2024 Festival Dates: 6 & 7 July

2019 Talks Programme

Join some of the most recognisable names in fashion, design, art and industry in a series of free talks and panel discussions, curated by Creative Lancashire, at The National Festival of Making.

The Festival’s Talks programme is a rare opportunity for professional creatives, students, enthusiasts and the curious to learn more about the challenges, histories and future potential of making industries in their most diverse forms from those helping to shape them.

All talks and panel discussions are free to attend, but due to limited capacity, booking is advised to guarantee your place.

 

Download the full talks programme here.

Friday 14 June

Round Table: Women in STEAM

This round table invites diverse perspectives from women working in STEAM and related industries, exploring the questions around barriers and challenges facing women in these professions and in turn, how to inspire better equality in the industry.

With: Phillipa Glover (CNC Robotics) Helen Heggie (STEMFirst), Louise Gardiner (Darwen Terracotta), Daksha Patel (AiM Artist).

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

Round Table: Why Creativity & Making Matters

As creativity becomes ever more important in the ability to succeed in both life and in many professions, this importance is devastatingly marginalised, reflected in the ever decreasing budgets in education. This session looks to new ideas for tackling this crisis, and will be exploring ways to establish advocacy for a high quality, relevant arts curriculum.

 

With: Darren Henley OBE ( Chief Executive, Arts Council EnglandACE), Sarah Gregory (Creative Industries Federation), Lucy Kennedy (National Sat Club), Daniel Charny (Fixperts)

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

Round Table: The Arts & The Possible

This discussion considers the exciting ideas emerging from the likes of AIM, and similar artistic interventions and other ‘Createch’ endeavours, where technology connects with creativity to produce new activities and products.

 

With: John Wilson (Darwen Terracotta), Adele Orcajada (MaterialDriven), Nicola Ellis (AiM Artist), Charles Hadcock (Artist & Manufacturer).

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

Saturday 15 June

Great Ideas to Save the World – with Daniel Charny & Guests

Great Ideas to Save the World will be exploring real-world examples of game-changing propositions that could alter the very course of mankind.

 

With: Daniel Charny (Fixperts), Gareth Owen Lloyd (Other Today), Adele Orcajada (MaterialDriven)

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

Conversations in Creativity: Malcolm Garrett

Conversations in Creativity is a series of talks and insightful interviews where leading creative practitioners from across disciplines explore how inspiration, often from around the world, informs their process.

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

Panel: Making & Creating – The Skills of the Future

How will future generations be properly equipped for a world where creativity is essential in the absence of an appropriately resourced system to provide those skills? This round table discusses creative progress in a climate where traditional forms of creative education and training are threatened.

 

With: Rachel Cooper OBE  (Imagination Lancaster University), Alison Clark (Arts Council England), Andria Zafirakou (Artists in Residence), Jason Stocks Young (JSY Leatherworks), Daniel Charny (Fixperts/From Now On), Sarah Gregory (Creative Industries Federation).

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

Interview: Superwomen – Small Business Heroes with Wayne Hemingway

What does it take to start a food business from your home kitchen table? Hosted by Wayne Hemingway, this live interview with these remarkable women provides an insight into their respective journeys and the values that underpin their enterprise and a global movement of change.

 

With: Wayne Hemingway MBE (National Festival of Making), Zainab Bilal (Pie Mezzanae) and Molly Robbins (Molly’s Creative Cakes).

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

Conversation in Creativity: Halima Cassell with Janet Boston

Conversations in Creativity is a series of talks and insightful interviews where leading creative practitioners from across the disciplines explore how inspiration, often from around the world, informs their process. This edition of Conversations in Creativity welcomes one of the UK’s most distinctive ceramicists, Halima Cassell and Manchester Art Gallery curator Janet Boston.

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

THE CREATIVE STEP: BITE-SIZE WORKSHOPS

A series of short workshops and tutorial sessions for creative practitioners and designer makers.

 

Product Development & Prototyping of New Ideas:
with Jonathan Ball (Designmine & Design Associate – V&A Dundee)

 

Introduction to Creative Step:
with Jonathan Ball (Designmine & Design Associate, V&A Dundee).

 

Common Photography Mistakes & How to Fix Them:
with Jak Spedding (Jak Spedding Photography)

 

Understanding Intellectual Property Office
with Emma Richards & Nicholas Chard (Intellectual Property Office)

Sunday 16 June

Great Ideas to Save the World – with Patrick Grant & Guests

Great Ideas to Save the World will be exploring real-world examples of game-changing propositions that could alter the very course of mankind.

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

Panel: Culture, Creativity & Place – Festivals as a Movement for Change

This panel, featuring leading creative producers and cultural organisations, alongside some of the faces who conceived the vision for NFM in Blackburn, explores the role of festivals in cultural integration and transforming places.

 

With: Wayne Hemingway MBE (National Festival of Making), Christine Cort (Manchester International Festival), Dawinder Bansal (Maker), Paula Akpan (BlackGirl Fest)

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

AIM Artist Talks

Over the festival weekend, we will be offering opportunities to hear more about the works created for our headline commission Art in Manufacturing. Introduced by Jamie Holman, Non-Executive Director of National Festival of Making, the artists will each give a short talk about their work, in-situ at their festival exhibition spaces.

 

Read the full details here

 

Panel: Art in Manufacturing

Art in Manufacturing (AiM) is a co-commissioned between the National Festival of Making and Super Slow Way. It pairs artists and makers with manufacturers and domestic artisans, giving the artists access to specialist machinery and heritage craft techniques, to create work that forms an integral part of the Festival.  Our final panel of the weekend profiles the artists, commissioners and host manufacturers involved with the current and previous projects.

 

With: Jamie Holman (Artist & Educator), Anthony Green (Blackburn Yarn Dyers), Daksha Patel (2019 AiM Artist), Nicola Ellis (2018 AIM Artist), Anna Ray (2019 AiM Artist), Liz Wilson (2019 AiM Artist) and more.

 

Read the full details and book tickets here

 

THE CREATIVE STEP: Maker Development & Business Support Surgeries

 

Creative Lancashire are offering creatives and makers the opportunity to receive one-to-one business support and advice to develop your creative career or enterprise. Our team of specialist advisors can provide practical and valuable advice in a number of areas, including; launching your creative career or business, responding to calls, commissions, marketing, finance and protecting your ideas with David Parrish (T-shirts & Suits), Intellectual Property Office, Digital Lancashire and others.

 

For more information on how to apply for a maker surgery slot visit Creative Lancashire.

 

 

Talks Programme supported by

Follow Us

#FestivalofMaking

Funders

Sponsors

2019 Trusts & Foundations

The National Festival Of Making Delivery Team

National Festival of Making is supported by the Arts Council England, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Brian Mercer Trust and Foundations and Partners. This project is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Back to top