Events 2025
- All
- Art
- Art in Manufacturing
- Community
- Digital
- Early Years
- Experience
- Family Friendly
- Fashion
- Film
- Food and Drink
- Heritage skills
- Markets
- Music and Performance
- Skills Advisory
- STEAM
- Talks
- Workshops
- Saturday
- Sunday
ART IN MANUFACTURING: Morag Myerscough + Crown Paints
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Born and bred in London, Morag Myerscough is known globally for creating immersive structural installations characterised by boldness, vibrant colours and a high level of positive energy. The artist’s installations, which have appeared all over the world, have a profound impact on public spaces, transcending the limitations of traditional approaches. Morag will take part in the first artistic residency at Crown Paints as part of Art in Manufacturing.
- Art
- Art in Manufacturing
Come As You Really Are
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
National Festival of Making with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery and Artangel presents Come As You Really Are by Hetain Patel. The exhibition brings together thousands of objects created, modified or collected by hobbyists across the UK, shown alongside a new artist film and a series of programmed workshops and performances.
- Art
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
- Workshops
- Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
DIY: Build Your Confidence with Girls With Drills
- Saturday
- Sunday
Do you want to learn how to use a drill or feel more confident doing DIY at home? Girls with Drills are here to help! With bookable Stool Making workshops in the morning and Stud Wall drop-ins in the afternoon, pop-by to chat to the team and get stuck in.
- Skills Advisory
- STEAM
- Workshops
Sign writing byUMBERTO
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
byUMBERTO will talk you through the stages of how to paint lettering with a brush. Step-by-step instructions on brush control will help you to ‘have a go’ at the easel or contribute to a small mural board that will be painted collectively across the weekend.
- Art
- Community
- Workshops
Light Organ
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Created by Akeelah Bertram, Simon Fletcher and Adam Glatherine, Light Organ transforms your voice into a symphony of light! You are invited to sing, speak, clap, or create any sound to activate dynamic patterns of light within the sculptural array.
- Art
- Experience
- Music and Performance
The Nasheed Choir by Hussnain Hanif
- Saturday
- Sunday
Embark on a soulful musical journey led by Hussnain Hanif, as he brings the timeless beauty of Nasheeds to life with pupils from Roe Lee Park Primary School and St Mary’s & St Joseph’s R.C. Primary School.
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
Art in Manufacturing: Matter at hand + Darwen Terracotta & Faience
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Matter at hand is the design practice of Lewis Jones, a designer working across architecture, material science and construction is in residence with industry leaders Darwen Terracotta. His work is rooted in an investigation of the materials and processes that shape our built environment. Through deep material research and hands-on experimentation, he works with waste, industrial by-products, and natural resources to develop more resourceful and equitable ways of building.
- Art
- Art in Manufacturing
HELLO PETAL!
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Turn yourself into a blooming flower with us this July. Join Alice and Karen from Let’s Make Art in a creative flower mask workshop full of flower power. Let’s re-wild the town!
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
ART IN MANUFACTURING: Liaqat Rasul + Herbert Parkinson
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Liaqat Rasul, a gay, dyslexic Welsh-Pakistani artist born in 1974, works in collage and sculpture. He transforms discarded materials—envelopes, tickets, fabric scraps, wire hangers—into vibrant, tactile compositions. These analogue creations tell visual stories of multicultural identity and mental health, celebrating real-world connections and the beauty found in imperfection. This is the second Art in Manufacturing residency hosted by Herbert Parkinson.
- Art
- Art in Manufacturing
Split Pin Puppets with Ren Wolfe
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Artist Ren Wolfe will take you through the steps of making a magical mixed-media puppet. Create your whimsical creature out of cardboard and bring them to life through movement using split pins,
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
CONVERSATIONS IN CREATIVITY: George Clarke
- Sunday
Join us for a special event with George Clarke — architect, television presenter, lecturer, and writer, best known for his work on Channel 4’s The Home Show, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, and more. Tickets will be announced soon — stay tuned! This talk is a Conversations in Creativity event delivered in partnership with Creative Lancashire.
- Talks
Makers Market by Hopeful & Glorious
- Saturday: All Day
The UK’s most exciting independent makers gather at Blackburn Cathedral for the National Festival of Making’s Maker’s Market, handpicked by expert design and craft curators Hopeful & Glorious.
- Art
- Markets
- Blackburn Cathedral
READY STEADY GO!
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Colour your own cardboard car and set off on a live adventure trail! You will accelerate through a bubbly car wash, navigate road works and go on a journey discovering the secrets of the Festival and local area. Then drive your unique car home!
