From a £10,000 Creative Blackpool seed fund to paid INCUBATE workshops, a call for Young Producers and a residency in a biscuit factory, November is a busy month for creatives across the Fylde Coast, with plenty of deadlines in its first three weeks. Here’s our round-up of open calls, commissions, training and funding.
We’ll be adding opportunities to this post throughout the month so check back for more. Spotted an opportunity? Let us know at hello@blackpoolsocial.club
OPPORTUNITY
Young Producers x David Bowie: On Tour
Showtown | Blackpool
Deadline: Open now – register your interest
David Bowie: On Tour is coming to Showtown, and the museum is looking for a group of Young Producers to help shape how visitors explore the touring archive. Select your favourite pieces and use photography, ceramics and more to turn them into a guide designed by young people, for young people. You’ll take part in creative workshops led by local creative professionals, explore different kinds of art and learn new skills. This free opportunity is for 14-18-year-olds local to Blackpool who are interested in art, history, design or music. Register your interest at learning@showtownblackpool.co.uk or on WhatsApp at 07502 764 665.
TRAINING
INCUBATE: Show Me the Money (Honey) – Building Better Budgets
The Old Electric | 4 Edward Street, Blackpool
Application Deadline: 9am, Thursday 5 November
Part of INCUBATE, The Old Electric’s paid professional development programme for Blackpool creatives. Led by Catherine Mugonyi, this practical session shows you how to build and manage a realistic budget that keeps your creative project on track, with tips for building financial confidence. Session: Thursday 26 November, 2-5pm. Participants are paid £75 on submitting an invoice after the event. Open to adults aged 18+, with successful applicants notified by 5pm on Thursday 12 November.
FUNDING
BFI NETWORK Early Development Fund
BFI NETWORK | England-wide
Application Deadline: Wednesday 11 November
Grants of £3,000-£5,000 for writers taking their first steps on a debut feature film or immersive project. The money can cover writing a treatment and supporting materials such as a mood board, plus research and travel, and you can apply with or without a producer. Open to writers based in England who haven’t yet had a feature or immersive work with a UK distribution deal. The round opened on 7 October.
TRAINING / SKILLS-SHARE
INCUBATE: Making Parade + Festival Art
The Old Electric | 4 Edward Street, Blackpool
Application Deadline: 9am, Friday 13 November
A one-day, paid skills-share led by you. Lead a practical 45-minute activity for up to six peers who work in a similar field or with similar materials, and take part in five other sessions across the day, finishing with a group plenary on what you’ve learned and how you might collaborate in future. Session: Saturday 5 December, 9.30am-5.30pm. Participants receive £300, with lunch provided, and you’ll need to submit your activity in advance and complete a short evaluation afterwards. Open to adults aged 18+, with successful applicants notified by 5pm on Friday 20 November.
OPPORTUNITY
Community Theatre Taster Sessions
The Old Electric | Blackpool
Taster Sessions: Friday 13 November, 6-7.30pm and Saturday 14 November, 10.30am-12pm
Fancy making a new play for the stage? The Old Electric is holding two workshop-style taster sessions for its Community Theatre Company, which it describes as Blackpool’s most established ensemble theatre-making company. No preparation is needed, but wear clothes you can move in. Joining the company means Thursday rehearsals (6-9pm) from January to July 2027 and performances on 8-11 July 2027. Register for a session through The Old Electric’s website.
OPEN CALL / EXHIBITION
Grosvenor Museum’s 16th Open Art Exhibition
West Cheshire Museums | Grosvenor Museum, Chester
Submission Deadline: Midnight, Sunday 15 November
The Grosvenor Museum in Chester is inviting artists over the age of 16 who live or work in the North West, North Wales and Cheshire’s bordering counties to enter its open art exhibition. Entries on any theme and in any visual arts medium are welcome (digital photography included), with up to three works per artist at £10 each. No work may exceed 1.8m in any dimension. Prizes are £1,000, £500 and £250, plus a £150 Visitors’ Choice award. The exhibition runs from 6 February to 4 July 2027, and artists will be told the outcome on 4 December. Sold work is subject to a 30% commission.
