Open Studio events provide popular and thriving opportunities for people to meet artists with their work.

Events come in a growing number of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's a few artists in a neighbourhood who open their homes and their studios and invite people in. Other events may offer a tour and several routes to cover a whole county or region. In other places it might be a fair or a gathering, away from the traditional gallery setting.

Together, they reveal the diversity of techniques, media, scale and approaches that characterise contemporary art in England.

England's far north is sparcely populated but home to a large number of artists creating a wide spectrum of product, for corporate, public and domestic settings.

Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire share a similar spectrum, contributing to the local distinctiveness of its region.

The Midlands has an emerging and developing market, with increasing numbers of artists and craftspeople participating in open arts events.

Artists and their work are an important aspect of regeneration in Bristol, the West Country & the counties bordering the Welsh Marches.

The Home Counties and the Thames Valley has the greatest concentration of open art events, creating an impressive annual turnover of sales of original work.

In fact, the sales potential from open art events for individual artists, and the cultural tourism that they promote, are becoming an increasingly important factor to England's regional economies.