The ISSP International Masterclass is a year-long international mentorship programme for emerging photographers. The programme is practice-based and runs in two classes mentored by experienced tutors - the best of the best of our 13-year long ISSP experience. During the year, 24 selected participants (12 in each class) develop their long-term projects with the guidance and critique of the mentors and support of the international group of peers. The participants meet in three physical workshop sessions in Lithuania, Sicily and Latvia, with regular online feedback in between. See programme for more details. 

The programme is designed for graduates from academic programmes and self-taught photographers alike - anyone wishing to pursue an extended personal project and take their practice to the next level. The Masterclass is a next step in a serious career in photography, offering the participants regular mentoring, networking and international exposure opportunities and a functional support structure for developing a conceptually strong body of work. 

The International Masterclass is organised by ISSP, a non-commercial education and networking platform for emerging photographers. The programme builds on our experience running the International Summer School of Photography and a number of other education and exchange programmes since 2006. The sessions in Kuldīga are supported by Kuldīga municipality; the session in Sicily is organised in partnership with Minimum.

Three cycles of the programme have been completed so far: 2015/2016, with Aaron Schuman and Yuri Kozyrev & Andrei Polikanov, 2016/2017, with Simon Norfolk and Phil Toledano and 2018/2019, with Peter Bialobrzeski and Gordon MacDonald & Clare Strand - see Alumni & works for the resulting work. The 2019/2020 Masterclass with Jason Fulford and Lisa Barnard will started in October 2019 and will be comleted in June 2022 (prolonged due to pandemic). 

The next cycle of the ISSP International Masterclass will be announced in the end of 2022 and start in Spring 2023.

For Masterclass' events and exhibitions, photo documentation of the sessions and events, as well as the updates on the participants' works, please see our Facebook page.