How important are final-year shows? For the students who’ve just graduated, the answer is easy – they’re all-important. But with students spending up to £1000 on their graduation exhibitions, on top of debts that often exceed £20,000, some are starting to question their worth.

The Level 3 students on the BA Photography Course at University College Falmouth opted not to do a final show in London this year, for example, instead requesting a two-day portfolio review for the entire year group. “We gave them the choice and 80% were in favour of the review,” says course leader Steven Tynan.

“Final shows are great celebrations for students and colleges, great PR for the colleges themselves, and great for the small number of students who get contracts or commissions out of it,” he adds. “But by doing a review we can guarantee that all of the students will have their work seen by 10-12 professionals in the industry.

“Getting their work seen is one of the biggest challenges for young graduates. When I left college you could go and see Neville Brody [the legendary art director behind The Face and Arena]. Now they have as much chance of finding Lord Lucan as talking to an art director.”

As Tynan points out, having a London show is particularly pricey for students based in the far west of the country – showing work at the Freerange cluster of shows in East London would have cost the Falmouth group around £10,000, which the students have to raise themselves. It’s a hefty investment when there’s no guarantee of getting any feedback, and that’s not including train tickets and hotel costs.

And, as Tynan adds, the internet has taken some of the impetus out of student shows, because it provides them with a forum to get the work out there at a fraction of the traditional cost. The Falmouth photography students have set up a website devoted to their show, www.sunsetmix.co.uk as well as the traditional printed catalogue. They haven’t completely abandoned the final show – they’re running one in Falmouth instead – but it’s fair to say they’ve given the format a thorough once over.

Conrad Tracy, course leader of the Commercial Photography course at the Arts University College at Bournemouth, has some sympathy with their stance. “A BA in commercial photography is a different journey through photography than a more arts-based course,” he points out. “Our students deal with the printed page in fashion, editorial or portraiture, so there’s less emphasis on how the work appears in a gallery context. We put lots of emphasis on the students’ portfolios, which have a different relationship to the audience.”

Flying solo
His students didn’t give up on the final show this year either, but they did produce an interesting take on it. Rather than joining Freerange, they opted to go it alone and, not only that, to break into two smaller groups – one show, dubbed Debut, going on show at London’s Proud Gallery, the other, dubbed Iris, appearing at the Maverik Showroom in East London. By doing so they may get fewer visitors, but they hope to get more time with them. Interestingly, Iris has effaced all reference to final shows on its website, instead dubbing it “a photography showcase of up and coming creative young British photographers”.

Tracy’s comments suggest that final year shows work best for art photographers, but Julian Lass, who graduated from the London College of Communications at the start of the year, doesn’t think so. He studied for an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, and says the final show simply helped round off the course. “For me, it was to get my project focused, to reach a stage where it can be put on display, to be proud of it and celebrate the year with friends, family and classmates,” he says. “The most important thing for me was the chance to do something different to what I would normally do, to challenge myself in new ways, to get out of my comfort zone. All the rest, I felt, and still feel, will fall into place later.”

But he adds that many others on the course were concerned with who would see the work – “getting the ‘right’ people to come, presenting the ‘right’ image” – and for Celeste Hibbert, who’s currently graduating from Central Saint Martins’ photography course, that’s also essential. For her, putting together the final show is key to setting up shop as an art photographer. “Before this course, all my work had been displayed digitally, so to curate, promote and organise a final show will help me prepare for a professional gallery once graduated,” she says.

“Obviously, another important aspect of the show is having a platform to get your work seen. Central Saint Martins has a list of VIPs that visit the show every year and buy some of the work, and a dedicated business department that helps with selling it. This is a huge opportunity that would not have been possible without a show.”

Plus, as she points out, Saint Martins also has a central London gallery space – as does LCC – making exhibiting in the capital easier and more affordable. Even so, both colleges are also making the most of the opportunities that the internet offers, with the Saint Martins students creating a website for their final show and the LCC doing the same, plus a Flickr group and Youtube and Twitter pages. Photography students are taking an increasingly business-like approach to final shows, it seems, as well they might in an increasingly tough economy.

Final year shows
Arts University College at Bournemouth – Debut
Arts University College at Bournemouth – Iris www.iris2010.com
Central Saint Martins www.csmphoto2010.com
Freerange www.free-range.org.uk
London College of Communication (Summer show) www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/poweroften
University College Falmouth www.sunsetmix.co.uk