- Experience
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
The Red List with Heritage Crafts
- Saturday: All Day
- Saturday: All Day
Did you know there are some crafts at risk of being extinct in the UK? Heritage Crafts will be taking over a space in Blackburn to highlight their ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’, featuring expert Makers all focussed on keeping these skills alive.
- Heritage skills
- Workshops
Caravanalogue
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
A quirky retro mobile touring workshop with analogue and hand powered facilities! Join Kerris and Leonie in their classic safari caravan, which has been lovingly restored to host workshops. Enter the caravan and you’ll be led through the process of making a book to take away.
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
HOME: Zero
- Saturday
- Sunday
HOME: Zero is an interactive performance that invites you into a fantastical world where time is running out. In this playful installation inspired by National Gallery paintings, families spark their imaginations to create extraordinary changes and envision a more sustainable future.
- Experience
- Family Friendly
Those In Glass Houses…
- Saturday
- Sunday
A performance like no other, ‘Those in Glass Houses…’ is a celebration of glass and all its fragilities. Perfect for families, brace yourself for swinging bricks, comedic catapults, and the orchestrated chaos of glass-shattering domino runs in this adventure of controlled destruction.
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
Stitch-School
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Sit down and slow down: join Stitch-School at the large communal ‘stitch table’ and contribute to this ever-growing embroidery piece co-created by communities in Blackburn.
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
Kitchen Tables
- Saturday
- Sunday
Enter Kitchen Tables, a space to spotlight the making that happens at home. Our kitchen tables are not just dining spaces – they’re places we make, we work, we gather and more. Here you’ll find a selection of workshops all connected to the many uses of our dining spaces, and what they mean to us.
- Workshops
Zine Making with Fiona Quadri
- Saturday
- Sunday
Celebrate food, memory and everyday creativity with Artist Fiona Quadri through zine-making at Kitchen Tables. Reflect on the kitchen table as a space of gathering and storytelling – use collage, drawing, and writing to create your own mini zines inspired by personal moments, traditions, and shared meals.
- Workshops
Still Life Drawing with Java Bere
- Sunday
Join Java Bere in Kitchen Tables for a playful drawing and mark-making workshop inspired by the everyday creativity of the kitchen. Using ingredients and objects found on our tables as tools and inspiration, you’ll explore still life through texture, line, and free creative play — celebrating the beauty in the everyday and the joy of making.
- Workshops
Abstract Arabic Calligraphy with Hafifa Ahmed
- Saturday
Hafifa Ahmed will lead you through a calming, creative workshop exploring the shapes and rhythm of Arabic letters in Kitchen Tables. Using brushes, inks, and traditional reed pens, you’ll experiment with mark-making and movement to turn script into expressive, abstract art.
- Workshops
Plasticine Companions with Sam Selley
- Sunday
Sculpt your own tiny, movable companion with Sam Selley by creating an armature using a cork, wire and aluminium foil in Kitchen Tables. Once the armature is complete, use vegetable based plasticine to bring their armature to life – whether it’s an imaginative creature, your favourite animal, or a miniature version of yourself.
- Workshops
Melodrome Stage
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Don’t miss the Melodrome Stage at Cathedral Square with live music and performances from local and national musicians throughout the day.
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
- Cathedral Square
The Obscura Photowall
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Visit The Obscura Photowall, where you’re invited to create your own self portrait using an old analogue plate camera! Develop your image on site and add it to the growing exhibition, which will be part of an online archive.
- Art
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Heritage skills
Community Clothing
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Visit the Community Clothing pop-up shop where you can browse the collection of high quality, everyday clothing made in Blackburn and the UK. Don’t be surprised if you bump into founder of Community Clothing and judge of the Great British Sewing Bee, Patrick Grant – he’ll be doing meet-and-greets at the shop over the weekend.
- Fashion
- Markets
Architecture for Insects with HemingwayDesign
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Artist Charlotte Barry and Wood Designer Charlie Boyden will guide you to design and create a home for insects, repurposing wood offcuts from art and design studios.
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
Soul Stitched – Keep On Keeping On
- Saturday
- Sunday
The team behind Keep On Keeping On are bringing a Northern Soul patch design workshop to the Festival. Inspired their new production showing in Blackburn this May, you can design and embroider a fabric badge, exploring identity, community and the legacy of Northern Soul.
- Workshops
SCRUMPTIOUS!
- Sunday
In this magically sweet show about friendship and ice cream, join Sylvie, a sweetshop owner and her friends from Storybook World as they try to make the world’s finest ice cream.
