Callout: Community Basketball Mural

Factory International is inviting an artist to develop a new participatory artwork as part of NBA House Manchester at Aviva Studios.

A person looks at a graffiti wall at the Street Culture Takeover event at the Welcome at Aviva Studios

Factory International x NBA House Manchester

The project will bring together local communities and a wider public audience through a creative exploration of basketball, Manchester, movement, connection, place and belonging.

We are looking for an artist with a strong creative practice who enjoys working with people and can develop an exciting artistic response through participation. The project is an opportunity to create a large-scale work that evolves through community participation to be displayed across the NBA House Manchester weekend.

About the project

The project will begin with 3 community-based creative sessions, where the artist will work with local participants to explore the themes and begin creating the artwork.

The work will then move to Aviva Studios for NBA House Manchester, where it will be on display across the live event weekend.

The artist will lead the overall creative direction, developing an approach that brings individual contributions together into a strong and coherent final artwork.

Following NBA House Manchester, the completed work will be gifted to our community partner, creating a legacy beyond the event.

Creative themes

We are interested in how basketball and creative participation can provide a starting point for exploring:

  • Place and belonging
  • Movement and journeys
  • Connection and community
  • Manchester and what it means to live, work, play and create here
  • Individual experiences becoming part of something collective

Participation

Participants may have very different relationships with basketball, art and creative activity. We want the project to feel welcoming to people who are confident artists as well as those who have never taken part in an arts project before.

The artist should consider a range of ways for people to contribute, from simple, short interventions through to more sustained creative involvement.

The project should also consider different access needs, including physical, sensory and communication needs, and how the space, materials and activities can support different ways of participating.

What could the artwork be?

We are intentionally leaving the artistic approach open.

Your proposal might involve:

  • Painting or illustration, spray paint or graffiti techniques, printmaking, collage, textiles, mixed media
  • Sculpture or material interventions, basketballs, nets or other basketball-related materials
  • Another approach that you feel would create an exciting participatory experience

The final work does not need to be a traditional mural. We are interested in what you think will create the strongest artistic outcome and participatory experience within the context of NBA House Manchester.

The artist

We are looking for an artist who:

  • Has a strong artistic practice and clear creative voice.
  • Has experience of participatory, collaborative or socially engaged work.
  • Enjoys working with people and developing creative outcomes collaboratively.
  • Can provide a clear artistic framework while responding to participant contributions.
  • Is confident facilitating activity with a broad public audience.
  • Thinks thoughtfully about access and different ways of participating.
  • Can work collaboratively with Factory International, community partners and NBA House teams.
  • Is excited by the opportunity to explore basketball, Manchester, place, movement and belonging.

You do not need to have previously worked with the NBA or created basketball-related work. We are interested in your artistic practice and your approach to working with people.

About Factory International

Aviva Studios is a new global destination for arts music and culture that opened in the heart of Manchester in 2023. Programmed and operated by the team behind Manchester International Festival (MIF), Factory International commissions, produces and presents an ambitious year-round programme of original creative work, music and special events by leading artists from across the globe in its landmark new venue, online and internationally. It also stages the city-wide Festival every other year at Factory International and at venues and spaces across Greater Manchester. Driven by the same interests and ambitions that defines MIF, artists will be encouraged to create work in new ways, to collaborate across disciplines and blur the boundaries between art and popular culture. Through our Creative Engagement work, we create opportunities for people across Greater Manchester to participate in cultural activity as artists, performers and collaborators. We believe culture is created by all of us, not only artists or institutions, and seek to create opportunities for people to contribute and shape what we do.

This commission brings that approach into a new context, connecting local communities with a global sporting platform through creativity.

Key dates

Application deadline: Monday 9 November, 2026, 5pm

Community sessions: December - exact dates TBC, introduction to partner in November

NBA House Manchester: 15-17 January, 2027

Location: Aviva Studios, Manchester

Artist fee: £3,000

Additional materials and technical costs will be discussed and agreed with the successful artist as part of the project development.

To apply

Please send us no more than one page or a short video including:

  • A short proposal outlining your creative idea and response to the themes.
  • An indication of how you would involve people in developing the work.
  • Examples or links to relevant previous work.
  • A short biography or overview of your artistic practice.
  • Your availability for the community sessions and NBA House Manchester.
  • Any access requirements or other information you would like us to know.

Please note that NBA would not like NBA brand incorporated in initial responses until an Artist is contracted for the project. The final artwork will be fully assigned and licensed to NBA.

We recommend keeping your proposal concise. We are not looking for a fully developed design. We want to understand your artistic approach, your response to the opportunity and how you would create an engaging experience for participants and audiences.

We want to give the successful artist space to interpret these ideas through their own practice.

Please send applications to publicengagement@factoryinternational.org by Monday 9 November, 5pm.

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