Date
January to May, 2017

Location
Pennine Lancashire

Partners
The National Festival of Making CIC
Super Slow Way

Funders
Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Blackburn with Borough Council

Selected Press
Design Boom

The headline art project of The National Festival of Making and co-commissioned by Super Slow Way, Art in Manufacturing paired Pennine Lancashire's often hidden industries with ten exceptional artists over six months to create works exhibited in Blackburn town centre's most historic and contemporary venues.

The outcomes were astonishing and included Rudolf-Laban-inspired dancing bakers, a choral reimagining of an industrial-era poet, an intimate profile of Lancashire's home-based factories and a colony of extra-terrestrial cardboard pods housed in a & disused cinema. 

From concept to de-commission, we guided the project, building fantastic relationships with workforce communities, recruiting and engaging leading artists, helping to shape ideas, making challenging venues accessible and working with stakeholders from the clergy to local authorities to mass manufacturers. We made astonishing work come to life in Blackburn that told a story about local heritage, personal histories and community aspirations. 

The project attracted national press and illuminated Lancashire's industrial prowess and heritage.