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.
For further information, please download the full application pack here:
Application Pack
Application Pack (Plain Text Version)
Lancashire Residency Partners
Crown Paints, Darwen
Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK, Blackpool, in partnership with LeftCoast.
Artistic Invitation
Art in Manufacturing invites artists to develop ambitious, contemporary work through encounters with manufacturers and spaces of making. Working alongside skilled workforces, artists can explore materials, processes and lived experiences, opening up unexpected connections and revealing perspectives that are often unseen. With curatorial and producing support, we encourage artists to experiment, take creative risks and extend their practice. We welcome outcomes that may be playful, beautiful, humorous and complex, and which create meaningful opportunities for diverse audiences to encounter contemporary work.
The commissioned artist is invited to spend time in the factory, getting to know the workforce and gaining an understanding of material, process and expertise.
As part of the residency, you will have the possibility of access to materials and/or production hours provided by the manufacturer – the scope of this support is to be agreed between the manufacturer, producing team and artist during the residency period.
Exhibition and Presentation
Resulting artworks are presented as part of the National Festival of Making’s programme in venues from Blackburn’s grandest, historic spaces to repurposed town centre shops and public realm spaces. In-situ talks with commissioned artists take the shape of informal In-Conversation discussions and provide insight into the residency experience, along with workshops inspired by and complementing new works.
The festival weekend is a joyful and exploratory gathering where families try a skill for the first time, established makers work with artisan crafters, music and performance is enjoyed across the town centre, thousands of people make things with their hands, and audiences experience new and contemporary work in spaces previously unknown to them.
Art in Manufacturing residencies often cultivate unexpected and diverse outcomes and you can explore all previous artistic outcomes from across the residency programme here.
How to Apply: Please submit your expression of interest to applications@festivalofmaking.co.uk
Deadline: 23 November 2026 at 12 noon.
Interviews will take place on 9 – 14 December 2026. You will be notified if you have been selected for an interview no later than 2 December 2026.
