National Festival of Making events

The National Festival is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation, and craftsmanship, uniting makers, artists, designers, and enthusiasts to showcase their talents and share their passion with the community. With over 30 announced events and more to come, this year's fifth anniversary promises a bustling weekend in Blackburn, featuring family-friendly workshops and events that blend art, manufacturing, and making.

A significant strand of the festival is 'Art in Manufacturing,' a competitive headline commissioning programme that facilitates five artist residencies with top UK manufacturers, resulting in new work on show for the first time at the festival.  This includes: Multidisciplinary artist Ibukun Baldwin and state-of-the-art trouser and outerwear manufacturers Cookson & Clegg who together have created a large-scale immersive installation transforming waste denim into a work of art. Visitors can also enjoy an exhibition of animated confectionery boxes, recreating the wonder of opening a box of chocolates, brought to the festival through a partnership between Illuminos and The Cardboard Box Company.

Other highlights include:

• Mughal Miniatures: Animal Paradise. Live performances by Sonia Sabri Company featuring song, dance and puppetry.
• Pendle Pottery Studio are offering a taster session on a pottery wheel and teaching people how to create their own handcrafted bowl or cups
• Plant It Up. An installation of UpPlant’s vertical farming – visitors can get involved and learn about the process.
• Relics Plastics will be running a sustainable workshop where people can turn plastic waste into a brand-new keychain
• Volo: Dreams of flight a VR experience by Studio Go Go which combines VR with swings and fairground rides.

To see the full programme of events click here.