Event Type

Maker Opportunities

Please browse our opportunities listings for the craft sector. This section includes news, opportunities, commissions, calls for makers, awards and funding opportunities.

To submit an opportunity to be listed on the website, please complete the submission form.

Click here for submission form.

Call for Applications: Goldsmiths’ Fair 2020

Calls for Makers13-Jan-2020 - 27-Feb-2020

Are you an independent contemporary jeweller or silversmith with no more than six people at the bench?
Would you like the opportunity to present your collections to the most discerning buyers and collectors, at the most prestigious fine jewellery and contemporary silver Fair in the UK?

Applications for Goldsmiths’ Fair 2020 are now open!

Deadline: Thursday, 27 February, 12 noon.
Open Call: Materials Messages and Meaning #8

Calls for Makers09-Jan-2020 - 06-Feb-2020

Open call for Artists and Makers whose work responds to the theme: Obvious

Artists / makers based in Northern Ireland, at any stage of their career, working in any media, will be selected from an open call as part of our Materials, Messages and Meaning series, and will receive a fee for a talk and exhibiting work.

Deadline for submissions: Thursday, 6 February, 4pm

Exhibition Dates: 28 March – 24 April 2020
QEST: Scholarships and Apprenticeships

Funding & Grants06-Jan-2020 - 10-Feb-2020

If you are a talented or aspiring craftsperson you can now apply for The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) funding of up to £18,000. QEST has funded crafts people across more than 150 craft disciplines ranging from millinery to thatching, arms & armour restoration to ice sculpture and basket-weaving to musical instrument making.

This can cover traditional university or college courses, vocational training, apprenticeships or one to one training.

Deadline: Monday, 10 February 2020
New Arts Council Funds open

Funding & Grants19-Dec-2019 - 13-Mar-2020

New Arts Council Funds open

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is offering a number of funding opportunities under three new programmes. Thanks to investment from the Department for Communities, three new funding programmes will offer support for arts organisations across Northern Ireland.

Arts organisations will be invited to make an expression of interest to the following funding programmes.

Programme one: Rural Needs Small Grants Programme

Programme two: New Commissioning Programme for Creative Innovation

Programme three: Pilot Premium Payments Programme
Grand Opera House Call for Facilitators

Community1-Dec-2019 - 3-Jan-2020

As part of the Grand Opera House's restoration & development project 2020, the theatre is seeking practitioners to assist with the delivery of the programme of work which will include one-off workshops, weekly workshops and longer-term projects in drama, dance, poetry, musical theatre, scriptwriting, creative writing, literary arts & visual arts.

Application Deadline: Friday 3 Jan, 2020, by 4pm.
Design & Crafts Council Ireland: Invitation to Tender

Calls for Makers01-Dec-2019 - 10-Jan-2020

Contract for tender for the position of Ceramics Skills & Design Co-ordinator, Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI).

Deadline: Friday 10 Jan, 2020.
Open Call for Amberif Design Award 2020

Awards & Competitions1-Dec-2019 - 12-Dec-2019

Seeking jewellery with amber as a commentary on ultimate beauty, the Amberif Design Award is an international competition for the Design of Jewellery with the use of Amber in its creation.

Application Deadline: Wednesday 12 Feb 2020.
Open Call: Platinum Jewellery Design Competition 2020

1-Dec-2019 - 5-Feb-2020

In the creation of Jewellery for lightweight laser cut designs, the purpose of this unique competition is to design and create modern jewellery to be used in laser print methods. Whilst sourcing new jewellery designers to become part of PGI China's jewellery network.

Application Deadline: Wednesday 5 Feb, 2020.
2020 AJF Young Artist Award

Awards & Competitions1-Dec-2019 - 12-Jan-2020

The Art Jewellery Forum (AJF) Young Artist Award and grant program recognises innovative work created by a jewellery artist early in their career. Through the AJF Young Artist Award, AJF supports new and exciting work that will direct the future development of the field.

Application Deadline: Sunday 12th Jan, 2020
Irish Design Residency at the CCI Paris: Applications Open

1-Dec-2019 - 8-Jan-2020

Applications are now being accepted for the Irish Design Residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris - a partnership between CCI and the Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI). Through the residencies and its diverse cultural programme, the Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) showcases Ireland's dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage.

