With preparations for the Samhuinn Fire Festival beginning, it’s time to invite you to submit your beautiful artwork for consideration for the Samhuinn 2014 poster. The chosen submission will be on posters and flyers all over Edinburgh and will also be used in our online promotion and press advertising in the run-up to the festival. ALL members of BFS are welcome to submit their creations and if you have any arty friends who think could make something amazing for us, feel free to pass this information on to them.

THE STORY
Samhuinn is a time of the changing of the seasons, of the battle between summer and winter and of the Celtic new year – a time when the veil draws thin and the spirits draw closer to us.

Our Samhuinn festival has its roots in medieval street theatre, the traditions of all Hallow’s Eve. The Summer and Winter Kings battle for control of the seasons, overseen by the Cailleach, whose grief and sorrow at the death of summer brings forth the darkness and storms of winter. It is a time for celebration, summers ‘last gasp’ of opulent decadence, but also a time of icy bleakness – the finality of winter’s arrival and the hard months ahead.

Our event is a community celebration of this changing of the seasons – and our poster should appeal to the wider community in Edinburgh and beyond. It should reflect the story and characters highlighted above to appeal to draw in those who know the Samhuinn story, but also attract those who are newcomers to our festivals.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
– Because of the need to print a large poster from the chosen design, it’s advisable not to submit something which you only have a tiny copy of. A postcard-sized painting is never going to look great printed to A2 size, even with a fantastically good scan or photo taken of it.

– When printing posters and flyers, a bleed edge is required. This is the part of the image at the edge which shouldn’t contain any important details. The exact size of the bleed edge varies between printing services, so to be on the safe side please keep any important details at least 2 cms from each edge. If you’re having difficulty with this, don’t worry – we can help you with it or add a border if required.

– Please ensure that all files are in CMYK colour format, NOT RGB!

– Wherein possible saving the file as a vector graphic is preferable as it will scale better an be easier to work with if changes are needed before sending to print.

– Information in the form of text, as well as a BFS logo, will need to be added to the finished design. Although the placement of this depends on the design that we choose to use, it’s worth bearing in mind when creating your submission.

– You are welcome to include the text Samhuinn 2014 in your submission if you feel that your submission would benefit from having the text in a similar style to the rest of the artwork, but this isn’t necessary or essential.

– Don’t forget to sign your artwork! We appreciate that you’re offering your creations on a voluntary basis, so we’d like you to have your signature on there somewhere.

SENDING YOUR SUBMISSION
– The final design will be chosen by online vote, so please send us a small version of your artwork (1000px wide is fine) as a level 8 jpg file which we can display online.

– You can submit more than one design if you like, but please submit each only once! There is no need to send a draft or sketch first, and there’s no advantage to submitting early. If it takes you right up until the deadline to complete your work, then please take that time. All submissions will be posted for voting at the same time in August.

– Due to strict time constraints based on printing and distribution requirements, it will not be possible to accept unfinished artwork with an “it will be done by [insert date here]” promise, and late entries will not be able to be accepted.

– EMAIL your submission to festival@beltane.org

– THE DEADLINE IS SATURDAY THE 16TH OF AUGUST 2014

If you need some inspiration, feast your eyes on previous years’ artwork…