At the heart of Factory International sits the engine of artistic ambition and experimentation. This is the place for artists to dream big and to venture boldly into collaborations and artistic conversations not possible elsewhere. At the festival we’ve pioneered many ways to support artists as they develop their ambitions, and with Factory International we will offer space year round for artists to stretch out, invent and evolve.

Opportunities

Our Work

Some of our past initiatives at Factory International have included the Jerwood Creative Fellowship programme and Factory International Fellowship, Fellows Alumni, Creative 50, Creative Lab, Creative Call Out, Artist Drop In, Matchmakers, MIF Sounds and Introduction to Virtual Tools.

We're also a member of the Greater Manchester Artist Hub, a group of 14 arts organisations in the region that have supported hundreds of independent practitioners in the area. Since it formed in 2020, the hub has offered hardship bursaries to excluded freelancers, funding and training to early career artists and private advice sessions to local artists. Moving forward, Factory International will continue to be a key partner for Manchester Independents, which in 2021 provided over £100,000 of support to Greater Manchester artists to develop and showcase new creative projects throughout the city region.

Over the next three years, we also hope to offer more opportunities for under-represented artists here in Greater Manchester and the North, artists from the global majority, trans and non-binary artists, and artists who self-identify as disabled and neurodivergent. Together, our aim at Factory International is to become a new creative powerhouse, where our tomorrow is made stronger and brighter through new voices and new visions of the world.

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