Mid Pennine Arts

11/06/2026

Well we didn’t win at the Music Cities Awards 2026 tonight for the Singing Ringing Tree as an amazing project from South Africa beat us to the Music-Led Placemaking Award. They were extremely worthy winners. Culture Burnley

11/06/2026

Tonight we’ll be attending the global Music Cities Awards 2026 at Hull Minster where Singing Ringing Tree is a finalist in the Music-Led Placemaking category. We’re up against stiff competition so keep your fingers crossed! Culture Burnley

09/06/2026

FREE - An Introduction to Arts Funding for Music People and Projects courtesy of Culture Burnley. See booking link in information below.

Got a music project in the pipeline or a music career to develop? Learn how to access the funding and support you need to turn your ideas into reality.

Join the Lancashire Music Association and Arts Lancashire for An Introduction to Arts Funding for Music People and Projects - an informative in-person session at Burnley Mechanics Theatre
on 16 July and get practical guidance and insights from leading arts funders.

Discover funding opportunities including:

ACE National Lottery Project Grants
ACE National Lottery Developing Your Creative Practice
ACE Grass Roots Music Fund
PRS Foundation Early Career Promoters Fund
PRS Foundation The Open Fund for Music Creators
PRS Foundation Women Make Music
Whether you're a musician, DJ, producer, promoter, venue operator, or music industry professional, this session will help you better understand the funding landscape and how to develop successful applications.

For more details and to book your free place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-arts-funding-for-music-people-projects-tickets-1991269054345

Image credit: Michael Porter

05/06/2026

Artists - Super Slow Way could be looking for you!

We’re seeking artists of any discipline to work with local residents over the course of a year to help nurture connections between them and the natural world found along the canal corridor.

We are looking for three separate practices to work in three places along the stretch - in Pendle, Burnley and Hyndburn. Super Slow Way has been working with communities in these places over the past ten years and has formed strong relationships with people who are passionate about where they live and eager to understand and develop the natural assets along the canal on their doorsteps. Many of these disused green spaces are sites of former cotton mills that were demolished at the end of the last century and carry that history.

For more information and the full application process and requirements, please visithttps://superslowway.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SSW-Residencies-2627.pdf 🔗

• Application deadline: 5pm, Friday 26th June 2026

• Interviews: Week of 13th July - exact dates TBC

• Projects to take place between: September 2026 - Sept 2027

📧 Please email applications to [email protected] by 5pm, Friday 26th June 2026

19/05/2026

PERFORMER CALLOUT🤩
Deadline 3rd June‼️

It’s that time again where we are looking for performers for our next Open Mic Night. If you have an act you’d like to share (a monologue, magic, a poem etc) then follow the link in our bio to fill out the call out form.

18/05/2026

We are so proud of our Creative Director, Nick Hunt and what he has achieved over the last 35 years. It was wonderful to see him recognised for that at the Culture Burnley Awards with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a little shocked by the surprise, but did well to gather himself and talk about the exciting things coming up for MPA and Burnley.

08/05/2026

Burnley Canal Festival takes a 2026 break before a bumper event for 2027 Year of Culture.

We are taking a break in 2026, so the festival will not take place this August Bank Holiday weekend. Instead, the Festival partners are focussing all their efforts on ambitious plans for an expanded event for Burnley 2027 Year of Culture.

BCF has grown year on year, attracting an estimated 5,000 annual visitors, and has won multiple local and national awards. Burnley 2027 Year of Culture will be a huge, twelve month celebration of art, heritage and culture in all its forms. The much-loved Canal Festival will be a key event in the Year of Culture calendar, and so we are planning a bumper event .

Co-producers Mid Pennine Arts and Super Slow Way have ambitious plans to grow the festival for 2027 and beyond with future editions of the festival extending to additional canal side heritage sites, working with an expanded group of Festival partners, stakeholders and event sponsors to support the event. BCF 2027 will return on its regular date at August Bank Holiday, but bursting out of its familiar footprint!

Meanwhile at the current Festival base at Finsley Gate Wharf there will be activities through summer 2026 organised by Super Slow Way and Culture Burnley with hosts Finsley Gate Wharf Ltd. Look out for details of those on this page.

08/05/2026

Burnley Canal Festival takes a 2026 break before a bumper event for 2027 Year of Culture.

BCF is taking a break in 2026, so the festival will not take place this August Bank Holiday weekend. Instead, the Festival partners are focussing all their efforts on ambitious plans for an expanded event for Burnley 2027 Year of Culture.

BCF has grown year on year, attracting an estimated 5,000 annual visitors, and has won multiple local and national awards. Burnley 2027 Year of Culture will be a huge, twelve month celebration of art, heritage and culture in all its forms. The much-loved Canal Festival will be a key event in the Year of Culture calendar, and so we are planning a bumper event.

Co-producers Mid Pennine Arts and Super Slow Way have ambitious plans to grow the festival for 2027 and beyond with future editions of the festival extending to additional canal side heritage sites, working with an expanded group of Festival partners, stakeholders and event sponsors to support the event. BCF 2027 will return on its regular date at August Bank Holiday, but bursting out of its familiar footprint!

Meanwhile at the current Festival base at Finsley Gate Wharf there will be activities through summer 2026 organised by Super Slow Way and Culture Burnley with hosts Finsley Gate Wharf Ltd. Look out for details of those on the Burnley Canal Festival page.