2024 funded projects
About our 2024 funded projects
Please find on this page a list of the Made in Wakefield and Culture Everywhere projects that we have supported so far in 2024. They are arranged by the following categories: Access, Community events and festivals, Crafts, Film, Heritage, Literature, Music, Performing arts, and Visual art and sculpture.
More projects to come throughout 2024!
Access
- Open Country’s ‘Wild about Water’ is a full year programme of creative outdoor activities. It will enable local disabled residents to enjoy blue spaces around the district
Community events and festivals
- Friends of Outwood Park will run Picnic in the Park 2024. It will include performances from the Lofthouse 2000 brass band
- Glasshoughton and Redhill Environment Action Team (GREAT) will run their 20th Annual Fun Day. Including free arts activities including circus, henna and dance workshops
- Love 2 Act will hold an Arts and Culture Day. Celebrating their 10-year anniversary with the local community. Including free creative workshops for families
- Newmillerdam Community and Conservation Association will run their Midsummer Community Celebration Day. A free family event including music performances and creative activities
- One Ummah Community CIC will host a celebration event for women. Sharing Sudanese, Syrian and Kurdish cultures, taking place during Refugee Week
- Progressive Talent CIC will run an African and Caribbean cultural heritage event. With exhibitions, music, dance, and fashion show
- Salvation Army (Castleford) will work with the Hong Kong community to run a one-day event. Including activities celebrating Chinese culture and customs for the Lunar New year
- Smawthorne Welfare Action Team will run Smawthorne Gala with fun activities for all. Including a heritage theatre show by Uncle Chris
- Wrenthorpe Community Association will run several events for all ages. Including Wrenthorpe Gala in June, Halloween and Christmas events
Crafts
- Friends of The Hut will hold 5 themed creative cooking classes at The Hut in Airedale
- Inspiring Community CIC will run a series of weekly creative workshops over 12 weeks. Delivered by an art therapist, focused on art and journalling
- Kinsley Craft Workshop will work with a new project manager. They will run 4 creative workshops for participants to gain new skills. The group will exhibit in community spaces
- Lo-Fi Alchemists will run 2 courses exploring personal stories and local heritage. Using accessible lo-fi materials and creative activities
- MHA Communities Wakefield and District will create a calendar keepsake with service users. It will show monthly events, crafts, costumes and foods from the past
- Pontefract Calligraphers will work with tutors to run 3x calligraphy workshops. There will also be two open-access beginners taster sessions for the local community
- Portobello Community Forum’s ‘Portobello Creates 2024’ is a full year programme. Including creative workshops and events at Portobello Community Centre
- Seaglass Collective will run creative workshops for adopted children and their families. Activities will include print and sculpture making, musical theatre and puppetry
- The Crafty Creatives - Cancer Support CIC will run 16 creative workshops. Women participating will explore their Cancer journey. There will be a final exhibition of artworks
- Wakefield Hospice will deliver 30 creative sessions across the district with local communities
- Well Women Centre will run ‘Women, Wakefield and Wellness’ with artist Tony Wade. 6x silk painting workshops for 15 service users. There will be a final display at Wakefield Cathedral
- Wilderness Adventures CIC will run 6x monthly journaling workshops. For teenagers with their parents or guardians
Film
- Frankie Mazzotta will interview local residents in South Elmsall and South Kirkby. Frankie will create a short documentary about the community. It will focus on solidarity around the 1984/5 Miners' Strikes.
