The Images Festival is held every other year in Vevey in Switzerland and has gained an excellent international reputation. It is one of the rare open-air photography festivals, with images found on façades, in parks, buildings, on industrial wasteland and around Lake Geneva. It brings several thousand visitors to Vevey every two years. It also encompasses a permanent exhibition space (Quai1) and an international photography competition.
Admission is free but the Festival run by Stefano Stoll is now looking for financial backing for its projects and the support it provides to artists looking to exhibit their work. Stoll has thus recently founded Les Amis d’Images, an association giving photography enthusiasts a chance to sponsor the Festival organisation.
Members of Les Amis d’Image can decide how much they want to contribute, from 55 CHF to 10,000 CHF a year. In return, they will enjoy some tailor-made benefits such as studio visits, cultural excursions with a photography focus, regular newsletters and other publications, VIP access to exhibitions and more!
Les Amis d’Images is managed by its own committee, independent from the Festival, chaired by Jay Gauer, director of Vevey’s Trois Couronnes hotel. This five-star establishment is well-known for its involvement in the cultural scene (exhibitions, concerts and other events) and with the Images Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the ECAL art school in Lausanne, the Jenisch museum in Vevey and the Musée de l’Elysée photography museum in Lausanne.
The next Images Festival will run from 10 September to 2 October 2016 in Vevey.
