The collection is the outcome of many of years of close collaboration and mutual trust between the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie and the photographers whose work is shown at the festival. It now includes nearly 3,500 pictures ceded by over 470 photographers since 1976, when the practice was established of having each photographer participating in the festival donate one of his or her exhibited works for the collection.

The Rencontres d’Arles will celebrate its 50th anniversary in July 2019. To mark the occasion, the festival is asking the visitors, participants and witnesses of those 50 years of photography to share their memories and archives. Photographs, videos, sound recordings, digitalized documents (newspapers, posters, letters, etc.) and testimonies can be uploaded to a participatory platform.

Several hands-on workshops combine writing, the visual arts, photography, improvisation, reading, etc.