DANCE / TRAINING
Anna Carlisle Dancer in Training Award
Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund (LUTSF) | UK-wide
Application Deadline: Sunday 15 November
The Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund is a UK charity that has awarded more than 500 scholarships since 1987, helping people travel to conferences, research projects and short courses in movement and dance. Its Anna Carlisle Dancer in Training Award is open now. Applications are welcome from UK residents aged over 18, regardless of nationality, gender or previous training, and the fund also offers financial support to help remove barriers for applicants. The page doesn’t state the award amount, so check the fund’s FAQs before applying. Dates for the main awards (2027/28) will be announced this autumn.
TRAINING
INCUBATE: How to Facilitate a Workshop
The Old Electric | 4 Edward Street, Blackpool
Application Deadline: 9am, Thursday 19 November
A hands-on session for artists, makers and creative practitioners who want to plan and run workshops with more confidence. Led by Buzz Bury, it covers facilitation principles, designing a session, reading group energy, asking better questions, handling silence and dominant voices, and creating safe spaces, with practical exercises and peer feedback. You’ll leave with a workshop plan. Session: Thursday 10 December, 2-5pm. Participants are paid £75 on submitting an invoice after the event. Open to adults aged 18+, with successful applicants notified by 5pm on Thursday 26 November.
RESIDENCY / COMMISSION
Art in Manufacturing Residencies 2027
National Festival of Making | Blackpool and Darwen
Application Deadline: Noon, Monday 23 November
Two paid residencies place artists inside Lancashire factories: Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK in Blackpool, in partnership with LeftCoast, and Crown Paints in Darwen. Each comes with an £8,000 commission budget covering fees and making the work, plus up to £600 for travel and accommodation. Artists spend January to June 2027 getting to know the workforce and its materials and processes, and the finished work is shown at the 10th National Festival of Making in Blackburn in June 2027. Open to artists and makers in the UK or Ireland, working in any art form, as individuals or collectives. Interviews take place 9-14 December. Email an expression of interest to applications@festivalofmaking.co.uk.
FUNDING
Music Growth Fund: Rounds 3 and 4
Arts Council England | UK-wide
Application Deadlines: Round 3 – 26 November; Round 4 – 7 January 2027
Arts Council England is offering £1,000-£40,000 to grow the UK’s new music scene, for activity lasting up to three years. It can support programming and showcasing, touring, artist and workforce development, organisational development, research and development, equipment and small-scale capital work, but the music must be original work by living, UK-based artists. It’s for music businesses and organisations, including festivals, promoters, managers, record labels, studios, rehearsal spaces, publishers and grassroots venues, and at least 25% cash match funding is required. Individual music creators such as artists and bands aren’t eligible and should look at the Music Creators Growth Fund instead. You’ll need an approved applicant profile on the Arts Council’s grants system, which can take up to 10 working days, so start early. Round 3 decisions are due 3 February 2027, and Round 4 decisions 9 March 2027.
OPEN CALL
Anthology 3: Cosmic Horror
Carnyx Press | Submissions by email
Submission Deadline: Midnight, Monday 30 November
Northern speculative fiction publisher Carnyx Press wants weird, disturbing stories of existential dread from writers living in the North of England, including Lancashire. Send one unpublished story of 2,000-8,000 words. Between five and ten stories will be chosen, with contributors receiving four copies of the printed anthology and a £20 honorarium. Work created with generative AI isn’t accepted.
FUNDING
Discover Creative Careers Grants
Creative UK | UK-wide
Application Deadline: Monday 30 November
Grants of up to £4,000 for organisations running local creative careers activities for underserved young people aged 11-24. The money can fund things like networking events, skills bootcamps, paid traineeships, workplace experiences and travel bursaries, with activity delivered between 1 January and 31 March 2027. UK creative industry organisations, including SMEs, charities and CICs, can lead applications; freelancers and sole traders can join as partners but can’t lead. Decisions are expected in early December. Information webinars take place on 5 and 12 November (11am), and applications are made through the Creative UK portal.
