Two new Waterloo Road commissions kick off a summer of Creative Blackpool projects reaching across the town, with three more open calls inviting artists to work with communities across the town.
South Shore is in for a creative summer, as two new community commissions land on Waterloo Road with the aim of using art to boost wellbeing, connection and pride in the area – part of a wider rollout of Creative Blackpool commissions, with others now open for applications from local artists.
Creative Blackpool, the Arts Council England-funded Place Partnership project leading the town’s Cultural Strategy to establish Blackpool as the UK’s Coastal Capital of Creativity by 2030, is behind the push.
It’s running a programme of up to 15 community-led artist projects across the town between 2026 and 2027, each backed by up to £5,000 in funding from Arts Council England and Homes England.
Alongside the two South Shore projects launching now, three more commissions worth £5,000 each are currently open for applications, inviting creatives to work with a playgroup in Claremont, a mental-health focused football club, a community charity in Revoe.
For South Shore, Creative Blackpool has teamed up with South Shore Community Initiative, which has secured extra funding through the Pride in Place Impact Fund, to commission two projects running this summer from artists Iz Durose and Natalie Ratcliffe.
The brief asked artists to think about how creativity could support mental health, community cohesion and pride in place, with a particular focus on Waterloo Road. South Shore Community Initiative, based around the South Shore Pitstop Community Café, brings together local retailers and residents alongside councillors, the local MP and the council’s Business Growth Team.
Iz Durose’s project, Styling South Shore, funded through Creative Blackpool, will use upcycling, styling workshops and banner making to support wellbeing, confidence and self-expression.
Delivered across South Shore spaces and through pop-up sessions with local traders, it will produce banners, displays and community-made artworks intended to bring colour, hope and pride to the street.
Iz brings a background in community-led design, inclusive workshops, SEND, mental health support, LGBTQ+ inclusion and trauma-informed creative practice, and the project will be shaped with input from residents, traders and community partners to keep it accessible and sensory-aware.
Natalie Ratcliffe’s project, South Shore Shares, is supported by the Pride in Place Impact Fund secured by Chris Webb MP, which aims to improve local pride, regenerate neglected spaces, strengthen communities and create safer, more welcoming environments.
Built around monthly community making sessions, it will offer free creative activity packs, collective window displays, conversation prompts, book and art exchanges, pavement prompts and spaces for reflection, all designed to weave creativity into everyday life on Waterloo Road.
Natalie is a multidisciplinary designer and co-founder of Still Studio, working across textile, print and product design as well as public art and participatory projects.
Creative Blackpool’s project coordinator, Kerry Vasiliou, said the collaboration meant two projects could now run in South Shore at once, “doubling the energy, reach and impact for local people.” She added that with the town bidding for UK City of Culture 2029, projects like these show why Blackpool is building towards “an explosion of creative talent.”
A chalk drawing workshop is planned for 21 August, with further dates to be announced. More information is available at creativeblackpool.com.
The three other community commissions are now open for applications each inviting a UK-based creative or collective to work directly with a different community.
In Claremont, Little Stars, a book-based playgroup for under-fives, wants to explore creative storytelling through technology, puppetry, costumes or story boxes. The project aims to build more immersive, literacy-rich experiences for local families, against a backdrop of Blackpool’s average reading age of 11 and falling numbers of children who say they enjoy reading.
Working across Claremont and South Shore, Strong Football CIC, a community wellbeing organisation that uses football as a route to connection and better mental health, is looking for an artist to capture the everyday moments around its sessions rather than during the football itself.
And Revoelution, a community-led charity on Central Drive, wants to record residents’ lives, stories and memories as the area goes through large-scale housing regeneration. The project will celebrate a community often viewed negatively and build cohesion across generations.
All three commissions close for applications at midnight on Monday 31 August 2026. The full briefs and details on how to apply are on the Creative Blackpool website.
