In 2019 we launched ourselves at the British Textile Biennial to throw a spotlight on the nation’s creativity, innovation and expression in textiles against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure of the cotton industry in Pennine Lancashire. With its epic mills and grandiose civic architecture along the country’s longest waterway, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the landscape tells the story of textiles.

This biennial festival celebrated that story while showcasing its contemporary expression with the community that has textiles in its DNA.

In 2019, we look at fabric as a means of expression; showing textiles as a vehicle for protest and cultural identity in slogan- emblazoned T Shirts, football fashion and traditional union and demo banners, and presenting performances and new works that take a dynamic look at our relationship with that most basic and ancient of human creations, cloth.

Highlights of the 2019 British Textile Biennial included a new exhibition and performance by Jamie Holman, the Banner Culture installation at Brierfield Mill, a huge Adidas Spezial Trainer exhibition to launch the ‘Blackburn SPZL’, Primal Scream in concert, and more!