Work with us: Poster Artist
Job Title: Poster Artist
Location: Home working plus in-person meetings in Leith (North Edinburgh)
Fee: £1350 (£550 per completed design package, one for each festival and £125 per festival for the creation of supporting media including the programme).
Terms: Self-employed freelance.
Reporting to: Festival Coordinator, Press and Comms Coordinator and Board of Trustees.
Submission materials: Submit either a finished poster design, OR a portfolio of your work with a thumbnail sketch for a poster design.
Deadline: Submission deadline of Friday 16th of January 2026 at 12:00 midday.
SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK/APPLY FOR THE POSITION
Poster Artist – Job Description and Details (PDF)
Within the BFS we like to acknowledge the restful hibernation of winter whilst we begin to prepare for our next festival – Beltane Fire Festival 2026. Winter can be a difficult season for many but it can also be a time of incubation and creativity. We take time to gather ideas and dreams of the seasons to come, as the wheel turns and we head slowly towards midwinter and then spring.
As part of these preparations, we invite you, artists, to submit your beautiful artwork for the chance to feature in the festival’s promotional material and become the BFS’s Poster Artist.
The chosen artist will design all promotional material in the run up to the Beltane Fire Festival (30th April) and later for the Samhuinn Fire Festival (31st October), which will be featured in our online promotion, press advertising and print distribution for the event(s). Anyone is welcome to enter, so if you have talented friends please feel free to pass this on to them!
For a full list of Artwork Requirements, Technical Parameters, Print Deadlines and Submission – see the job posting
ARTWORK REQUIRED
There are two ways to apply. You can submit a selection of your artwork as a portfolio to give an impression of your artistic style, with a thumbnail sketch for a poster design, so that we can see your ideas. Or you can submit a final poster design for Beltane Fire Festival 2026. Both are welcome, and a selection committee will decide on the final artist in residence for this year’s festivals, but please beware of the Print Deadlines below.
For each festival, you will be expected to create a main design for the poster and flyer in portrait format, using a coherent style and colour scheme to keep a uniform look. You will work with BFS Coordinators to help with the design and layout of the festival programme which will be a downloadable digital PDF for festival attendees of 10-15 pages. Copy will be provided for you close to the festival day and this can be a tight turnaround so please in factor time for this towards the festival days.
You should include all of the text and social media elements in your design (templates for these will be provided). We greatly appreciate designs that have the festival title beautifully typeset or hand-lettered, and have all the additional text inserted. However, submissions will be considered on the basis of the artwork and layout first of all.
Everything in your submission (apart from the downloadable elements we provide) must be your own work, or created with elements that you have permission to use. If you use any stock imagery or photography, free or purchased, you must be able to provide evidence of legitimate sources. Please check the relevant licensing for any fonts that you use, and be able to provide this information if asked. Although BFS is a charity, it is also a registered company, so please only use fonts that are licensed for commercial use to be on the safe side. If your work is chosen, we may need you to send any font files you’ve used in the final submission, in order to finalise the text.
We will accept submissions from pairs or groups of artists/designers. For example, if you’re an amazing illustrator and you have a friend who is great at layouts, feel free to work together and submit under both your names.
Don’t forget to sign your final artwork.
TECHNICAL PARAMETERS
We send the design to be printed on large format posters, so please check that you can meet the technical requirements, or source help to meet them, before embarking on the design path.
You will be expected to provide various ratios of your designs for digital use (Instagram, website, social media banner).
It would be helpful if you can submit various elements which could be used for different purposes, but this is not essential. (for example, vectorised text, or elements from the design)
Remember to leave any text or important visual elements at least 4mm bleed from the edges, for printing safety.
Please ensure that all files are in CMYK colour format, not RGB.
The final artwork should be laid out for both of the following print formats:
4 SHEET – 762mm (h) x 508mm 
+ 4mm bleed, 300ppi
A2 – 594 mm (h) x 420mm + 3mm bleed, 300ppi
PRINT DEADLINES
In order to be considered you must meet the submission deadline of 16th January, 12.00 midday. If you have submitted a finished poster, we may require some additional edits before the print deadline. The following deadlines represent the latest that all edits/final designs must be completed by in order to get the posters printed and distributed, for the two festivals.
Beltane Poster Print Deadline – Friday 20th February 2026
Samhuinn Poster Print Deadline – Friday 5th August 2026
ABOUT ARTWORK OWNERSHIP
As the creator of your artwork, YOU own it, and by submitting it for the festivals are granting BFS license (if selected) to keep it in digital and physical archives, and to use it in promotional activities, merchandise, online and offline, globally and in perpetuity.
Should you wish to, you are welcome to sell prints and products featuring the artwork without any of the provided text, BFS branding or elements included in the downloadable design pack.
ABOUT SELECTION OF FINAL ARTWORK
Once all submissions have been received, a panel of Trustees, Blues and Community Organisers will create a shortlist of entries, and select a final artist for the two festivals. Criteria for selection will include quality of artwork, suitability as a representation of the festival and Beltane Fire Society, appeal to potential attendees, and clarity of presentation of information/legibility.
Entrants will be informed by email as to whether or not they have been successful, aiming to get back to candidates on the 23rd of January or close to this date. We are hugely grateful to all those who put in the time and creativity it takes to submit a poster design. Thank you!
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Our posters and flyers should appeal to the wider community in Edinburgh and abroad. It should reflect aspects of the story, performances and characters highlighted above, to draw in those who know the Beltane story but also to attract newcomers to our festival.
THE STORY OF BELTANE
The concept of the Beltane Fire Festival originates from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic pre-Christian festival of the same name. The title “Beltane” is derived from a Gaelic Celtic word meaning “bright and sacred fire”. Originally, the Beltane festival was held to mark and celebrate the blossoming of Summer and was thought to have been held on the first full moon after the 1st May.
At dusk on April 30th, torches are set aflame and the pounding of drums fills the air. A magical procession around Calton Hill sets off, led by the May Queen and her court, who encounter a cavalcade of fantastical creatures portrayed by painted and costumed performers and acrobats. The Green Man makes his own journey across the hill, finally being killed by the May Queen, stripped of his Winter guise and resurrected in a dramatic ritual performance, before the lighting of the traditional Beltane bonfire, a ritual to harbour in the Summer.
Beltane is a time for celebration, revelry, fertility, new beginnings and, of course, FIRE! Think along the themes of brightness, freshness, emergence, new life and growth.
THE STORY OF SAMHUINN
Counterbalancing our sister event on Calton Hill, Beltane Fire Festival, Samhuinn Fire Festival marks the transition from Summer to Winter with our characteristic mix of fire-play, drumming, and immersive performances. Our Society has often celebrated the other quarter-day festivals, and after the large success of our namesake (Beltane), Samhuinn was our next public event in Scotland, first taking place in 1995.
Samhuinn Fire Festival is a modern re-imagining of an ancient Celtic festival, marking the darkened end of summer and upcoming rise of winter. The story follows the overthrowing of Summer by Winter, with a dramatic stand-off between the Summer and Winter Kings. This is overseen by the Cailleach, a Celtic representation of the Goddess, or Divine Hag, who ultimately decides each King’s fate and ushers in the looming, colder months.
The transformation from Summer to Winter is supported by the energies and interactions of the Summer and Winter courts through fiery performance, music and dance. The narrative focuses on resolving seasonal conflict, but also highlights the transition that many aspects of life embark on during the changing of the seasons.
Beltane Fire Society 