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 Makers: The Guildhall Craft & Artisan Food Fair 2018

Calls for Makers23-Nov-2018 - 25-Nov-2018

Applications are now open for the 2018 Guildhall Craft & Artisan Food Fair.

Deadline: 17 August 2018, 4pm.
Call for makers - China Liling International Ceramic Expo 2018

Calls for Makers25-Sep-2018 - 02-Oct-2018

An international exhibition aimed to support the domestic and abroad ceramics brands.

Dates: 25 Septemeber - 2 October 2018
Call for stallholders: Castle Street, Belfast Evening Fair

Calls for Makers26-Oct-2018 - 26-Oct-2018

Call for stallholders: Castle Street, Belfast, Evening Fair

Dates and Times: Friday 26th October (7pm – 9pm)

Deadline to book your free stall: Friday 5 October 2018
Call for Applications - Preziosa Young Design Competition 2019

Awards & Competitions01-Mar-2018 - 15-Nov-2018

International competition / exhibition for young jewellery makers
Are you a goldsmith, a designer, an artist, and you’re under 35?

Do not miss the opportunity to participate to PREZIOSA, the most prestigious Italian exhibition dedicated to the contemporary goldsmith research. Jewellers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, designers, professionals, students from all over the world are invited to present projects that illustrate the work in which they are currently involved.

Deadline: 15 November 2018.
Funding Opportunity: ACNI Support for the Individual Artist Programme

Funding & Grants18-Jul-2018 - 16-Aug-2018

Open to artists of all disciplines and in all types of working practice, who have made a contribution to artistic activities in Northern Ireland for a minimum period of one year within the last five years.

Deadline: 16 August 2018, 4pm.
Call for Applications: BKV Prize 2019 for young applied artists.

Awards & Competitions26-Apr-2018 - 27-Jul-2018

This competition is aimed specifically at young crafts people who have completed professional training and are at the beginning of their careers. Applications are open to international makers and covers all areas of applied art.

Deadline: 27 July 2018
Call for Stallholders - Craft Fest 2018

Calls for Makers25-Jun-2018 - 22-Jul-2018

Calling all craftspeople / artists / makers to take part in Craft Fest.
Castle Ward is looking for stallholders and demonstrators for Craft Fest, the annual summer craft fair on the 11 and 12 August 2018.
A Good Age: Change in my Time – 5 craft commissions

Commissions13-Jun-2018 - 03-Sep-2018

A Good Age: Change in my Time – 5 Craft
Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Libraries Unlimited are seeking to commission five UK based, professional older artists (born before 1948) to make new contemporary craft work responding to a theme of age and change within the artist’s lifetime. The commissioned works will be shown alongside craftwork made in local community workshops, in a celebratory exhibition ‘A Good Age’ at Devon Guild of Craftsmen in the autumn 2019.

Deadline: 3 September 2018, 9am
Call for Makers: GROW South Antrim

Calls for Makers11-Jun-2018 - 25-Jun-2018

Following the successful initial meeting in April and a busy Partners meeting in May in Finland, GROW South Antrim would like to invite makers to a further craft meeting on Thursday 28th June at 7pm in Antrim Civic Centre.
Open Call: Exhibitions at Ards Arts Centre 2018/19

Calls for Makers12-Jun-2018 - 09-Jul-2018

Ards and North Down Borough Council invite professional practicing artists (solo artists as well as group shows), recent graduates, arts organisations and community groups to apply to exhibit their artwork at Ards Arts Centre.

Deadline: 9 July 2018, 12 noon
Benchspace Cork: Artist in Residence Programme

Residencies07-Jun-2018 - 17-Aug-2018

Benchspace Artist-in-Residence programme 2018 invites applications from established and emerging fine woodworking professionals, including furniture makers or artists working primarily in the medium of wood, or in combination with other materials. Applications are also welcomed from academic staff of noted programs in the woodwork and design fields seeking a period of return to a studio environment. The programme offers participants the latitude and creative environment to explore new bodies of work or methodologies.

Deadline: 17 August 2018
Arts Council NI - Travel Award

Funding & Grants04-Jun-2018 - 31-Mar-2019

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 'Travel Awards Scheme' is a rolling programme open to individual artists.

