British Textile Biennial (BTB) is a free festival of contemporary art, commissioning artists and designers from all over the world to make work inspired by the context and legacy of the textile industry in East Lancashire and its global impact, often in the places that were created by it.
We commission and present work collaboratively with artists and communities and each biennial hundreds of people get involved to shape and create new projects as well as working behind the scenes to get exhibitions ready and welcoming audiences to the festival spaces across East Lancashire.
The majority of our projects and events are free and everyone is welcome to come and get involved. Here’s a few ways you can join in:
Help create new work!
From sharing their textile stories on the Common Wealth catwalk to sharing stories of home in Common Threads and collectively creating Material Memories, communities across Lancashire and beyond have collaborated with us to create the work that thousands of people enjoy each Biennial.
You don’t have to be a creative or need any particular skills to join in – you just have to want to try something new! We’ll share all opportunities here as well as advertise them across our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) we’ll also email out information about upcoming projects to our mailing list, so sign up here if you want to be the first to know!
Volunteer: BTB couldn’t happen without our brilliant volunteers, click here for more information.
Join ‘Social Fabric’ and help shape the programme
Social Fabric is an advisory group of local residents with a diverse range of views, knowledge and backgrounds; who help us shape the BTB programme and advise us on how to make our work welcoming to the widest range of people.
To find out more in the first instance please get in touch with uzma@britishtextilebiennial.co.uk
Photo – Jack Bolton