Application Deadline: Wednesday 8 Jan 2020, 5pm.
Arts Council of Northern Ireland: Creative Industries Seed Fund

Funding & Grants1-Dec-2019 - 27-Jan-2020

The Arts Council has designed the Creative Industries Seed Fund programme to encourage cross-sectoral collaboration, drive innovation in technologies and to create new content, products, services and experiences. Applications are welcomed from the widest possible range of organisations.

Application Deadline: Monday 27th January 2020.
Call for Friedrich Becker Prize 2020

Awards & Competitions1-Dec-2019 - 14-Feb-2020

With the awarding of the Friedrich Becker Prize, the Hanau Goldsmith's Association wants to commemorate the great designer Friedrich Becker and to honour the best of a subsequent generation of designers. The Friedrich Becker Prize is endowed with € 10,000 and has been awarded every 3 years by the Hanau Goldsmiths' Association for outstanding, independent design of the highest quality.

Application Deadline: Friday 14th Feb, 2020
Call for Applications: The Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards 2020

Awards & Competitions01-Sep-2019 - 01-Mar-2020

The Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council is an organisation that promotes the highest standards in design and craftsmanship within the jewellery, goldsmithing, silversmithing industry and allied crafts. As part of the promotion of excellence the Council runs the annual Craftsmanship & Design Awards.

Application Deadline: January 2020
Handmade Oxford: The International Contemporary Arts Festival

Calls for Makers1-Dec-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

Applications are now open to designers who are interested in taking part in the celebration of the best in high-end design and craftsmanship from over 250 highly-skilled, international and UK-based designer-makers. Taking place in Waterperry Gardens, 25-28 June 2020, the four-day festival will bring together some of the most exciting makers from all over the world.

Application Deadline: Friday 31 Jan, 2020.
One Year In: New Designers 2020

Calls for Makers1-Dec-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

Are you a new creative business that needs help kick starting design practice? One Year In showcases and celebrates design entrepreneurs who have recently launched their businesses. One Year In at New Designers 2020 presents the year’s most exciting design talent; a pre-show mentorship programme that gets your business market-ready to exhibit at the New Designers exhibition.

Deadline: Friday 31 Jan 2020, Midnight.
Call for Makers: Rising Stars 2020 exhibition: New Ashgate Gallery

Calls for Makers1-Dec-2019 - 13-Jan-2020

Rising Stars is a national platform to foster students & recent graduates from BA/ MA crafts, design & applied arts programmes across the UK. Rising Stars aims to offer new makers their first step into the market place, through a curated, selling exhibition. The programme will consist of the Rising Stars exhibition at New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, that enables new makers to access the market place and collectors.

Deadline: Monday 13th Jan, 2020.
International Kogei Award in Toyama, Japan

Awards & Competitions01-Oct-2019 - 27-Jan-2020

Toyama Prefecture in Japan has launched the International Kogei Award in Toyama to create opportunities for networking and collaboration with craftspeople and makers across the world.

Application Deadline: Monday 27th Jan, 2020.
Open Call: Mackintosh Interpretation Centre Exhibitions

Calls for Makers1-Dec-2019 - 10-Jan-2020

The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture and Design, have an open call for exhibition submissions which draw inspiration from Mackintosh’s art, designs or architecture for a new exhibition in the Mackintosh Interpretation Centre.

Application Deadline: Friday 10th Jan, 2020.
Back to Basics - Intensive residency program in Finland, Summer 2020

Residencies1-Dec-2019 - 9-Jan-2020

Residency program for artists and creative professionals of all disciplines at Arteles Creative Center in Hämeenkyrö, Finland. The Back to Basics residency program gives artists the opportunity to clear their mind, get back to focus and (re)discover the very basis of their being.

Application Deadline: 9th Jan 2020
Call for glass artists for Netflix series Blown Away

Awards & Competitions01-Dec-2019 - 17-Dec-2019

Marblemedia is casting glassblowers from around the world for season 2 of Blown Away - the critically acclaimed Netflix series where glass artists race against the clock to compete for a grand prize and to be named the Blown Away champion.

Deadline: Tuesday 17th December
Ards/ North Down Business: Creative Edge

Seminars01-Jan-2020 - 31-May-2020

Creative Edge is Ards and North Down Council's creative and digital business support programme 2019/2020 in the local creative sectors and digital businesses. Creative Edge addresses the needs of the sector though a variety of different initiatives to enable businesses to develop and grow.