OPEN CALL / PRIZE
Leodis Prize for New Writing
Leodis Talent | Submissions by email
Deadline: November – exact date to be confirmed
A new writing prize for previously unrepresented playwrights. The winning play will be produced at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2027 and published by Methuen Drama, with a paid writing residency at a producing theatre also on offer. Submit the full script, a synopsis and a character breakdown.
TRAINING
INCUBATE: Training and Development Opportunities in Europe
Online | Part of The Old Electric’s INCUBATE programme
Event: Thursday 3 December, 10-11am
A free one-hour online introduction to training and career development opportunities available through Erasmus+, led by Buzz Bury. It covers where to search, how and why to apply, the funding process and other options for learning and development abroad. Open to anyone aged 18+. Book a ticket through The Old Electric’s website.
FUNDING
Creative Seed Funding
Creative Blackpool | Blackpool and the surrounding areas
Application Deadline: Midnight, Monday 11 January 2027
Launching on 5th November, Creative Blackpool has a remaining £10,000 pot to award grants of £500-£5,000 for new and innovative creative ideas, events and activities taking place in Blackpool in 2027. It’s open to individuals and organisations living or operating in Blackpool and the surrounding areas, across any art form, and match funding is welcome but not essential. Projects must pilot a new and potentially scalable idea, strengthen the town’s cultural ecosystem, enhance Blackpool’s cultural reputation and connect with its wider cultural programming, and must meet at least one extra objective, such as involving local communities, offering professional development or working with people with protected characteristics. Fees can be included but salaries and core costs can’t, and anyone funded in the last round can’t apply. Apply online, or send a video, audio or other format answering the same questions (two minutes per answer) to creativeblackpoolgroup@gmail.com.
PRIZE / DEVELOPMENT
Women’s Prize Discoveries 2027
Women’s Prize Trust | Online submissions
Deadline: Monday 11 January 2027
A free-to-enter writer development programme for unpublished and unagented women in the UK and Ireland. Submit the opening of a novel (up to 10,000 words) plus a synopsis, for the chance of a literary agent offer, a £5,000 bursary, a bespoke creative writing course and mentoring. You don’t need to have finished your novel.
AWARDS / WRITING
Northern Writers’ Awards: Submission Window Two
New Writing North | North of England
Application Deadline: Noon, Monday 1 February 2027
Forms open on 23 November for the second submission window of the Northern Writers’ Awards. It includes the Northern Debut Awards (fiction, narrative non-fiction and young adult, plus poetry), the Northern Writers’ Awards for fiction and narrative non-fiction and for poetry, and the Bridget Jones Prize. You must live full-time in the North of England, which includes the North West, and you can submit one entry to one award per window. Applications are made through Submittable, late entries aren’t accepted and results will be announced by 21 June 2027. Window one is open until 11 January for the Hachette Children’s Novel Awards and Great Northern Read Award.
COMPETITION
Writers’ & Artists’ Short Story Competition 2027
Writers’ & Artists’ | Online submissions
Deadline: Midnight, Friday 12 February 2027
A free annual competition for unpublished, unagented writers. Submit a short story for adults of up to 2,000 words on the theme of celebration. The winner receives a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week (worth £985), and the winner and two runners-up are published on the site.
OPEN CALL
Culturapedia Open Call
Culturapedia | Blackburn Market
Deadline: Rolling – limited slots through the year
A free four-week exhibition slot in what’s billed as Lancashire’s newest and smallest art gallery, in the heart of Blackburn Market. Open to all art forms that fit the space: paintings and drawings, photography, textiles, prints and small 3D work, whether wall-mounted or not.
ONGOING
Art Shelter Tram Stop
Creative Blackpool | Bus/tram stops across Blackpool
Deadline: Rolling – check site for current call
A year-round public platform showcasing Blackpool artists’ work on street furniture across the town.
