From working for Greggs to running one of the region’s biggest art events which sells like hot cakes – introducing John Macaulay

If you had told John fifteen years ago that he would be running two, successful art businesses, he never would’ve believed you. From being dragged to art studios by his wife and business partner, Sophie, to running three live art events each year and four creative studios, John found a calling he never in his wildest dreams thought would be his. 

He and his wife are the creators of a unique art experience: ART battle, which takes place across Greater Manchester, with different artists, DJs and acts performing at each event.   People to watch ten artists compete to create a masterpiece in under 30 minutes, with the winner voted for by the audience. The aim of the event: make art accessible, drawing in people who may never have imagined the art world was for them. 

Could you give me an overview of your journey in creating ART Battle and GRIT Studios?  

“Yeah, sure. I founded ART Battle with my wife, Sophie. When we first met, she kept trying to drag me to art galleries and I wasn’t interested because, like many people from my area (Stockport), I just liked football and music. She was the one that made me realise that you don’t need to have a be good at art, or have a degree in art, to appreciate it. So, after eventually developing a love for art, we set about creating an event called which had art as the focalpoint but also had the same energy that you get at a gig.  

“That was the birth of ART Battle Manchester back in 2013, and we’ve been doing it ever since. We’ve done 30 ART Battles now! We try and create a real energy in the room… so, we have DJs playing, we have live acts on, but art is very much the focal point.  

“Everybody who attends ART Battle gets the same vote, whether you’ve got a degree in art or you’ve never set foot in an art gallery. It’s a very democratic vote, in a way, but ultimately it’s about bringing art to everybody, I think there’s a lot of people out there who think that art isn’t for them. ART Battle is about art for all. 

“Grit was born out of the pandemic because we couldn’t do our live art events. We were sat at home, with two very young children who were going mad every day, because Sophie was out working in the NHS. I just thought, there’s a real shortage of studio space in Manchester for artists, and we’ve met over 300 artists through ART Battle, and there’s loads of empty buildings everywhere. We need to reclaim some of these empty buildings for artists. 

So yeah, we ended up opening GRIT Studios in 2021, five years ago in Stockport. Just across the road from Stopford Park, on Canal Street, and yeah, that’s been an incredible journey. We now have four studios across Manchester, Salford and Stockport, and 108 artists in residence. If you said to me 15 years ago that I’d be running two art businesses, essentially, I’d have thought you were crazy, but here we are.” 

How did this become your full-time job? 

“I used to work in the food industry. So, I worked for Greggs, the bakers and I worked for Kingsmill, as well as others. I used to work in big food factories, nothing to do with art.
Art Battle started as a hobby really. It’s a bit like throwing a party for all your friends and family, three times a year. So, we did ART Battle while we did our other jobs, but I think Sophie left the NHS in 2022 once GRIT was up and running and it was working all right. She took the bold leap and left the NHS, and I had left a bit before that.”

What do you want people to think when they hear Art Battle or grit studios?

“I think we want to be for everybody. So, we don’t want to be elitist in any way. It’s about celebrating the creativity that, I think, is inside everyone. I told myself, I wasn’t creative, when, actually, I am. Just because I can’t draw, doesn’t mean I’m not creative, and I think it’s about changing that message to people: actually, everybody is creative, just in different ways.  

“In this country, unless you can draw a face or a bowl of fruit. They say, ‘oh, I’m not creative,’ but actually, everybody has a creative skill. So, I think if we can make more people realise that, then that’s worth it for us.” 

How have you been pulling people along to ART Battles and GRIT?

“It has just been really organic. It’s was word of mouth initially. You know, ART Battle has different competitors every time, so every time you do an event, there’s 10 new people take part. So, it’s just grown organically, really. And we’ve stuck at it for such a long time. As I said, it’s 13 years this year. As for Grit, ART Battle was a way for us to meet lots and lots of artists, when we opened our first art studio, we knew all the right people who were interested in filling it straight away. So, the two businesses are very aligned.”

What are your ambitions for, say, the future of ART Battle and the future of GRIT?

“We just want to keep putting on fun events for people, and keep the events fresh. We’re lucky that Manchester and the surrounding boroughs are all evolving all the time. So, there are always new spaces to explore and new artists to involve. 

We just want to keep doing more of what we’ve done. We don’t want to take over the world. We just want to really cement the creative community in Greater Manchester and support the creative community here. So that’s very much ART Battle.  

With GRIT, the two are quite aligned, but GRIT’s about providing affordable studio space for artists and makers. We’ve got some really interesting makers and artists within GRIT. Everything from people who make stuff with textiles and ceramics, to pottery, stained glass windows, willow weaving, puppet making, upholstery… Stockport is a town built on heritage and built on crafts, what we’re trying to do is to protect that.  

So, it’s trying to find a space for these people who are really creative and skilful doing crafts which are centuries old. They’re still practising techniques and crafts that have been around for centuries to keep them relevant in today’s society. Not everyone wants to be working at a computer screen. It is about providing a safe space for these artists and makers to hang out and as I said, you know, we do want to grow GRIT. We’re always on the lookout for more buildings. There’s over 400 artists on our waiting list at the moment at GRIT, so we know there’s a society, and a real shortage of cheap spaces. So that’s our challenge: to keep providing affordable studio space in Greater Manchester.”

What does Stockport have to offer creatives? 

“We opened our first GRIT Studio five years ago, in the backstreets of Stockport and to be honest, it was a brilliant place to start… I don’t think there was a better fit for us. It just felt like, coming out of the pandemic, not everybody wanted to go into Manchester every day, people were getting more used to working closer to home.  

“And what I’d say about Stockport is, there are a lot of people pulling in the same direction. So, everyone talks about the £1 billion pound regeneration plan: there’s new roads, hotels, bus stations, cinemas… everything is new! There is a lot of investment going into Stockport, which is great – but it isn’t just about the money. It’s about the people. I feel in Stockport there are lots of people, particularly business owners and independents, who are doing stuff for the town. So, it’s just a really exciting place at the moment. You know, the national press is picking up Stockport. We are glad we have Stockport as our home, that’s where our first studio is and where we now own two studios, hopefully we will be there forever. It just felt like a really good fit.”