Festival of Making

Whether we’re planning for our year-round programme, annual festival or our commission residency opportunities, we’re always discussing future programming.

Not one part of the programme is curated in isolation, and we spend lots of time researching amazing local and national creatives that inspire us and who we are keen to connect and work with.

We also welcome introductions to freelancers, producers, event staff and creatives of all kinds to expand our connections.

Please read on to see ways you can share your work with us.

Everything You Need to Know

Do you run open calls?

When appropriate, we sometimes recruit for workshops, performances, commissions and more through open calls. If we run an open call, we share it on our newsletter, news page, social media, ArtsJobs and through as many local partner networks as we can access.

If an artist’s idea is not taken forward, but we like their proposal, we will ask if we can keep their details on file for future opportunities. This is one of the reasons why we don’t run open calls for every opportunity. We always check back through our database and see if past submissions can be taken forward when we have new space in our programme.

We also understand the time and resources it takes for artists to keep making applications, and so we carefully consider when to release new open calls, putting new artists on our radar and reaching people we may not find through our own creative research.

Can I share an idea with you?

Of course you can! We always welcome being introduced to new practices and hearing creative ideas. Sometimes it may take a bit of time for us to get back to you as we receive lots of emails and communications of this nature, but we consider every idea we receive and if we feel a project proposal / workshop / performance might be right for us, we’ll get in touch with you to discuss next steps.

Please send us a couple of lines about yourself/the idea, and any visual examples of similar work or links to websites/social media.

How do I apply for Art in Manufacturing?

For Art in Manufacturing, the Festival’s headline commissioning programme, we select artists in a number of ways:

– We might invite artists/makers to send us proposals or to meet with us as a result of our own research.

– We also spend time looking through applications received from previous open calls or introductions received through email.

– Sometimes we release new open calls for specific opportunities. This often depends on which manufacturers are able to host a residency in a given year.

Where possible, the manufacturer also has input in the artist or discipline selected, and this influences the approach. If we don’t currently have any open opportunities on our news page, please feel free to share your practice with us through the method above.

If you subscribe to our newsletter you will always receive new open calls in your inbox.

How can we collaborate as a manufacturer?

We champion manufacturing – Blackburn with Darwen has a much larger proportion of the population working in making and manufacturing than the rest of the UK. We’re always interested in connecting with manufacturers in the North and further afield, particularly through our headline commissioning programme, Art in Manufacturing. If you’d like to have a chat with us, please drop us an email, and we’ll arrange a conversation.

How do I trade at the Festival?

We love working with amazing food producers, street food traders and makers selling handmade goods! A highlight for our audiences is coming to the different markets at the Festival and trying new things, or purchasing thoughtful gifts. If you want to register your interest in the Festival, please fill in this form, and someone will be in touch.

Street food trader application

Taste Lancashire application

How do I volunteer?

It wouldn’t be possible to run the National Festival of Making’s annual festival without the support of our fantastic volunteers. Every single volunteer helps make these events what they are by getting involved and supporting our work. From information helpers to workshop assistants, there are many roles to suit all interests.

Can I become part of the team?

We’re a small, dynamic team made up of permanent and freelance staff. Our office is based in Blackburn town centre with our team members based in Blackburn, Lancashire and the North West. We don’t currently have any open opportunities to join our team, however if you’d like to introduce yourself, please drop us an email, and we will be able to keep you in mind if future opportunities do come up.

Around the busy Festival period, we’re often on the lookout for local, passionate people to support with invigilation, facilitation or event assistant support. If that sounds like you, drop us a line, and we might be in contact nearer to the Festival!

National Festival of Making is truly one of a kind. It reminds us of who we are, what we can do together and the importance of a collective strength through making.

Festival Artist

At times, Hannah’s ‘outside the manufacturing box’ thinking has encouraged our team to think differently and view problems differently, in order to help us resolve production issues in a different way.

Elliot Jones, Site Operations Director, Darwen Terracotta

Work With Us