targeting visual artists and buyers.
Broad incumbents
- Brighton Festival: Brighton's flagship annual arts festival featuring music, theater, dance, literature, and visual arts. AOH's May festival is explicitly timed to coincide with this event for cross-promotional benefit; they are a direct institutional partner. Operates much more broadly in programming and scale.
- Affordable Art Fair: International art fair operator hosting events in multiple cities worldwide, focused on making original art affordable and accessible. Operates a similar accessible-art-for-buyers proposition to AOH but through gallery-style fairs rather than home exhibitions, and at much larger commercial scale.
- Brighton Fringe: England's largest open-access arts festival, hosting thousands of performances across Brighton each May. Direct institutional partner of AOH with reciprocal marketing arrangements. Operates a much broader programming scope than AOH's visual-arts focus.
Emerging players
- Art on a Postcard: UK-based art fundraising organization running postcard-sized art auctions for charity. Comparable to AOH in mobilizing artists for community impact (£4,500 raised for Sussex Nightstop is a similar small-scale charitable outcome) but operates in a different transactional format.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Artists Open Houses social profiles
Digital presenceArtists Open Houses compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Artists Open Houses financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Artists Open Houses leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Artists Open Houses funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Artists Open Houses M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Artists Open Houses
What does Artists Open Houses do?
Artists Open Houses is a not-for-profit community organization that coordinates and runs twice-yearly art festivals in Brighton & Hove (a May festival and a Winter festival), where local artists open their homes and studios to the public as exhibition venues. The organization provides an online artist directory and £25/year subscription listing service that connects artists with Open House venues seeking guest artists. Supporting offerings include tiered venue listing fees, printed brochure advertising, and corporate sponsorship packages.
Is Artists Open Houses a public or private company?
Artists Open Houses is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Artists Open Houses founded?
Artists Open Houses was founded in 2004. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Artists Open Houses based?
Artists Open Houses is headquartered in Hove, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Artists Open Houses make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Artist Directory Subscription is the primary driver. The others are venue Listing Fees, brochure Advertising and sponsorship.
Who are Artists Open Houses's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Bucks Open Studios, Devon Open Studios, Hampshire Open Studios, Figment Arts, Norfolk & Norwich Open Studios and Sussex Open Studios. Broad incumbents are Brighton Festival, Affordable Art Fair and Brighton Fringe. Art on a Postcard is listed as an emerging player.
Does Artists Open Houses have an API?
No public API is recorded for Artists Open Houses.
What industry is Artists Open Houses in?
Artists Open Houses's product category is Community Arts Festivals. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJADAH, Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit), with a secondary code of MPAAAHAN, Creator Events & Experiences (Trips, Houses, Retreats). Its NAICS code is 71131.