Published Thursday 3 July 2025 at 16:29
From TV’s George Clarke to globally known artists, a Nasheed Choir and more – the National Festival of Making returns this weekend and the line-up is the most exciting one yet!
The borough’s biggest event of the year will once again completely takeover Blackburn town centre this Saturday and Sunday.
And the programme is packed full of incredible art installations, creative workshops, live performances, markets, music, mouthwatering street food and so much more.
Every year tens of thousands of people turn out to enjoy the incredible festival, supported by Blackburn with Darwen Council, with the bonus being almost everything is free to enjoy.
While it’s hard to whittle them down, highlights for 2025 include:
– Art in Manufacturing – the festival’s headline commissioning programme – which was recently shortlisted for a prestigious international award – will this year feature brand new work from three groundbreaking artists working with major businesses in the area.
Joining the line-up is Morag Myerscough who has teamed up with Darwen-based Crown Paints for an exciting new installation.
Morag is known globally for creating immersive structural installations characterised by boldness, vibrant colours and high levels of positive energy!
Her works have been showcased at the likes of Coachella and the Paris Olympics.
Joining Morag is Matter at hand, the design studio of Lewis Jones, co-founder of Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble, in collaboration with Darwen Terracotta and Faience, and artist Liaqat Rasul with Herbert Parkinson (a John Lewis Partner).
– A special guest appearance from 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.
This is a ‘Conversations in Creativity’ event brought to you in partnership with Creative Lancashire and George will be in conversation with Festival Co-founder, Wayne Hemingway MBE.
Be sure to follow the festival on Facebook and Insta now to be the first to hear how to bag your ticket!
‘Come As You Really Are’ – presented by The National Festival of Making with Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery and Artangel, this is an exciting, eclectic exhibition by artist Hetain Patel which celebrates hobbies and hobbyists from across the UK.
Step inside Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and you’ll be able to enjoy everything from Spider-Man costumes to pom-pom carpets, firefighters made from citrus peel and even a prized collection of old carrier bags from Blackburn. There’s set to be a prized collection of cars rolling into town too.
This exhibition was hugely popular when it opened in London.
You can read more about it now using this link.
– The Nasheed Choir by Hussnain Hanif – internationally recognised artist, Hussnain Hanif is working with children from Roe Lee Primary School and St Mary’s and St Joseph’s RC Primary School on this special project to create a Blackburn-based Nasheed Choir.
A Nasheed is a Westernised form of mid’ha (praise) – a 1,400-year-old tradition rooted in the Sufi practices of Islam.
The choir will be performing live at the festival as part of a huge array of live performances throughout the weekend.
You can find out more about the choir here.
– Light Organ – this looks super cool – a captivating audio-reactive installation created by artists Adam Glatherine and Akeelah Bertram and Creative Technologist Simon Fletcher, that transforms your voice into a symphony of light.
This large-scale interactive installation features 38 illuminated acrylic pipes that respond to sounds captured through microphones positioned around the space.
And, look out for the Great British Sewing Bee judge, Patrick Grant too. He’s set to host meet and greets at his Community Clothing pop-up shop.
All this is just the start too! There’s already almost 50 different listings on the festival website with more to be added.
Check out the full rundown for yourself now – simply click this link.
With so much to see and do, there’s handy guides for everything from art to family-friendly activities, music and performance, the markets, and food and drink to help you pack as much as you can into your visit.
The annual event stretches right across the town centre, taking in the likes of Blackburn Cathedral, Cathedral Square, King William Street, Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, The Making Rooms and The Bureau Centre for the Arts.
The festival itself was originally launched to help creatively transform the town centre by taking over empty spaces and that very much continues today too.
Lauren Zawadzki, Co-Director of the National Festival of Making, said:
The Festival is the perfect way to showcase the innovation, creativity and fun that can be found in all areas of ‘making’.
Imaginations can run wild in workshops and installations across the town centre, surrounded by family friendly live music, theatre performances, informative talks and engaging exhibitions, celebrating the work of some of the UK’s top artists and designers.
As part of a focused drive around culture in the borough, venues across Blackburn town centre are set to benefit from more than £20m of new Government investment, including £9m for King George’s Hall, which sits at the heart of the new Cultural Quarter.
Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, added:
Year-after-year, National Festival of Making attracts record crowds to Blackburn town centre and looking at the line-up for 2025, it’s easy to see why.
It’s incredibly difficult for any event to cater for a wide and diverse range of people, but the festival does just that – bringing together our communities in the most brilliant way and attracting visitors from literally around the world.
We are proud to partner with this nationally important event to help ensure much of what is on offer is free to enjoy, including bringing globally renowned artists here to Blackburn.
The festival is an important celebration of our industrial heritage as makers too – combining art and manufacturing with a creative spark and it’s a huge triumph – putting our borough on the cultural map and helping to create a genuine buzz about the place.
Of course, a huge amount of hard work and effort goes into the festival and I’d once again like to thank the festival team – each and every year they raise the bar incredibly high, and I can’t wait to see the town packed with people enjoying all there is to offer.
Head over to: https://festivalofmaking.co.uk/now to see the full programme and to find out more about the festival.
The event is supported by Arts Council England, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. Brian Mercer Trust and Blackburn BID.