The Antiparos Photo Festival started in 2013 on the initiative of three people who love the small Greek island of Antiparos (pop. approx. 1,000) and wanted to repay it for the great experiences it has given us over the years.
In view of an increasingly fragile political and economic situation in Greece, it is more important than ever that the cultural life of the country is not neglected. The Antiparos Photo Festival – probably the smallest international photography festival in the world – is our contribution to that.
We started small – very small – but last year saw us expanding rapidly with 13 featured photographers and the participation of Magnum Photos photographer Gueorgui Pinkhassov.
However, our festival is run entirely by volunteers, who are enthusiastic but not always reliable. We want to be able to employ people on a part-time basis for the duration of this years’ festival (4-13 July) to look after the nuts and bolts; we want to have adequate lighting and to be able to provide the experience that comes with a festival.
We are a non-profit venture. Once our bills are paid at the end of the festival, all remaining money is donated to the local school. In 2013, this enabled them to buy new windows; in 2014 it gave them nothing, because we had to fund some of the festival out of our own pockets, and there was nothing left.
We have the perfect venue – a beautiful 15th century Venetian castle in the center of the village – and we also have the total support of the municipality. What we lack right now are the funds to realize our ambitions. And to help the community.
We hope that you can help us.
Thank you.
I’m a fan of Greece. More specifically, I’m a fan of the small Greek island of Antiparos. Now that economic and political circumstances have made life in Greece difficult for so many people, I have seen the cultural life of the island suffer. I would not only like to do something – however small – to improve this situation but I would also like to put Antiparos on the map as a cultural center of international allure. That may be a bit too much to ask, but I’m asking anyway.
I was born in Athens, Greece, in 1968. After high school, I left for the UK to study Engineering Design. Following a brief break for National Service, I returned to England, where I worked until the summer of 2004. Since then I have been working in the R&D department of Bic Violex S.A. My involvement with photography is purely amateur, gathering pace in the last 4 to 5 years. I have attended the Seminar for Artistic Photography by Platon Rivellis as well as “Use of Adobe Lightroom” by Manos Lykakis at the Leica Academy. I have since had a one-man exhibition, in Antiparos in September 2012, exhibited at the 2014 Antiparos Photo Festival, and took part in the group exhibition of the Photo Circle “THALASSES” in June 2014.