Wakefield Council is delighted to announce the final round of recipients of ‘Made in Wakefield’ grants for 2022.
The funding was available for Wakefield district creatives, cultural organisations and communities to support new cultural projects and activities to ensure the entire district creatively thrives.
This autumn sees investment totalling £43,920 by Wakefield Council into 11 culture grants which will enable communities to experience cultural activity for their own neighbourhoods and boost the creative sector to make new ambitious work.
Cllr Michael Graham, Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said, “I am so pleased to announce that once again Wakefield Council is sharing news of our support for creative, cultural, heritage and arts activity for our residents.
“Our culture grants will provide much needed investment for varied, innovative and high-quality creative projects in places and communities right across the Wakefield district. We know the positive benefit cultural and creative activities have for our communities and are delighted to be able to support our professional cultural sector with these vital grants to deliver on a wide range of impactful projects this winter and spring.”
In addition, the Council are supporting a further two groups with grants that support access to high quality arts, culture and heritage across the district.
‘Culture Everywhere’ grants and ‘Culture for Everyone’ grants support community groups, charities and CICs, to run small arts and culture projects, activities, and events for, by and with their local communities. These grants support residents across the district to have the opportunity to experience culture in their communities.
‘Made in Wakefield’ is now closed for 2022, but ‘Culture Everywhere’ and ‘Culture for Everyone’ grants are open for applications until 5pm, on9 January 2023.
Interested applicants for future grants can visit www.wakefield.gov.uk/culture-grants to find out more. Anyone requiring further information should email culturegrants@wakefield.gov.uk.
The 11 ‘Made in Wakefield’ grants are:
- Ali Bullivent will run a weekly day time music making workshop at The Art House. They will work alongside Studio of Sanctuary and everyone of all ages are welcome to join in making music this winter.
- Bring Me to Life – Women’s Wellness CIC will be delivering eight weeks of free positivity through creative scrapbooking and journaling for wellbeing workshops for women in wards Pontefract South and Wakefield North.
- CoActive Arts will progress their vital work with adults with learning disabilities by focusing on developing creative skills and practice. They will deliver 120 skills sessions and a performance for ArtWalk events in the new year. They will also partner with Fitzwilliam Train Station as part of the community platform gallery.
- Dipping Toes will deliver bi-weekly reminiscence workshops evoking memories of the past through exploring the senses, providing the opportunity for participants to share stories and create art at Wakefield Library. Free to join, and those involved will produce artworks which will be exhibited in the spring.
- Friends of Castleford Library will be working with artist Julie McCready to co-produce a tryptic 3D textile wall hanging with the people of Castleford. The drop-in workshops are free and open to all and participants will inspire a large artwork that will be permanently installed at Castleford Library and Museum.
- Seaglass Collective will deliver a 4-week programme at The Art House in art skills for young people, aged 8-14, who have been adopted in Wakefield district. The free workshops will be in pottery and printmaking. The works created will be exhibited at The Art House in March 2023.
- Lanson Moore is an artist based at Earnshaw’s Fencing Centre. They will develop a new fairy trail in the woodlands of the centre. The trail will be free to enjoy with activity worksheets for families available from the café to bring a creative, family activities to this free to access green space.
- Tony Wade, an artist in Wakefield, will investigate how the physical nature of the Wakefield district (its size, area, shape, content – above and below ground) can inspire creative responses in this research and development project. Working with sound composer, Duncan Chapman, to explore ways of using sonification to generate musical interpretations from data across the district. Project findings will form an interactive exhibition, talk and workshop in The Ridings Shopping Centre in March 2023.
- Topsy Turvy Theatre will create a new theatre show for children aged 2-7. It will be the third and final adaptation of the ‘Christopher Nibble’ series of books by Charlotte Middleton. They will test the show in Wakefield libraries, primary schools and community venues before embarking on a national tour in 2023.
- Wakefield District Sight Aid are the only charity supporting people living with sight loss across the Wakefield district. They will pilot a series of eight fully accessible, creative workshops for adults living with sight loss in the Wakefield area. The free, weekly workshops will take place during February and March 2023. They will be informed by co-production focus groups, taking place in December 2022 to determine the content of the workshops.
- Young People’s Empowerment Project will host its ‘Creativity Club’ at Queen’s Mill in Castleford with weekly sessions run by a local art tutor. They are for young people aged 11-16 and 16-25 who live in Castleford. The sessions co-produced by the young people and are led by their ideas and what creative activities they want to engage in.
The ‘Culture Everywhere’ grant has been awarded to:
- Learnest CIC, as part of their new community centre ‘Our House’ in The Ridings Shopping Centre, an LGBTQIA+ hub in the city. They will work with an art collective to devise and deliver two open access arts workshops for the LGBTQIA+ community in Wakefield to create two new pieces of community artwork which represent the LGBTQIA+ communities of Wakefield. They will be displayed in the centre and available to borrow for events across the city.
The ‘Culture for Everyone’ grant has been awarded to:
- Topsy Turvey Theatre will train new freelancers in Makaton and produce numerous new Makaton resources. In addition, they will publish a new radio play produced with visually impaired audiences in mind. They will develop a series of new resources online and new promotional materials to highlight that all of their performances use Makaton.