Breakdown Bolton

Home
United Kingdom
Bolton
Breakdown Bolton

We are a community interest company breaking down barriers, stigma and prejudice through high quality creative arts classes across Bolton and beyond.

04/09/2026

🎃🌿 SOLD OUT! 🌿🎃

Our Halloween Floristry Workshop with the budding florist Ange Tibke is FULLY BOOKED! 🥳🖤

We’re so excited to get spooky and creative with flowers, foliage and autumnal treasures on Wednesday 21st October. 🍂🌸👻

✨ Missed out? Don’t worry! Our waitlist is now open, so if a space becomes available, we’ll contact people on the list.

Thank you so much for the amazing response! 🖤

02/09/2026

📚✍️ INTRODUCING: BOLTON BETWEEN THE LINES ✍️📚

We’re excited to introduce our brand-new 12-week creative writing project, Bolton Between the Lines! ❤️

Calling all creative writing enthusiasts! 📝

Over 12 weeks, we’ll explore creative writing across a series of mystery locations around Bolton, with the option to bring your words to life through illustration too. Together, we’ll develop our ideas, share creativity and work towards creating a group publication at the end of the project. 📖✨

The project is for adults aged 18+ with lived experience of mental illness. No previous writing experience is needed and all materials will be provided.

📅 Starts Wednesday 9th September 2026
📍 Bolton Central Library
🖊️ 12 weeks of creative writing, exploration & creativity

Places are limited, so book early via eventbrite to avoid missing out!

If the course is already full when you try to book, please join the waiting list — spaces can become available due to cancellations.

We can’t wait to see where this project takes us!

With thanks to Culture Bolton and the UK government for supporting this project.

22/08/2026

✨Street Art Commission Opportunity - Bolton Town Centre✨

A new commission for Street Art in Bolton Town Centre is now live on the Culture Bolton website.

The commissions aim to transform three central sites (Dawes Street Skatepark, Newport Street Arcade, and Back Cheapside) through high-quality public artwork that celebrates Bolton's identity, heritage, and future aspirations.

If you or anyone in your network has further questions or wishes to speak to a member of the team prior to application, please email [email protected]

We kindly ask for your assistance in circulating this opportunity far and wide.

We look forward to receiving your applications and continuing to enrich Bolton’s Cultural landscape with diverse art celebrating its rich identity, heritage, and future.

Download your application via the link below:
https://www.bolton.gov.uk/culturebolton/news/article/21/street-art-commission---bolton-town-centre

20/08/2026

📚Working with Text – Our Final Session📚

Yesterday afternoon, we held the final session of our Working with Text project, exploring the creative possibilities of book folding and text collage.

Participants created their own books and turned the pages into unique pieces of artwork, experimenting with shape, words, composition and texture. It was a lovely way to finish the project and we look forward to seeing some of these pieces in our upcoming exhibition.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part and to Bolton’s Fund for making this project possible💜

14/08/2026

🖨️✨ Exploring Riso Printing! ✨🖨️

Yesterday we were lucky enough to offer our participants a special creative session thanks to Bolton Contemporary, who introduced us to the basics of Riso printing.

Participants had the chance to learn about this vibrant and exciting printmaking process, experiment with colours and layers, and create their own prints.

A huge thank you to Andee for sharing his knowledge and skills with us. It was a brilliant opportunity to try something new and explore another creative way of working with image and text and we’re already looking forward to next time🎨

13/08/2026

📖✂️ Text Collage & Book Binding – Session 1 ✂️📖

Yesterday, we had our first Text Collage & Book Binding workshop as part of our Working with Text project.

We began by learning how to create and construct our own folded books before getting stuck into the creative process of developing our text collages.

It was lovely to see everyone experimenting with words, images, composition and different ideas as their pages began to take shape.

We can’t wait to see how the pieces develop in our final session! 🎨📚

05/08/2026

📚✂️ New Course: Text Collage & Book Binding ✂️📚

We’re excited to announce the final sessions of our Working with Text project!

Over two creative sessions, we’ll explore the exciting world of text collage, using words, books and mixed media as inspiration before creating and hand-binding our own unique collage booklets.

This course is part of our 2026 Bolton’s Fund – Working with Text project and is open to people with lived experience of mental illness. No previous art experience is needed—just come along with an open mind and a willingness to be creative!

📅 When: Wednesdays 12th & 19th August
🕜 Time: 1.30pm – 3.00pm
📍 Where: Falcon Mill, Handel Street, Bolton, BL1 8BL

Places are limited, so please book via our Eventbrite page. Link in our bio.

If the course is already full, don’t worry! We’d still encourage you to join the waiting list, as spaces do occasionally become available and we’ll contact people in order if a place opens up.

We’d love to see you there 📖🎨

03/08/2026

🌿📖 Plants & Poetry – Final Session 🌿📖

On Friday we held the final session of our Plants & Poetry course, bringing together everything we had explored over the past four weeks.

Participants completed their beautiful papier-mâché plant sculptures, adding the finishing touches to their unique creations inspired by nature, poetry and imagination. It has been wonderful to watch each sculpture grow from an initial idea into a finished piece of art.

A huge thank you to Bolton’s Fund for supporting our working with text project and to everyone who took part. We’ve loved seeing your creativity, confidence and ideas flourish, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as we have! 💚

24/07/2026

🧵✨ Our Final Fabric Letters Workshop ✨🧵

On Wednesday we held the final session of our Fabric Letters course, led by the amazing Nichola Smith.

Participants put the finishing touches to their beautiful embroidered letter pieces, combining appliqué, decorative stitching, beads and hand embroidery to create truly unique textile artworks. It has been wonderful to see everyone’s confidence and creativity grow over the past four weeks.

We were also treated to a fantastic show and tell, with participants bringing along textile projects they have been working on at home. It was inspiring to see the talent, dedication and individuality within the group, and to celebrate each other’s creative journeys.

A huge thank you to Nichola for sharing her skills and inspiring everyone throughout the course, and to all of our participants for making it such an enjoyable and supportive series of workshops. We can’t wait to see where your creativity takes you next! 💚🪡

With thanks to Bolton’s Fund for supporting our working with text project this summer 🙏🏻

23/07/2026

Thank You! 💚🎉

What an incredible weekend! Our Summer Celebration and 10th Birthday were a huge success, and we just want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate with us.

It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the artwork from our Green Arts project, taking part in activities, listening to poetry and enjoying food and live music, visiting the community stalls and celebrating ten amazing years of Breakdown Bolton. Your support, enthusiasm and kindness made the day truly special.

A huge thank you also goes to our participants, volunteers, partners, performers, stallholders and funders who helped make the event possible and brilliant. We couldn’t have done it without you.

📸 We’d love to see the day through your eyes too! If you took any photos during the celebration, please share them in the comments or tag us in your posts—we’d love to see your favourite moments.

🎉 Our birthday celebrations aren’t over yet! You can still enjoy 20% OFF everything in our Stigmatees online shop throughout the rest of July. Simply use the code BIRTHDAY at checkout.

Here’s to the next chapter of creativity, community and supporting mental health through the arts. Thank you for being part of our journey so far. 💜🌿

With love,

Laura, Jennifer & Nichola

Address

Falcon Mill, Handel Street
Bolton
BL18BL

Website

https://linktr.ee/BreakdownBolton

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Breakdown Bolton posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Breakdown Bolton:

Want your establishment to be the top-listed Arts & Entertainment in Bolton?