Making It
IOU’s monthly Making It taster sessions are an opportunity for artists, creatives and makers to come together to experiment, exchange ideas, network and skills sharing opportunities
About Making It
Making It sessions include everything from clock-making and welding, writing and choreography, to verbatim theatre and life drawing. The sessions are an opportunity to explore a wide range of skills and techniques from a broad sweep of artists and crafts-people working in the region.
Funding Award
IOU is delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding from Calderdale Cares Partnership to provide FREE spaces for Calderdale residents and freelance artists on our monthly Making It creative taster workshops.
Funding has been awarded to help support young people, freelance creatives and those dealing with the cost of living crisis, to succeed in the arts and creative industries in Calderdale with opportunities to come together for exchange of ideas, networking and skills sharing opportunities at IOU Studio.
Our Autumn Programme launches August 2023
Some of our previous Making It workshops

An Introduction to Physical Theatre for Outdoor Performance
March 2023 : 15 participants joined us for exciting physical theatre workshop led by actor and director Garth Williams from Safety Catch Theatre

Woodcut and Relief Printing
April 2023 : An introduction to the techniques used in contemporary woodcut and relief printing with IOU Two Rivers artist Richard Wincer

Experimental Oils
May 2023 : IOU Artist in Residence Alicja Mrozowska led an oil painting workshop combining experimental techniques, alternative ‘canvases’ and digital tools

Sensing Through Moving
July 2023 : A dance and movement workshop with Eve Wagster- explore our everyday movement, recognising where patterns and interests emerge.
'Taking part in the workshop was an adventure into a creative world I hadn't taken part in before. Learning new skills and being around so many creative people was a breath of fresh air to me'
ParticipantFestive Making It December 2022
The annual IOU Festive Making It kick starts Christmas. Each year the workshop is an alternative take on the traditional – from seasonal wreaths made from bicycle wheels to paper lanterns and mechanical decorations
This year 30 enthusiastic makers joined us to craft plastic bottles into festive lights and decorations
Led by IOU Assistant Producer and artist Rachel Rea, everyone got creative with plastic to form shapes and add colour. Then finished off by adding battery operated lights to make garlands or decorations that they could use at home outside or on their tree.
Rachel is a practicing artist working with Immortal Bloom to make light infused craft works that reuse and repurpose materials, particularly plastics, at the end of their life in ways that ensure another use. Their aim is to promote ‘circularity’; the principle that there is no waste, through sharing knowledge and nurturing creative ways to using pre-existent material and technologies.

Sessions In Action
Making It- Relief Printing
Interested in taking part in a making it session?
If you would like more information, or would like to propose a Making It session – then contact us via the form below.