Creative, Digital & IT (CDIT) Open Studios is back for 2015, and submissions are officially open for Wired Sussex member companies to participate!
For 4 days this September, as a part of Brighton Digital Festival 2015, Brighton-based companies are invited to open their doors as part of Creative, Digital & IT (CDIT) Open Studios week.
Whether you’re a small agency, just starting out or a large well established organisation, we’d like you to take part.
What is Creative, Digital & IT (CDIT) Open Studios?
Simply put, its 4 days of short events whereby Wired Sussex member companies create and host their own events under the umbrella of Wired Sussex CDIT Open Studios week.
CDIT Open Studios presents a unique opportunity for the public, students, graduates and peers to find out what goes on behind the scenes at some of Brighton’s most innovative creative, digital & IT companies.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase what you can do in a creative and engaging way, by offering taster workshops or training sessions; sharing knowledge and ideas; even collaborating with other members to run a joint event.
When is it?
The first 4 days of September 2015: Tuesday 1st – Friday 4th.
Why should you take part?
1. It’s an excuse to celebrate all things digital
(NixonMcInnes, CDIT Open Studios 2014. Photo by www.lighttrick.co.uk)
It’s a great opportunity to be part of Brighton Digital Festival 2015 – a month-long celebration of digital culture running throughout Brighton & Hove every September. The festival provides an exciting platform for a community led programme and last year alone, featured over 150 events with a combined audience of over 45,000 people.
2. It gets your name out there
(Ribot, CDIT Open Studios 2014. Photo by www.lighttrick.co.uk)
If you’re looking to raise your company’s profile in the Brighton and beyond, taking part in CDIT Open Studios is a great way to increase your local exposure and get noticed:
The #BDFOpenStudios hashtag had almost 400 tweets and a reach of 239,000 people during Open Studios week last year alone. You can see some highlights on this Storify.
Additionally, your company logo will be on our marketing materials including flyers and posters, and will be listed on the Wired Sussex events calendar and Open Studios website.
If you get your event information submitted by 8th July you’ll also have an individual event listing in the Brighton Digital Festival website as well as the printed programme, which has a distribution of 47,000 copies around Brighton & Hove and wider Sussex.
3. It helps you make new connections
(Tilt, CDIT Open Studios 2014. Photo by www.lighttrick.co.uk)
What better way than to do so than opening your doors up to show them exactly who you are, where you work, and what you do? Share information with peers and others in the industry, meet new talented graduates and students, or just show off your awesome work space to whoever wants to see it.
4. It’s free and easy
(Clearleft, CDIT Open Studios 2014. Photo by www.lighttrick.co.uk)
It’s totally free to take part and also a free and open brief, which you organise in-house. We have a few event guidelines, but outside of that it’s completely up to you what type and scale of event you organise. To give you an idea of previous years, we have seen talks, taster workshops, hacks, BBQs, training sessions and ping pong tournaments.
5. We’ll help you
(Propellernet, CDIT Open Studios 2014. Photo by www.lighttrick.co.uk)
Aside from helping with promotion, we’ll be on-hand to offer advice on anything you need to organise your event. You can ask us any questions about CDIT Open Studios by emailing info@wiredsussex.com, calling us on 01273692888, or coming along to one of our drop-in advice sessions:
Tuesday 9th June – Sign up here
Tuesday 23rd June – Sign up here
Tuesday 28th July – Sign up here
How do you get involved?
If you’re interested in taking part make sure to download a copy of our Event Guidelines which will give you a breakdown or everything you need to prepare and when you’ll need to do it by.
Once you’ve got your event locked-down you can submit it via this Google Form.
And of course, if you have any questions at any point, feel free to get in contact.
Curious about previous CDIT Open Studios?
See the photos from last year.
Read the Storify for CDIT Open Studios 2014.