Sat & Sun
Drop In
Art in Manufacturing: Abigail Hampsey + Artisan Food Producers
Abigail Hampsey is a multidisciplinary artist, painter, and baker based in the North of England. Through this commission, Hampsey is working with artisan food producers and within her Lancaster-based bakery and studio. New film, sculpture and painting, will trace rituals of production and preservation, from breadmaking to beekeeping, positioning these as acts of cultural and sociological preservation.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Foil Decoration with Mush Studio
Inspired by the vibrancy of South Asian adornment, design your own motifs and patterns to create a hanging decoration.
Sat only
Booking Required
Conversations in Creativity: Johnny Vegas with Graham Duff
Join us for a special afternoon with actor, writer, comedian and artist Johnny Vegas in conversation with Graham Duff.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Tinkertown
Tinkertown is back! Wood-working meets den-building in this drop-in workshop for children. Grab the tools provided by the team and set to work tinkering, building and creating!
Sat & Sun
Drop In
VR Swings – Volo: Dreams of Flight
Back by popular demand! The VR Swings return to the festival after their debut in 2023. Don’t miss out on Studio Go Go’s thrilling virtual reality swing adventures.
Sat & Sun
Sign up on the day
Kitchen Tables
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.
Sat only
Drop In
Makers Market by Hopeful & Glorious
With more traders than ever before, 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.
Blackburn Cathedral
Sat & Sun
We Are Alloys
Hetain Patel returns to the Festival with an ambitious new commission spanning moving image, painting and performance, exploring British Asian futurism, family, and myth-making, alongside performances of his acclaimed work Mathroo Basha.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Make a Mini Bog in a Jar
Join Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Lancashire Peat Partnership and Blackburn BID to create your own micro-ecosystem inspired by the structure of the peat bog on Darwen Moor.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Art in Manufacturing: Alina Akbar + Automobile Manufacturing Sector
Alina Akbar is a Manchester-based visual artist and storyteller working across film, photography, and spatial installation. Through her Art in Manufacturing commission, Akbar is working with local car manufacturing and motor vehicle industries, framing behind-the-shutters garages as contemporary artisans operating within the visual language of luxury and aspiration in working-class contexts.
Sun only
Booking Required
Rave Culture: Screening
At Reel Cinema, catch the feature-length screening of Rave Culture: an electrifying journey into the heart of the rave revolution, with roots in 80’s Blackburn.
Sat only
Sign up on the day
Block Letter Painting with elettr
Explore the flat brush painting technique with signwriter Ellie Heywood by creating your own block letters.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Quite Unfit for Females by About Time Dance Company
Quite Unfit for Females is a tribute to the Dick, Kerr Ladies football team - a pioneering women's team from Preston formed from a munitions factory workforce. The performance tells the story of the team’s defiance when the FA announced a ban on women’s football in 1921.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Studio TIP Circular Free-Play
Play, invent and assemble, using materials sourced from factories locally! Discover the hidden life of materials in manufacturing, how they feel, and connect and become something new.
Sun only
Drop In
Mbira Taizé with Millicent Chapanda
Listen as Millicent Chapanda leads a celebratory performance, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Riso Collage Portrait Studio
Create a collage portrait then watch your design be live printed on the Riso machine, transforming your artwork into a distinctive two-colour print.
Sat & Sun
Booking Required
Leather Workshops with Diamond Awl
Diamond Awl Leather Workshop share their expert craftsmanship in the art of leatherworking with these bookable taster sessions.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Art in Manufacturing: Matter at hand + Darwen Terracotta
Matter at hand is the design practice of Lewis Jones, working across architecture, material science, and hands-on construction. Continuing his two year residency, Jones will be exhibiting new installation work created with Darwen Terracotta, plus participatory experiences exploring place, community, land and architecture as part of new project partnership between National Festival of Making and The Super Slow Way.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Culturapedia
Explore workshops and performances curated by local arts company Culturapedia - you’ll find something for all ages!
Sat & Sun
Booking Required
Screen Lancashire
This year’s National Festival of Making will host a special Screen Lancashire programme exploring film, place, storytelling and regional identity through screenings, talks and participatory activity across the festival weekend.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Creating Joy at The Bureau
Over the Festival weekend, the Bureau Centre for the Arts are showcasing everything they do best. From early years music in the Imaginarium, drop-in puppet making, circus skills for the family and open studios from resident artists - the venue is packed with things to do!
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Ian’s Print Rally
Come and join in with the National Festival of Making’s Print Rally, created by Ian Halawi and supported by Fred Aldous! Look out for print stations dotted around town and collect a series of two-colour prints to fill up your zine.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Bewonderment Machine
Both a kinetic public sculpture and a magical journey for small children, The Bewonderment Machine is an artist-built carousel, powered by a bicycle.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Banner making with Sam Selley
Create your own mini fabric banner adorned with felt, patterned fabrics or even detailed embroidery.
Sat & Sun
Sign up on the day
Graeme Brown Woodcraft
Use a range of simple tools to create your own beautiful set of buttons using foraged wood collected by Graeme.
