Lowry's Scratch Nights offer an evening dedicated to the development of brand-new work. A chance for artists to put early ideas in front of a live, supportive audience to see what sticks; it's about now rather than never, it's about the spit without the polish. Testing early ideas that may one day turn into fully formed pieces.

These informal nights bring new work to audiences and create a supportive platform for artists to experiment, take risks, test ideas, and share new work with peers and wider public.

This edition of Scratch Nights takes its name from our recent online symposium 'Homegrown' which brought together artists, producers and organisations to explore the possibilities and challenges of making and sharing work for artists who have a home-based and situated creative practice.

We're now inviting disabled and non-disabled live art and contemporary performance artists, collectives or companies with a home-based^ creative practice to submit proposals to share work-in-progress pieces online via Zoom on Thursday 18 June 2026.

^By home-based we mean artists who face barriers leaving homes to perform live in person or artists working from home or near to home due to care responsibilities or other barriers that mean they cannot venture further than the surrounding areas of home.

For this opportunity, lead artists should have a home-based creative practice and can work collaboratively with others based elsewhere either online or in person.

This is an open callout for artists based anywhere in the UK, and we strongly encourage artists based in Greater Manchester and the North to apply.

This edition of Scratch Nights will be curated in collaboration with artist Corinne and Lowry Contemporary Curator, Zoe Watson.