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About At the heart of Factory International sits the engine of artistic ambition and experimentation. This is the place for artists to dream big and to venture boldly into collaborations and artistic conversations not possible elsewhere. At the festival we’ve pioneered many ways to support artists as they develop their ambitions, and with Factory International we will offer space year round for artists to stretch out, invent and evolve.Over the coming years, we hope to offer more opportunities for under-represented artists here in Greater Manchester and the North, artists from the global majority, trans and non-binary artists, and artists who self-identify as disabled and neurodivergent. Together, our aim at Factory International is to become a new creative powerhouse, where our tomorrow is made stronger and brighter through new voices and new visions of the world. Our Projects Factory Sounds Making music in Greater Manchester or working in the industry? Factory Sounds is designed to support you. Artist Takeovers With our takeovers we offer artists the opportunity to explore and experiment working at an epic scale. Factory International Fellowship Our Fellowship supports artists at a transitional stage in their career to stretch their practice in different directions. Artist Social Calling all artists across the city – come and meet fellow artists at our Artist Social Artist Drop-in A casual meet-up for artists from across Greater Manchester and beyond Artist Development: International Residency – Brazil Expand your practice with a transformational residency at the highly esteemed Sacatar Institute in Bahia, Brazil Submit a project If you've got an idea, we're open to it. Propose a project for our Curatorial and Producing teams to review. Find out more → A new creative powerhouse Some of our past initiatives at Factory International have included the Jerwood Creative Fellowship programme and Factory International Fellowship, Fellows Alumni, Creative 50, Creative Lab, Creative Call Out, Matchmakers, MIF Sounds and Introduction to Virtual Tools.We're also a member of the Greater Manchester Artist Hub, a group of 14 arts organisations in the region that have supported hundreds of independent practitioners in the area. Since it formed in 2020, the hub has offered hardship bursaries to excluded freelancers, funding and training to early career artists and private advice sessions to local artists. Moving forward, Factory International will continue to be a key partner for Manchester Independents, which in 2021 provided over £100,000 of support to Greater Manchester artists to develop and showcase new creative projects throughout the city region. Explore Factory Sessions Explore our Factory Sessions featuring alumni of the Factory Sounds programme. Factory Sessions: B!TEZ Factory Sessions: IS33N Factory Sessions: Edane Ng Factory Sessions: Obeka Factory Sessions: Dirty Freud Factory Sessions: Test Card Girl Meet the Creative Fellows alumni Audrey Albert Yandass Ndlovu Vince Atta Raheel Khan Corey Weekes Case Study: Artist Takeover – Deep Democracy Writer and storyteller afshan d’souza-lodhi describes her experience of taking part in the Artist Takeover Case Study: Artist Takeover Thinking about applying for our next Artist Takeover? Read about the experiences of two artist collectives – Jennifer Jackson, Rosie Elnile and Craig Reflections on the Sacatar Institute Multi-disciplinary artist Omid Asadi reflects on his residency at the Sacatar Institute, Brazil Lost Online: Making the Digital Dance A new artwork by Chad Taylor, created for his Artist Takeover Stay in the Loop Sign up to our artist development newsletter to be the first to hear about opportunities. Read our privacy policy Free Your Mind, the official opening production for Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International © Tristram Kenton, October 2023 Invent a better tomorrow together A huge thank you to our extraordinary supporters and partners who support our mission to invent a better tomorrow together.As a registered charity, we work to grow our community of individual donors, corporate partners, and grant makers. Their support helps us make art accessible to everyone, transform lives through creative engagement, develop the next generation of diverse talent and power the future of the arts sector.Find out how you can support our work to use art as a catalyst for social change, creativity and innovation – both in Manchester and beyond Support us