All applications must be for travel which will be completed by 31 March 2019.
Call for Applications: Jerwood Makers Open

Awards & Competitions04-Jun-2018 - 24-Sep-2018

Jerwood Makers Open is a biennial opportunity encouraging ambitious and/or radical proposals from UK-based makers and collaborators within 10 years of beginning their practice. Launched in 2010, it focuses on makers and making supporting work in a diverse range of materials and progressive practices including, but not limited to: glass, metal, wood, paper, textiles, ceramics, furniture and jewellery.

Deadline: 24 September 2018, 5pm
Funding Opportunity - Travel Bursary

Funding & Grants04-Jun-2018 - 18-Sep-2018

The Winston Churchill Trust Travel Award

This is open to artists / makers working in any media, who wish to apply for projects to travel abroad for 4-8 weeks, to explore a topic of their choice. Applicants must be UK citizens aged 18 and over and be prepared to share their experience for improvement of their sector on their return.

This year the award includes a special grant category for glass-makers who would benefit from overseas learning.

Deadline: 18 September 2018 for travel in 2019.
Call for Applications: Cræftiga Award

Awards & Competitions21-May-2018 - 31-Jul-2018

Cræftiga Award
This award is open to makers born after September 1, 1982 and based in Britain.The award is aimed at makers whose work falls into art, craft or design disciplines.

The selected work will be exhibited at the British Craft Pavilion as part of the London Design Fair in September 2018, winners will also receive mentoring (PR, promotional, design, communication and editorial support from Hole & Corner.

Deadline: 31 July 2018
Jewellery Residency Opportunity - Amsterdam

Residencies21-May-2018 - 15-Sep-2018

Every year the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation invites jewellery artists from outside the Netherlands to apply for a working period in a studio in Amsterdam (May – July).

The foundation offers an opportunity to live and work in one of the most active jewellery communities in the world. The resident can use a studio apartment/workshop and receives a €500 grant. The studio is generously provided by jewellery maker Rian de Jong and her spouse Herman Marres.

Deadline: 15 September 2018
Call for Artists - South Down Craft Collective Exhibition.

Calls for Makers21-May-2018 - 15-Jun-2018

The newly formed South Down Craft Collective is seeking 'Expression of Interest' from craftspeople from the South Down area to participate in their inaugural exhibition 'Handmade in South Down' at Top Floor Art, Saintfield, County Down.

Deadline: 15 June 2018
Call for Artists: Royal Ulster Academy of Arts,137th Annual Exhibition

Calls for Makers21-May-2018 - 08-Jul-2018

Call for applications: Royal Ulster Academy of Arts,137th Annual Exhibition

Founded in 1879, the Royal Ulster Academy is the largest and longest established body of practicing visual artists in Northern Ireland. One of the founding principles of the Academy was to hold an annual exhibition of work by both members and non–members of merit. Now in its 137th year, this event remains one of the highlights of the Northern Irish arts calendar.   The 137th Annual Exhibition will run at the Ulster Museum, Belfast from 19th October 2018 to 6th January 2019.

Deadline: 8 July 2018, Midnight.
Call for Applications: Seamus Heaney HomePlace Gift Shop

Calls for Makers17-May-2018 - 31-May-2018

Seamus Heaney HomePlace Gift Shop – Retail Opportunity

Continuing the successful collaboration between Craft NI and Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Mid Ulster District Council now invites applications from Craft Makers based in the province of Ulster for the period 1^st July 2018 to 30^th June 2019.

This is an opportunity not only for sales but to raise the profile of selected Craft Makers through specific press-related articles, as well as by PR, local media and the Seamus Heaney HomePlace website. TheGift Shop is located in Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy and is open to members of the public from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm.

Deadline: 31 May 2018, 5pm
Call out for stories for Linen Biennale NI Exhibition

Community3-Aug-2018 - 31-Oct-2018

Textile artist Mairead McCormack will be creating a solo exhibition of work, 'Glitched’, in August 2018 as part of the Linen Biennale NI!
Job Opportunity - Potter

Calls for Makers01-May-2018 - 07-May-2018

Loaf Pottery is a newly renovated art centre and cafe opening on 1 May 2018 in Crawfordsburn that will secure jobs and opportunities for people with learning difficulties, hold art classes and offer space to community groups.
NOW Group are excited to offer a part- time potter position to a skilled potter who has an in depth understanding of ceramics as a visual language, which can engage and inspire, recognising the intrinsic role ceramics play in people’s lives and memories. Being design focused, the successful potter will balance an intellectual and hands on approach in all aspects of the creative process.

Deadline: 7 May 2018, 5pm