March 10 - 19, 2024 | Silver Street Studios, Houston, TX
The Portfolio Review for Artists
FotoFest presents the Meeting Place 2024 Portfolio Review, the largest, longest running, and most international program of its kind in the United States. Throughout its history, beginning with the first iteration in 1986, the Meeting Place has brought together thousands of photographic artists and photography professionals from around the world to one common location. The multi-day event is truly a “meeting place,” a unique, photography-centered environment where participants have the opportunity to network, collaborate, share ideas, and establish life-long connections.
Each participating photographer is guaranteed sixteen one-on-one portfolio reviews, each lasting 20 minutes. Whether you are looking for practical results for a completed body of work or feedback on work in progress, the Meeting Place creates opportunities to present your portfolio to a wide range of photography decision-makers who have valuable and wide-ranging insights that will help you push the development, focus, and presentation of your work. In many cases, reviewers can assist with career development in tangible ways, through exhibitions, acquisition of work, gallery representation, artist residencies, or the publication of work online, in a magazine, or in a book.
REVIEWERS
The reviewers invited to the Meeting Place are some of the most important people in the field of photography. Whether you are looking for practical results for a completed body of work, or feedback on work in progress, the Meeting Place offers you the opportunity to present your portfolio to a wide range of photography decision-makers who can assist in your future career development - an exhibition, purchase of your work, an arts residency, or the publication of your work in a magazine or book.
The FotoFest Meeting Place has been pivotal to me on so many fronts. It has introduced me to editors, curators, collectors, and the host of my first solo museum exhibition. It has also been a lab for testing new works-in-progress, and a community where I've met some of my closest friends.
– Debi Cornwall, Meeting Place Participant
DATES
The Meeting Place 2024 Portfolio Review: Sunday, March 10 - Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Session 1: Sunday March 10 – Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - SOLD OUT
Session 2: Saturday, March 16 - Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Registration for The International Meeting Place is open to all lens and image-based artists and photographers. Space is limited. There is no charge to submit a registration form - You are charged only after your registration is confirmed.
NOTE: Session 1 is SOLD OUT. If you fill out the form and select Session 1, you will be placed on the waitlist. Meeting Place staff will reach out if a space opens up for you.
DETAILS
REGISTRATION FEE per session: USD $1,195
All Meeting Place Registrants Receive:
- Minimum 16 one-on-one, 20-minute long review appointments per session
- Inclusion in the digital Meeting Place Photographer Catalogue, supplied to all reviewers for each session. All participating artists are represented with an image of their work and contact information
- Networking opportunities with fellow artists
- Complimentary first-come first-served transportation to FotoFest Biennial exhibitions and other exhibitions around Houston during the evening after the reviews
- Reserved space in their session's Unfiltered: Portfolio Walk, an opportunity to show your portfolio to the general public, other reviewers, and collectors
ADDITIONAL BIENNIAL DATES TO CONSIDER:
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Biennial 2024 GRAND OPENING
8 - 11 pm | Silver Street Studios
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Free admission ALL DAY to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
Friday, March 15, 2024
Publish Your Photography Book with Mary Virginia Swanson
9 am - 5 pm | Silver Street Studios
$95 for Meeting Place Participants
$125 for General Admission
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Fine Print Auction and Gala
6 - 10 pm | Silver Street Studios
PORTFOLIO REVIEW LOCATION
The Meeting Place 2024 takes place at the Silver Street Studios in the Sawyer Yards complex, where FotoFest is headquartered, just north of Downtown Houston. The FotoFest Biennial 2024 exhibitions and many Biennial programs also take place at this complex, allowing Meeting Place participants quick, easy, and walkable access to these exhibitions and events. Several restaurants, bars and coffee shops are nearby.
Silver Street Studios at Sawyer Yards
2000 Edwards Street, Houston, Texas 77007
HOST HOTEL
The host hotel for this years' Meeting Place is the C. Baldwin, located in the northwest corner of Downtown Houston and a 5-7 minute drive from the portfolio review venue.
C. Baldwin Hotel
400 Dallas Street, Houston, Texas 77002
Meeting Place 2024 registrants receive a discounted rate of $189/night + tax at the C. Baldwin. A special reservation link with this rate will be emailed to you after you complete the registration process. FotoFest provides regular complimentary bus transportation between the C. Baldwin and the portfolio review venue at Silver Street Studios.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The Meeting Place 2024 will take place at Silver Street Studios in the Sawyer Yards complex, where FotoFest is headquartered, just north of Downtown Houston.
Silver Street Studios
2000 Edwards Street
Houston, TX 77007
The FotoFest Biennial 2024 exhibitions and many Biennial programs take place at this complex, allowing Meeting Place participants quick, easy, and walkable access to these exhibitions and events. Several restaurants, bars and coffee shops are nearby.
Meeting Place photographers have access to a discounted rate of $189/night + tax at the C. Baldwin Hotel, located in the northwest corner of downtown Houston, just a 5-minute drive from the FotoFest Headquarters and Meeting Place 2024 Portfolio Review venue.
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A RESERVATION AT THE C. BALDWIN*
*Please disregard the statement beginning "Daily Mandatory Charge..." regarding internet, restaurant credit and bike rental - this does not apply to our group reservation block, but is not able to be removed from our reservation page.