Heritage
- Alfie Norris will develop ‘Culture of Coal: Wakefield’s stories’. This 6-episode podcast will look at coal mining's influence on Wakefield district
- Friends of Castleford Library will run a DIY pinhole camera workshop. Participants will capture photos of buildings in Castleford. Final photography exhibition at Castleford Library
- Learnest CIC will celebrate stories of people in Wakefield’s LGBTQ+ community. Through oral histories, creative workshops and community events. With a final mixed-media exhibition
- Naomi Aderonke Crompton will research Cistercian ware of Wrenthorpe. Naomi will run 2x free clay workshops for the public
- Russell Brammer will create an exhibition at Queens Mill, Castleford. It will mark the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike
- The Friends of Horbury Library will work with One to One Development Trust. They will create an online, interactive, gallery of The Horbury Tapestry
- The Friends of Waterton's Wall will run a creative Lime Mortar Workshop. Participants will gain skills to help future renovations of Waterton's Wall in Walton
- The Parish of St Peter and St Leonard, Horbury, with St John, Horbury Bridge will host a weekend celebration. Including a concert and an historic walk re-enactment. It will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Sabine Baring-Gould
- Wakefield and District Society for Deaf People will create a permanent display. It will preserve their 102-year heritage
- Wakefield Railway Modellers Society will research the historic Tom Puddings boats. They will create a scale model diorama and display
- Yew Tree Youth Theatre will work with young people. They will explore the lives of residents at Stanley Royd Hospital. There will be a final creative sharing at the Mental Health Museum
Literature
- Black Horse Poets will run a weekend writing festival. Including workshops and performances from local and regional writers
- Currock Press will run poetry reading sessions. Participants will read poetry aloud to develop self-confidence
- Getting Gobby in the Lobby will run a series of spoken word events. With 11 performance evenings and 3 writing workshops. There will be a final performance and anthology
Music
- Featherstone Male Voice Choir will hold a free drop-in celebration event in Pontefract. Featuring short performances from local choirs and singing groups
- Wakefield Concert Society will hold their 60th anniversary concert at Wakefield Cathedral
- Wakefield Music Collective will run Clarence Unleashed Festival 2024. With 22 bands and a national headliner, alongside many creative family activities
- Wakefield Quaker Meeting will run 8x creative drumming workshops. For families and individuals who are seeking asylum, refugees, and the wider community
- Zambezi Sounds CIC will run 2x participatory walking events for the local community. These will go along Waterton’s Wall in Walton. Artist Ali Bullivent will create a new song inspired by discussions on the walks
Performing arts
- Actual Size Theatre Company will run music workshops with people living with dementia. They will create a new performance centred around music and memories
- Natalie Bellingham will show a new production of ‘Look After Your Knees’. Shared to Wakefield district audiences at CAPA College. Part of a wider tour in the North
- New College Pontefract will work with students to develop a new performance. It will explore the heritage of Pontefract liquorice. Final performances at the college and in schools and care homes around Pontefract
- Story Trails will create a new installation focusing on 10x local legends. They will play via a period landline telephone. With a tour of performances around the district
- Spectrum People CIC will host a week of non-verbal movement and dance workshops. They will be for older people and those living with dementia. In partnership with the Dutch Cultural Participation Fund (DCPF)
Visual art and sculpture
- Abigail Forster will run 8 creative multimedia workshops. They will explore Wakefield district's hidden gems. A final exhibition at Chantry Chapel in Wakefield
- Bijan Amini-Alavijeh will undertake research and development to create new large-scale sculptures. Resulting in an 8-week exhibition at The Art House and workshops
- Charlie Wells will create new songs with local communities. There will be a final performance of music and soundscapes
- Claire Walker will partner with artist Tony Wade. They will work with the local community and young people in Altofts to create 4x silk paintings. These will focus on local landmarks
- CoActive Arts will run a varied project. It will include creation of mixed media artworks and exhibitions. There will also be performances, and a large-scale lantern artwork
- Crigglestone Parish Council will work with an artist to deliver 2 days of collage workshops. The local community will learn how to create their own collages. Final works will form a public display and celebration
- Friends of Fitzwilliam Station and Edgelands Arts will run community workshops. They will develop a new public artwork for Fitzwilliam Station bridge
- Friends of Friarwood Valley Gardens will work with a graffiti artist. They will engage young people to create a new public mural. It will explore what Pontefract means to them
- Friends of Normanton Library will work with Edgelands Arts. They will run 4x workshops with 2 local schools. The schools will create a new mural display in the Normanton Library garden space
- Jen Watson - Yorkshire Artist will run 12x workshops with different community groups. They will create a multimedia indoor mural artwork at Lightwaves Community Centre
- Kellingley Miners' Welfare Centre (Knottingley) will run 20x photography and typography community workshops. Artworks will commemorate 54 years of the Centre
- Michelle Duxbury will work with 4 disabled artists based at The Art House. The group will make new work around landscape, for a public exhibition
- Pontefract Civic Society will work with local schools. They will create artworks around the theme of ‘Friendship’. There will be a final exhibition at Pontefract Library
- Second Chance Headway Centre will run creative sessions with service users. A final exhibition will share their artworks. They will also develop and index their archive
- The Friends of Sandal Library will work with artist Beth Morgan. They will run 2 workshops with the local community. They will create a new public artwork for the Sandal Library Dementia Garden