Our May Creative Hub publication is now live!
Head to our website to via the link in our to read your monthly update on all things creative in Exeter! This month features:
🧵 A chat with one of the curators behind the @uofecuration exhibition Phantom Threads
🌿 A Q&A with @threshandbray about their upcoming show The Dreaming
🌈 A discussion with artist @adamsgarratt who is curating the exhibition Bodies Bordered Becoming for @exeterpride
🎭 A Q&A with @doohickieproductions about Open Door Festival
Plus plenty of creative opportunities and events!
We are excited to announce our 2026 Short Film Commissions!
Six artists have been selected to create a variety short films. The completed films will premiere at Two Short Nights Film Festival in 2027.
Congratulations to the selected filmmakers!
🎬 DOCLAB Micro Documentary Film Commission: Dom Deane - The Missing Manual: Duncan
🎬 Micro Short Film Commission: Sam McLoughlin @maccer78 - My Beloved
🎬 Devon Short Film Commission: Vivek Bhadra @crispychilliinoil - Sick of it
🎬 South West Short Film Commission: Daniel Granville @danielgranville - The Earthstoppers
🎬 D&C Film: Emerging Filmmaker Fund: Lily Bennett - Crooked @crookedshortfilm
🎬 Artists Moving Image Commission: Sam Machell @sambehindglass - Colosseum / Abyssal Zone
Find out more about their projects by visiting the Commissions page on our website 🔗
Edinburgh Previews Callout
Are you a local creative looking to preview your work before Edinburgh Fringe?
Come and perform your work at Exeter Phoenix in our Workshop space this June or July. Test your work in front of a live audience, whether that be a work-in-progress performance or a fully realised piece.
Shows must be technically self-sufficient.
Box office split in favour of the artist/company.
Find out more and apply on the Creative Opportunities page of our website. Link in bio 🔗
📸 by Ophelia Fellhauer from our Scratch Night
Open Door Festival is a joint project between @doohickieproductions and @exeterphoenix and has been created with the aim of platforming artists who may have previously been excluded from programming opportunities.
We caught up with the Doohickie team to talk about how the festival came about and why it is important to platform emerging artists.
You can read the full interview in our May publication feature by following the link in our bio 🔗
Open door festival will be taking place from Fri 15 May - Mon 18 May. You can find the full programme on our website.
BFI Director Lab in in partnership with Bournemouth Film School | Application deadline Fri 22 May at 5pm
Applications are now open for @bfinetwork and @bournemouthfilmschool 's ever-popular Director Lab.
Across the weekend of 19 & 20 Jun up to six south west-based directors will have tutor-led workshops, time with professional actors and the chance to direct a scripted scene on a specially-made film set. If you’re a director with some scripted experience who wants to develop your skills in directing actors this opportunity is for you!
Applicants must be based in the south west of England, aged over 18 and not in full-time education.
To find out more head to the Creative Opportunities page of our website by clicking the link in our bio 🔗
Two Short Nights 2027 pre-selection panel | Deadline: Wed 01 Jul
Exeter Phoenix’s Two Short Nights Film Festival is looking for volunteers to take part in its pre-selection panel for Two Short Nights 2027.
Two Short Nights is proud to show the best international short films alongside incredible local filmmaking talent, so whatever your cinematic taste there will be something for you.
Pre-selectors will help to shape our programme for the 25th edition of Two Short Nights by reviewing a selection of short film entries online. Films are reviewed and rated online allowing pre-selectors to watch films at a time and place that suits them.
Our submissions can be of any genre and are no longer than 20 mins in length. No experience is necessary but we would value applications from individuals with an interest in filmmaking, curation and critiquing.
Find out more on the Creative Opportunities page of our website via the link in our bio 🔗
📸 credit Alex Toze
We are really excited to announce the two fantastic guest selectors for Exeter Contemporary Open 2026 as gallery owner Sid Motion @sidmotiongallery and artist Martyn Cross @martyncross join @exeterphoenixgallery curator Matt Burrows on this year’s panel.
The call for entries is open now, deadline 7th June.
This year the Open is celebrating 20 years of showcasing extraordinary work by emerging and more established artists exhibiting side-by-side. We are thrilled to be welcoming Martyn back as a selector, after he was selected for the show himself way back in 2009!
Guidelines & submissions at exetercontemporaryopen.com - Linktree in bio above ⬆️
Join BFI NETWORK south west for a free to attend online masterclass on Thu 14 May at 12pm with Thea Gajic, writer-director of Surviving Earth.
