National Festival of Making

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A celebration of making from the kitchen table to the factory floor. 10th Anniversary Edition: 26th - 27th June 2027, Blackburn Town Centre, Lancashire.

The National Festival of Making weekend will return to Blackburn, Lancashire on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th of July 2025!

28/10/2026

VOTE FOR US at the UK Festival Awards! The National Festival of Making has been shortlisted in the ‘Arts & Culture Festival of the Year’ category.
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Every vote matters! Show your support by taking just a few seconds to vote - it's free and easy. If you’ve ever attended the National Festival of Making, been inspired by an artist, discovered a new skill or simply love what we do, head to the link below and cast your vote! Voting closes Tuesday 3rd November.

Vote now: https://tickets.festivalawards.com/ukfestivalawards2026/en/page/voting

26/10/2026

Art in Manufacturing: Open Call Opportunities Announced

The National Festival of Making invites applications for two paid artist residencies with manufacturers in Lancashire as part of Art in Manufacturing, its headline commissioning programme. Each residency offers the opportunity to develop new work through research and collaboration within a distinctive manufacturing setting.

The residencies will take place between January and June 2027, with completed work presented at the National Festival of Making in Blackburn on 25-27 June 2027, marking ten years since the festival’s founding.

Each residency has a commission budget of £8,000 covering artist fees and the making of the work, plus VAT where applicable, with an additional allowance of up to £600 towards travel and accommodation. Applications are welcome from UK and Ireland based artists and makers working in any art form, as individuals or collectives.

Residency Partners

Crown Paints, Darwen
Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK, Blackpool, in partnership with LeftCoast

Deadline for Applications: 23 November 2026.

Head to our website for full information and to download an application pack: https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/news/art-in-manufacturing-open-call-crown-paints-foxs-burtons-companies-uk/

Crown Paints UK Fox's Biscuits LeftCoast Arts Council England Discover Blackburn

23/10/2026

The National Festival of Making will return to Blackburn town centre on Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th June 2027 to celebrate ten years of the National Festival of Making, Art in Manufacturing and the CIC’s year round work.

This edition of the Festival marks ten years since our founding year in 2017. We're looking forward to celebrating the partnerships, collaborations, achievements and making programmes that hundreds of thousands of you have participated in and experienced over that time.

Festival regulars will notice the 2027 dates are a week earlier than our usual July weekend. This is due to the Tour de France rolling through Blackburn for Stage Two of its Grande Départ on Saturday 3rd July. The race will take in Lancashire’s rolling hills as it winds its way from Keswick to Liverpool and comes directly through the Borough.

The National Festival of Making will therefore open 10 days of culture and sport in Blackburn and Darwen, with a programme that brings together artistic commissions; performance; film; music, MAKING and MORE.
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To be the first to hear festival news and programme announcements, follow us and sign up to our newsletter. Sign up and find out more on our website: https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/festival/

Arts Council England Discover Blackburn Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

20/10/2026

Maker Spotlight: Diamond Awl

Festival favourites Diamond Awl returned this year with their ever-popular leather workshops, offering visitors the chance to try their hand at traditional leather craft. We caught up with founder Jason Stocks-Young between sessions to chat about the craft, the workshops, and what it means to share these traditional skills.

You can book full-day or weekend courses at their studio at Woodend Mill in Mossley. Find out more on their website: https://www.diamondawl.co.uk

Film by Liam Gharib-Eshghi.

Discover Blackburn Arts Council England Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

15/10/2026

Our performance programme celebrates making music, making noise and the joyful act of experiencing a live event together. Did you catch any of our live performances across the festival weekend this year?

Explore the festival gallery on our website, you might even spot yourself in the crowd!

👉 https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/about/films-gallery/2026-festival-weekend/

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13/10/2026

Conversations in Creativity: Penelope Payne, Elena Jackson & Gillian Berry in Conversation - Watch Now

On 7th August, Creative Lancashire in collaboration with the National Festival of Making and Haworth Art Gallery and Artist Studios hosted a Conversations in Creativity discussion with Elena Jackson, Co-Founder and Director of the National Festival of Making and Programme Curator of Art in Manufacturing, artist Penelope Payne and Gillian Berry, Arts & Heritage Manager at Haworth Art Gallery. This discussion explored the role of contemporary art in heritage settings and accompanied Payne’s work ‘Canon’ which following its premiere at the National Festival of Making as part of Art in Manufacturing, was exhibited at Haworth Art Gallery from 5th - 9th August.