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
- Blackburn Library
Jesmonite Workshops with Aziza Designs
- Saturday
- Sunday
Make, mix, and create with Jesmonite! Get hands on in this colourful, family friendly workshop where you’ll learn how to work with Jesmonite, a versatile, eco friendly casting material. Choose between marbling or terrazzo techniques to design your very own decorative tray.
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
STEAM Zone with Blackburn College
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Find out more about the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths at the Festival of Making STEAM Zone, with workshops galore delivered by Blackburn College.
- Digital
- Family Friendly
- Skills Advisory
- STEAM
- Workshops
- King William Street
Not Only a Street Market
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Not Only a Street Market promotes and encourages creative entrepreneurship by hosting mini block parties in often overlooked areas of town. Head down to Church Street to find a host of emerging creatives, support a circular economy, take part in activities and be immersed in a pop-up marketplace.
- Markets
- Music and Performance
- Workshops
Thingamabobas
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Makers of Imaginary Worlds bring you Thingamabobas! Don’t miss this animatronic and robotic circus of bizarrely wonderful machines created to inspire, delight and intrigue.
- Experience
- Family Friendly
Craftsmanship Skills with QEST
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Find expert makers of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship and take part in a workshop perfect for the whole family. Long term Festival partners, QEST is a charity that supports the careers of talented and aspiring makers.
- Family Friendly
- Heritage skills
- Workshops
Tinkertown
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Help build Tinkertown! Wood-working meets den-building in this drop-in workshop for children. Don a pair of gloves and grab your tools provided by the team and set to work tinkering, building and creating!
- Family Friendly
- STEAM
- Workshops
Loud & Proud: Punjabi Roots
- Saturday
- Sunday
Experience the electrifying energy of Bhangra dancing and Dhol drumming in an unforgettable celebration of South Asian culture and community spirit!
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
Taste Lancashire Food Producers Market
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
The Taste Lancashire Market is brought to you by Marketing Lancashire, part of their national and international Taste Lancashire activity to champion Lancashire’s superb food and drink.
- Food and Drink
- Markets
- King William Street
The Making Rooms: Fab Lab
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
The Making Rooms Fab Lab joins the festival programme once again. Opening their doors to the public for the weekend, expect to find creative workshops set in this technology haven on Exchange Street. There is something for all ages so come along and have a go!
- Digital
- Family Friendly
- Skills Advisory
- STEAM
- Workshops
- The Making Rooms
Museum of Memorable Trees
- Saturday
- Sunday
Take a visit to The Museum of Memorable Trees and let the curator guide you around this miniature exhibition on wheels. Discover amazing stories of great trees that have woven themselves into people’s lives and memories. Listen to tales and calming soundscapes as you explore behind every door. There’s plenty of space left. Have you got a fantastic tree you can add to the museum?
- Experience
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
Shared Sounds
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Calling all little explorers! The Bureau’s popular Shared Sounds programme for young children is back at the National Festival of Making with exciting new activities. Expect a fun mix of music, art, and creative play designed to spark imaginations and support early development.
- Early Years
- Music and Performance
- Workshops
- The Bureau Centre for the Arts
Pipes and Poo with One Tenth Human
- Saturday
- Sunday
Join award-winning theatre company One Tenth Human to explore pipes and poo: what really happens when you flush a toilet, and how do chemists make sure our water is safe to drink? Help us solve some sticky problems!
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
- STEAM
A Line Art: Fold Your Town
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Returning to the festival! Craft your favourite Blackburn landmark by folding and making, contributing to large paper art installation that will evolve throughout the festival weekend!
- Family Friendly
- Workshops
Community Bands
- Saturday
- Sunday
Pop-up performances from some fantastic local and community-led bands help us soundtrack the Festival! Featuring long-term Festival highlights with some new additions, they’re always sure to gather a crowd.
- Community
- Family Friendly
- Music and Performance
Creative Skills Workshops with Blackburn College
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Did you know that some of our own team members and many of the artists and volunteers we work with studied creative subjects at Blackburn University College? Find the Creative Departments here at the Festival and have a go at activities across different creative disciplines. You never know, it might just lead you to something wonderful!
- Family Friendly
- Skills Advisory
- Workshops
Sing with Blackburn People’s Choir
- Saturday
- Sunday
A workshop for all, whether you have singing experience or think you would love to sing but don’t believe you can! Bring friends and family for a happy hour of singing with Blackburn People’s Choir.
- Community
- Music and Performance
- Workshops
Street Food
- Saturday: All Day
- Sunday: All Day
Fancy a bite to eat? Sample the most delicious food with our selection of delectable and irresistible street food stalls!
- Food and Drink
- Markets
