Art in Manufacturing: two paid artist residencies with Lancashire manufacturers

Deadline: Monday 23 November 2026, 12 noon
Who it’s for: artists and makers based in the UK or Ireland, working in any art form, as individuals or collectives
Fee: £8,000 commission budget per residency, plus up to £600 for travel and accommodation
Organiser: The National Festival of Making, Blackburn

The National Festival of Making is looking for two artists or makers to spend time inside Lancashire factories and create new work for the festival’s tenth anniversary in June 2027.

Art in Manufacturing is the festival’s headline commissioning programme. It places artists with manufacturers so they can get to know the workforce and learn about the materials, processes and expertise on the factory floor. Each residency runs from January to June 2027, and the finished work will be shown at the festival in Blackburn town centre on 26 and 27 June 2027.

This year’s residency partners are:

Crown Paints, Darwen
Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK, Blackpool, in partnership with LeftCoast

Artists may be able to use materials and production time provided by the manufacturer, with the scope agreed between the artist, manufacturer and producing team during the residency. The festival provides curatorial and producing support throughout, and encourages artists to experiment, take creative risks and extend their practice. It welcomes outcomes that are playful, beautiful, humorous or complex.

The open call is open to makers in any discipline, making it a chance for jewellers, metalsmiths and makers in the allied crafts to work at a very different scale and with unfamiliar materials and processes.

The commission:

£8,000 per residency, covering artist fees and the cost of making the work (plus VAT where applicable)
Up to £600 towards travel and accommodation

Key dates:

Application deadline: Monday 23 November 2026, 12 noon
Shortlisted applicants notified by: Wednesday 2 December 2026
Interviews: 9 to 14 December 2026
Residencies: January to June 2027
Festival: Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 June 2027, Blackburn

How to apply: download the full application pack from the festival’s website.

Find out more: festivalofmaking.co.uk