Available to watch in full on YouTube, find out how Penelope's practice uses archives, sound and storytelling to uncover overlooked histories, giving voice to the lives, labour and experiences that have often remained unseen.

Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atlz-YqJ1T0

Cover photo by Robin Zahler.⁠ Video produced by Huckleberry Films.

‘Canon’ is a co-commission with Haworth Art Gallery and the National Festival of Making, commissioned as part of Art in Manufacturing.

Arts Council England Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Discover Blackburn Hyndburn Borough Council

10/10/2026

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair Returns

Our friends at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair return to Manchester’s stunning Victoria Baths from 15–18 October, bringing together over 200 of the UK’s most exciting contemporary makers.

Discover incredible ceramics, jewellery, textiles, glass, furniture and more, meet the people behind the work and shop directly from independent makers.

✨ There's plenty to get involved in too, with inspiring talks, live demonstrations and hands-on workshops celebrating creativity and craftsmanship.

From emerging talent to established names, it's a brilliant opportunity to discover new ideas, support makers and celebrate the power of making.

📍 Victoria Baths, Manchester
📅 15–18 October 2026
🎟️ Book your tickets: greatnorthernevents.co.uk

08/10/2026

Art & Industry at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery

Since its inception in 2016, the National Festival of Making’s Art in Manufacturing programme has commissioned over 40 artists to produce work in residency with more than 25 partner factories and spaces of making.

Artworks by two commissioned artists, Nicola Ellis and Hannah Leighton-Boyce, are now part of the collection at Blackburn Museum. These works are on display in the Museum’s first floor Contemporary Art Gallery until January 2027 as part of Art & Industry.

In addition to work by Ellis and Leighton-Boyce, the gallery is also displaying works from the collection by artist James Bloomfield, whose 2017 Art in Manufacturing residency with Darwen Terracotta paid tribute to the role of the craftsman. Also presented with Art and Industry are items from Darwen Terracotta’s archive collection, including a set of test piece vases from the 1930s.

Art and Industry is free to visit at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery until January 2027.

Read our blog post for more information: https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/news/art-industry-at-blackburn-museum-art-in-manufacturing-commissions-on-display/

Photos courtesy of Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery.

Arts Council England Discover Blackburn Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

06/10/2026

COBinet of Curiosities: Creatives of Blackburn Exhibition Opens

Creatives of Blackburn (COB) are a group of local artists, makers and creatives aged 18-35 supported by Blackburn Museum and the National Festival of Making. The group comes together to explore collaborative projects, take part in creative workshops, and enjoy a supportive social space.

In this exhibition at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, the group have brought together a selection of museum objects inspired by their personal interests to create a new collection of multi-disciplinary works that together re-imagine a traditional Cabinet of Curiosity.

From folklore to diving and fashion to clouds, the displays you find inside are reflections of the group members, their experiences and local communities.

Visit our website for more information: https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/news/cobinet-of-curiosities-creatives-of-blackburn-exhibition-opens/

Photos by Jasmine Wilkinson.

Arts Council England Discover Blackburn Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

01/10/2026

UN World Cotton Day is next Wednesday, 7th October. To mark this day, our friends at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester are hosting a day of activities delving into Manchester's global cotton story and the legacies that continue to shape the city today, including a panel discussion featuring Art in Manufacturing commissioned artist Liam Hopkins (Lazerian).

Daytime events include:

🚶Heritage walks

🧵 Live textiles demonstration

🪡 Hands-on workshops

💬Talks including Fashion as resistance, storytelling and legacy with Gavin Douglas, Programme Leader of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Technology programme and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead for the Manchester Fashion Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University.

🎤 An evening ‘In Conversation’ event:

Join Legacies of Enslavement Programme Manager Keisha Thompson, Vice Chancellor of University of Manchester Duncan Ivison, first black female Lord Mayor of Bristol Cleo Lake, co-founder of Black Creative Trailblazers Adeola Adelakun, and artist Liam Hopkins, to discuss how World Cotton Day can help us work together to understand and acknowledge our shared history. Explore the museum's Revolution Manchester gallery and Textile Gallery after hours, visit its pop-up events bar and enjoy a live DJ set from Chris Jam, as well as special demonstrations of historic textiles machines in action.

Find out more via the Museum’s website: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/world-cotton-day

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Blackburn

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https://linkin.bio/thefestivalofmaking

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