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.

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.
Fermanagh & Omagh District Council Website Devlopment Programme

Seminars01-Dec-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council invite interest from businesses throughout the Fermanagh & Omagh District to receive expert support to help develop online presence and establish a competitive advantage to improve business/ sales through a Website Development Programme.
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum: Artist and Researcher/ Curator in Residence Support Program

Residencies01-Dec-2019 - 25-Dec-2019

This program supports artists, and researchers/curators from designated Asian countries who have external funding or who can cover their own expenses to stay in Fukuoka while they create their own work or undertake research.
Island Arts Centre: Self Funded - Artist in Residence Opportunity

Residencies27-Nov-2019 - 31-Mar-2020

The ISLAND Arts Centre are currently offering an exciting opportunity to become a self funded Artist in Residence. ISLAND Arts Centre is a vibrant arts hub located along the River Lagan with scenic views along the towpath but close to the A1 and M1 for easy transport links.

Deadline: Tuesday 31 March 2020.
ForM Sculpture Exhibition 2020

Calls for Makers09-Dec-2019 - 03-Feb-2020

ForM Sculpture Exhibition is an annual outdoor exhibition hosted by the Arts Service of Ards and North Down Borough Council. Artists are invited to make submissions for this open air exhibition in the beautiful surroundings of Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Co. Down.

DEADLINE: Monday 3 February 2020, at 12 noon
Tender - Professional Development Seminars for Craft Designer Makers

Seminars25-Nov-2019 - 16-Dec-2019

Craft NI is seeking proposals by written tender for the delivery of a series of five craft maker-focused business development training seminars, to be delivered in calendar year 2020 between January and October. These sessions will be publicly accessible but will also form part of Craft NI’s Launchpad professional development programme for designer makers in Northern Ireland.

Deadline: Monday 16th December 2019, 4pm
Rural Business Development Grant Pilot Scheme

Funding & Grants18-Nov-2019 - 18-Dec-2019

This Scheme, funded under the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affair’s Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI) Programme, is now open for applications. Rural business development grants of between £500 and £4,999 are available to micro enterprises based in a rural area to support them to sustain or grow.

Application Deadline: Wednesday 18 December 2019, at 12 noon.
Call for Submissions: Queer Craft Special Issue, Decorating Dissidence

Calls for Makers21-Nov-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

Call for Submissions, Decorating Dissidence has invited Daniel Fountain to be a guest editor for a special issue relating to queer craft, due for publication in Spring 2020. They are now looking for pieces of writing, exhibition reviews, maker interviews, artwork (or creative responses more broadly) around themes of queer identity and the legacies modernist craft.
LAB.14 Art Contest

Awards & Competitions21-Nov-2019 - 29-Nov-2019

The Lab.14 art contest, is a call for submissions open to all kind of artists. Works allowed in the art competition are: drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, graphics, mix media and video. A great opportunity for the artists, which can win a cash prize, have the opportunity to exhibit the artworks in Venice and much more. The competition provides for the selection of 12 finalists which will exhibit their works during the final exhibition of the contest, that will be held in Venice, at Imagoars Gallery, in early 2020.

Submission Deadline: 29 November 2019.
Open Call: Northern Ireland Assembly Gift & Coffee Shop

Calls for Makers21-Nov-2019 - 28-Nov-2019

Continuing the successful collaboration between CRAFT NI and the Northern Ireland Assembly Gift and Coffee Shop at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, the initiative now invites applications from Northern Ireland based Artist/Designer/Makers for the period 2 December 2019 to 31 May 2020.

Application Deadline: Thursday 28 November at 5pm.
Open Call: Ceramics Ireland Triennial Exhibition 2020

Residencies19-Nov-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

Following on from the success of Touchstone in 2017, Ceramics Ireland announce the 4th iteration in this triennial series in Aug - Oct 2020. Ceramics Ireland invite all ceramic makers, living in Ireland and Irish makers abroad to submit to this juried exhibition which will be launched at Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin in August and a capsule show will travel to Faenza Italy in September.

Submission deadline: 31 January 2020.