Blaze Arts, in partnership with the Burnley Cultural Education Partnership, are seeking expressions of interest from artists to be part of the Happy Place Festival, a youth-led, multi-art form festival that will take place from 14th to 27th July 2025.
We are creating a pool of artists for our participants and Young Producers to select from. We are open to all art forms and invite applications from individual artists, collectives, and organisations. We’re particularly keen to hear from artists based in East Lancashire.
About the Happy Place Festival
In July 2025, Burnley will host Happy Place, a dynamic two-week-long festival that brings together youth, arts, and activism through a celebration of creativity and optimism. Happy Place aims to empower Burnley’s young people with the knowledge, skills, and passion they need to create meaningful change in both their own lives and their community. The festival is supported by public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and is facilitated by the Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP).
This collaborative, youth-led festival will play a vital role in shaping Burnley’s cultural future as part of the lead-up to Burnley’s 2027 Year of Culture. At its core, Happy Place is about putting young people at the heart of cultural placemaking. It offers them the opportunity to co-design cultural activities that reflect their ideas, concerns, and visions for the future of their town. The festival will serve as a platform for young people to express themselves, share what matters to them, and celebrate the spaces and places that make them feel safe, inspired, and connected.
Artist Opportunities
We have two types of artist opportunities available:
- Outreach Group
Work with a group of young people over 10–12 weeks to create original work to be performed, displayed, or shared at the festival. Up to 20 paid days are available, as you will be expected to manage the production of the sharing event. Support will be provided by the Festival Producer.
We are still in the process of setting up the outreach groups, so unfortunately, we cannot currently confirm the specific days/times these will run. - Skills-Based Workshops
Deliver a skills-based workshop for young people during the festival, which will be open access.
Fees
Our daily rate for experienced artists is £300, inclusive of travel expenses. You will be employed by Blaze as a freelancer and will be responsible for your own tax, National Insurance and public liability Insurance.
Diversity and Accessibility
We particularly welcome applications from individuals often marginalised in the arts and cultural sector including people from working class backgrounds, disabled people, and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
If you have any questions or require any adjustments that would support you in your application or the interview process, please let us know. For example, if you need this information in a different format.
How To Apply
Please send your CV and expression of interest to Caroline Kennedy, Festival Director, at caroline@blazeonline.org.uk by 11pm on Friday 11th April.
Expressions of interest should be no more than 500 words and outline details of your work and your experience working with children and young people. Feel free to include links to any previous work. You may submit your expression of interest as a video or voice recording of no longer than 3 minutes.
Please state which opportunity you are interested in being considered for (or both).
If applying for the outreach group opportunity, please include your availability from May, including weekends and the May half-term.
If applying for the skills-based workshops, please include your availability for 14th–27th July.
Please also state if you have a current DBS check and if you are on the update service.
If you’d like to have a chat about the opportunity before you submit or need some support writing your expression of interest, contact Caroline at caroline@blazeonline.org.uk
About Blaze
Blaze is a youth led arts charity which was founded on the principle that all young people, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to create their own culture. Over the past ten years Blaze has pioneered innovative approaches to youth led cultural production, providing training and creative experiences for diverse young people from across the North West in a range of settings including museums, libraries, music services and festivals. To find out more about our work visit: blazearts.co.uk.