Bus transportation will be provided between the C. Baldwin Hotel and Silver Street Studios, where the portfolio reviews are held, at regular intervals. While it is not required to stay at the C. Baldwin, it makes your stay significantly more convenient.
Prefer to consider other options? Click here for a list of other nearby hotels in the area.
It is not necessary to have a car to participate in the Meeting Place, to visit FotoFest exhibitions, or to see other select exhibitions in Houston. During the portfolio reviews, FotoFest will provide bus transportation between the C. Baldwin Hotel and Silver Street Studios at regular intervals throughout the day.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Houston's public transportation provider is called METRO.
Silver Street Studios, where the portfolio reviews are held, is most easily accessible by the Houston METRO Bus routes #44 and #85. Both of these bus routes have stops near the C. Baldwin Hotel, and involve a 5-10 minute walk from the bus stop to Silver Street Studios.
For more information on METRO routes, schedules, fares and service alerts, visit www.ridemetro.org.
RIDESHARE
Lyft and Uber both operate in Houston. You can access these rideshare options by downloading the Lyft or Uber app on your smartphone.
EVENING EXHIBITION VISITS & BUS TOURS
On a few evenings each session, FotoFest rents coach buses to take Meeting Place photographers and reviewers to see exhibitions around town at local museums and galleries. This is offered at no additional charge, but space on the bus is limited and first come, first served. Comprehensive schedules of evening events will be sent out ahead of the Meeting Place and daily schedules for evening events will be posted each morning near the portfolio review room.
CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS & OPEN PORTFOLIO WALKS
On one evening per session, FotoFest hosts a Creative Conversation featuring an exhibiting artist in conversation with one expert in the field of photography, followed by an Open Portfolio Walk, an open-house style event where Meeting Place photographers can display their work to local collectors, photography enthusiasts, reviewers, and fellow registrants. Both of these events take place at Silver Street Studios.
Session 1: Monday, March 11
Session 2: Monday, March 18
Creative Conversation: 5:30 pm
Open Portfolio Walk: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
The two "break days" between Session 1 & 2 are Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15. There are no portfolio reviews on these days, but there is other programming you may want to take advantage of.
Thursday, March 14
FREE ADMISSION to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston| 11 am - 9 pm
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston offers free admission for all individuals on Thursdays. Free admission does not include ticketed exhibitions. Please check the MFAH website for more detailed information about ticketing and exhibitions on view.
Guided Tour of the Hirsch Library with Jon Evans, Chief of Libraries and Archives at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
*TICKETED EVENT, REGISTRATION REQUIRED
This guided tour is only accessible to ticket-holders for the professional development seminar Publish Your Photography Book, held on Friday, March 15 (please see below for information on Publish Your Photography Book). Space is very limited, and registration is first-come, first-served. Registration for this guided tour is not yet available - we will announce in advance the date and time that registration will open.
Friday, March 15
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Publish Your Photography Book | 9 am - 5:00 pm
*TICKETED EVENT
Led by author, educator and advisor Mary Virginia Swanson, Publish Your Photography Book engages several international leaders in photobook publishing, as well as artists who have been through the process for their own publications. This event comes on the heels of the third edition of Swanson's own publication by the same name, Publish Your Photography Book, which she co-wrote with Darius Himes, International Head of Photographs, Christie's.
Purchasing a ticket to this event does not include admittance to the Guided Tour of the Hirsch Library on Thursday, March 14. Registration for that additional event will be included as an add-on exclusively for Publish Your Photography Book ticket-holders.
TICKETS:
Click here for Meeting Place participant (participant names will be cross-checked to confirm correct ticket purchase)
Click here for General Admission
In February 2024, you will receive a Reviewer Preference form where you will rank the top 25 reviewers you most want to meet with in order of preference. These preferences are entered into a newly revamped proprietary scheduling system that assigns appointments based on each registrant’s top preferences. This scheduling system is not "first come, first served." Instead, it is designed to give every registrant a chance to receive review appointments with their top choice reviewers.
Schedules are sent out to Meeting Place photographers 5 days prior to each review session. FotoFest can not guarantee that you will receive all of your top preferences.
Registrants are guaranteed a minimum of sixteen (16) one-on-one portfolio review appointments per session. You can expect to have 3 - 5 review appointments per day.
Each review appointment lasts 20 minutes.
If you absolutely do not want to meet with a certain reviewer, you will have the option to "block" a limited number of reviewers on your preference form.
As a general rule, we encourage you to meet with all kinds of reviewers, even ones who you may think “can’t do anything for you.” You never know what connections they could make for you, or what opportunities they may have. It is always a good idea to get fresh opinions and perspectives on your work, especially from informed and experienced professionals who may see something you don’t. Be open!
The Meeting Place Registration is NON-TRANSFERABLE. FotoFest will not honor registrations that are sold or traded between registrants. There are no exceptions!
We are continuing to add reviewers on a weekly basis. Cancellations and changes may occur, so check the Meeting Place 2024 Reviewer List webpages regularly for updates.
If there is space available in the Session you want to move into, FotoFest is more than happy to process your request. If you would like to switch which session you have registered for, please email Mariah Rodriguez, Meeting Place Assistant, at mariah@fotofest.org.
QUESTIONS?
Contact:
Sarah Ansell, Meeting Place Portfolio Review Director
sarah@fotofest.org
713-223-5522 ext. 21
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