This session explores how to develop stories rooted in lived experience, and how to thoughtfully incorporate real-life material into your filmmaking.
Thea will discuss the development process, when to stay close to real events, when to step away, and how structure and perspective influence the story that you tell. She will also reflect on collaboration when developing as a writer, and how to navigate the process in a way that looks after your boundaries and wellbeing.
This masterclass is designed for filmmakers who want to draw on their own experiences while maintaining a strong and flexible development process, equipping you with practical tools to bring personal-inspired stories to the screen.
Please note, you must be 18+, out of full-time education and based in the south west of England to attend.
To find out more head to the creative opportunities page of our website via the link in our bio 🔗
Just a few examples here from the ‘Bootleg Shreg Show Reel’ - 22 one-minute films commissioned by @bruceasbestos from a range of artists, actors, dancers and filmmakers as part of his current exhibition.
Invited to interpret their idea of who he might be, they responded to the basic prompt - “Shreg is a green character who lives in a forest and is on an important mission. His best friends are a tree and a flower”.
Many thanks to all who responded with their brilliant films.
In an age hurtling towards AI generated perfection, these rough-and-ready, improvised and hand-made one-minute videos to camera celebrate human creative activity, authenticity, and visual expression.
⭐ Jenny Cashmore @jennycashmore
⭐️ #WABKIN
⭐️ Eeva-Maria Mutka @mutkaeevamaria
⭐️ Ella Crook @a_bit_of_everything113
⭐️ Emily Chung @wingsumchung
⭐️ Emma & Nora Bass @worm_witch_@emmama_bassio
⭐️ Isobel Jeffery & Phil Kingslan John @fourofswords
⭐️ Laura Robertson @laurarobertsonart
⭐️ Lyddie Mac @f3mal3_gaze
⭐️ Nia Evans @nia_evans
⭐️ Phe Jones
⭐️ Robyn Lawrence @robynndolly
⭐️ Sergia Ramos Castillo
⭐️ Alexander Stevenson @alexander_stevenson
⭐️ Simon Raven @raven_simon
⭐️ Stuart Crewes @stuartcrewes
⭐️ Lerna Babikyan @lerna_babikyan_hayes /
⭐️ Erika Cann @erikac_art
⭐️ The Pelican Project: Ben, Caspar, Louisa, ⭐️ Robbie, Zoe, Eli, Hannah, Bethany @the_pelican_project
⭐️ Holly Gibbs
Artist @adamsgarratt is curating an exhibition titled Bodies Borders Becoming as part of @exeterpride . The show will be on display at EP Sidwell St @positivelightprojects
We chatted to Adam about his creative process when curating the exhibition: 'I love getting the work into the space and bring it all together. I like to think about a visitors journey through an exhibition and how the work might be revealed as they pass through.
You can read the full Q&A in our May publication feature by clicking the link in our bio 🔗
Bodies Borders Becoming is open from 6 - 9 May
Cinema Rediscovered 2026: Pitch to Park Circus | Deadline: Mon 25 May, midnight
Calling UK-based film curators!
@park.circus.films is teaming up once again with Cinema Rediscovered to invite you to pitch a 4 - 5 repertory film season idea curated from their catalogue for 2027.
Three proposals will be selected by Park Circus and Cinema Rediscovered teams, with successful applicants notified by Mon 22 Jun 2026 and invited to present their idea to a panel of exhibition industry professionals at Cinema Rediscovered at Watershed in Bristol on Thu 23 Jul 2026.
The winners’ season will become a collection in the Park Circus catalogue with an article on the website and a page in their quarterly Booking guide for Programmers with full credit mentions.
The winner will also receive promotional support via Cinema Rediscovered channels, plus a pass and a travel bursary of up to £500 to attend next year’s edition of the festival.
Find out more on the Watershed website - find the link on our Creative Opportunities page 🔗
One week to apply for the Reclaim Scratch Night with @exeternorthcott | Applications close 10am, Wed 06 May
Exeter Northcott and Exeter Phoenix are inviting South West-based women-led theatre companies and performance artists to trial 20 minutes of new, women-led work in front of a live audience.
Scratch Night will take place on Wed 17 Jun, 7pm – 9pm at the Barnfield Theatre as part of Exeter Northcott’s Reclaim Festival.
Apply now via our Creative Opportunities page on our website.