Sat only
Booking Required
Mera Lyari: Screening + Q&A with director Abu Aleeha
Join Director Abu Alleha for a screening of Mera Lyari, which tells the inspiring story of two girls striving to become professional footballers. The screening will be followed by a Q+A with Abu Aleeha, who is travelling to the festival from Islamabad.
Sat & Sun
Booking Required
Flower Crown Making with Yuliia Ivanova
Create a flower crown inspired by Ukrainian traditions. Using colourful artificial flowers and natural textures, you’ll design a unique wreath to take home.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
E-waste Scavenging with Noisy Toys
Un-Making: like making, but the other way around… Join e-waste scavengers Noisy Toys as they dismantle and rebuild waste tech into something new!
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Taste Lancashire Food Producers Market
Find out why Lancashire is the tastiest county when you meet and buy direct from local producers at the food and drink market.
King William Street
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Art in Manufacturing: Penelope Payne + Haworth Art Gallery
Penelope Payne’s artistic practice explores social history,with a focus on female narratives and the often overlooked or unrecorded histories of the working-class and ‘women’s work’. In response to time spent with Haworth Art Gallery, Payne is developing new work exploring the historic domestic setting as a lens for examining how personal stories, social structures, and inherited values shape one another over time.
Sat & Sun
Sign up on the day
Mushroom Growing and Fungi Drawing
Head to Kitchen Tables where you’ll find Stockport Fungi who will be sharing their extensive knowledge and creativity around mushrooms! Have a go at growing your own on Saturday, or get up close and draw the detail on Sunday.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Corn Dolly Making with Vic Jay
Corn dollies are an ancient, rural straw craft, traditionally made from the last sheaf of wheat at harvest time. In this workshop, you’ll learn to make a ‘harvest knot’ variety, using a traditional plaiting technique.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Punjabi Roots
Watch vibrant, high-energy dance performances accompanied by the powerful rhythms of live Dhol drumming that will get your heart pounding and your feet moving. A dynamic and colourful spectacle not to be missed!
Cathedral Square
Sat & Sun
Drop In
The Super Slow Way
Super Slow Way will join the festival with activity linking the town centre and Audley Community Park which they continue to develop alongside local residents into a welcoming green space. Expect barge rides, bridge building and a host of creative workshops using natural materials.
King William Street
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Playing with Words – a Dada typography workshop
Join artist Mia Bashir in a poster making workshop inspired by the radical art movement Dadaism.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Shaping Ideas: A Ceramics workshop and exhibition
Step into 'Shaping Ideas' and explore the possibilities of working with clay in this hands-on ceramics workshop and exhibition with The University of Lancashire.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
STEAM Zone with Blackburn College
STEAM is everywhere – from what we make, to how we travel, to how we live. Here, you’ll find a wide range of workshops designed to get your hands working and your mind whirring.
King William Street
Sat & Sun
Booking Required
Tassel Making with Jenny Steele
Using a range of colourful, sustainably sourced yarns, learn the heritage craft of tassel making as you create tassels to take home.
Sat only
Cotton Kings Feature Film – Open Auditions
Calling all aspiring actors and local talent! The award winning Bashford Twins are holding open auditions for an upcoming feature film; Cotton Kings.
Sat only
Drop In
Rang Qawwal Group
Enjoy the sounds of traditional instruments played by eight performers specialising in the Qawwali - a form of devotional music.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Heritage Crafts
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.
Sat & Sun
Sign up on the day
Spice mixing with SOUTHINDIAN4ME
Dive into the variety and versatility of spices within South Indian cooking by creating your own masala spice mixes to take home.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Meaningful Merch with Gay Bennett of Lived in Repairs
Swap out mass-made festival merch for something handmade. In this drop-in workshop you’ll learn Sashiko — a traditional Japanese hand-stitching technique — and create your own keepsake to take home.
Sat & Sun
Sign up on the day
South Asian Embroidery Workshop
A space to unwind, reflect and walk into the traditional practice of Muka: Metallic thread embroidery from Sindh, Pakistan.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Mariia Petrovska
Listen to contemporary and Ukrainian folk music played on the Bandura, a traditional string instrument.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Community Clothing
Visit the Community Clothing pop-up shop, where you can browse the collection of high-quality, everyday clothing made in Blackburn and the UK.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
The Making Rooms Fab Lab
Popping up in different areas of the Festival whilst their building undergoes renovations, expect to find drop-in workshops connected to all their ‘labs’ - from textiles to eco, plastics, ceramics and more.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Creative Skills Workshops with Blackburn College
Enjoy a range of hands-on creative activities across a variety of disciplines in this interactive workshop space led by Blackburn College!
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Not only a Street Party
Head down to Church Street to find a host of emerging creatives, support a circular economy, be immersed in a pop-up marketplace, and experience live music from local artists co-curated with Blackburn Gigs.
Church Street
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Explore South Asian Truck Art with Zareena Bano
Truck art is a unique and intricate form of expression that transforms everyday vehicles into moving masterpieces. Decorate your own mini truck-shaped plaque inspired by the iconic tradition.
Sat & Sun
Drop In
Melodrome Stage
Don't miss the Melodrome Stage at Cathedral Square with live music and performances from local and national musicians throughout the day.
Cathedral Square