Kitchen Tables: Workshop Open Call
12th March 2025
In 2024 we introduced Kitchen Tables, a new festival venue to spotlight the making that happens in our homes.
In 2025, it will return with a variety of workshops focused on the many creative ways we use our kitchen tables. We want to hear from artists and makers who would like to deliver festival workshops in this space, with a practice that connects to the kitchen table, in whatever form that takes for you.
Key Details:
- Dates: 5th and/or 6th July 2024
- Times: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Open to: Artists/Makers of all career levels
- Budget: £400-500 per day, to include fees and materials
- Deadline for applications: 3rd April, 9:00 am
About Kitchen Tables
A kitchen table is more than a dining space, it’s a place we gather, work and make – often messy, always busy, a site of creativity. Doubling up as a school desk and an artist studio, the kitchen table is also a place for mixing and folding spices and dough.
Our dining spaces might not even involve a table, with meals enjoyed on mats, trays, cushions or knees. Perhaps the table is so cluttered from daily life, we’re balancing food on books and magazines.
Kitchen Tables is a celebration of these spaces, through the eyes of artists and makers, inviting you to take a seat and explore the making that happens in our homes.
The Workshop Brief:
In 2025, Kitchen Tables will return to the Festival and we’re looking for artists and makers to deliver workshops in response to the question ‘What do you do at your kitchen table?’, whatever your interpretation of that space is.
We welcome responses from artists and makers working in any artform – as long as you connect your making practice to the table and home. We’re particularly looking for contemporary and creative responses that celebrate the versatility of our kitchen tables/dining spaces as sites of making.
Workshops in this space will be:
- Between 20 mins – 1 hour long.
- For between 6-10 participants at once.
- Accessed by audiences through a ‘sign-up-on-the-day’ format. e.g. participants doing your workshop will put their name down for a particular time slot at a sign-up desk in the workshop venue.
- Suitable for ages 12+.
In 2024, workshops included:
- Monoprinting with Liz Clough
- Henna with Samina Hussain
- Fermenting with From Anjee’s Garden
- Fake Cake Decorating with Fawziyah Raja
- Crochet with Rachel Mills
- A sound workshop with LICK Collective
Practical Information & Budget
£400-500 per day to include artist fees and all materials. Depending on your availability and our own programming schedule, some workshops may be scheduled for only 1 day of the Festival.
A risk assessment and proof of Public Liability Insurance of £5m will be required 4 weeks before the festival.
We welcome applications from both established and emerging artists and makers and will support artists with exciting workshop ideas to make their ideas feasible where possible.
How to Apply
We aim to avoid the necessity for artists and makers to provide extensive information. As part of the open call we request:
- A brief outline of your workshop idea, clearly linking it to the Kitchen Table theme
- Practical information including length of workshop and any requirements, e.g. power
- Any previous experience delivering workshops
- Relevant images or links to your work, e.g. Instagram/website.
- A breakdown of your budget and material costs. Which we expect to be in the region of £400 to £500 per day inclusive of both fee and material.
- Availability for the Festival dates of 5th & 6th July
Deadline for applications: 3rd April, 9:00 AM
We will be in touch regarding your application 3 weeks after the deadline.
Get in touch with us if you have any questions regarding this opportunity. If you would like the application information in a different format, or to discuss alternative ways to submit an application, please email applications@festivalofmaking.co.uk. We are open to many alternative ways to submit including video/audio recordings of workshop outlines.
Festival of Making CIC’s aim is that our workforce, contributors and partners are representative of the diverse society we live in and that each individual feels respected, supported and able to give their best. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities and welcome discussions about specific individual requirements. Please contact us on the details above, or by emailing Daisy on daisy@decopublique.co.uk
About the National Festival of Making
National Festival of Making is a unique celebration of making, from the kitchen table to the factory floor. Presenting a programme of work that combines art, manufacturing, making and communities, we commission artists to create world class works, a year round programme and a participatory free family festival for all to enjoy. During the Festival Weekend, we fill the streets of Blackburn with free participatory making opportunities, workshops, performances, talks, exhibitions, makers markets and more.
