Well what a year! The last 12 months at Keighley Creative have been amazing and our team is proud that they have been able to bring so many arts and culture projects to town in 2024.
We started the year carrying on our I Am Brill project celebrating our hometown and the talents of Keighley people. The project included a series of craft workshops, a fabulous disco and a unique artwork created by local artist, Letty McHugh.
The Stockroom was built and opened at the end of 2023 to provide a cosy cinema and performance space. In 2024 it has taken off and has hosted a range of events including screenings as part of Leeds Film Festival and the comedy-drama play, Kailey written by Kerry Wright.
In early spring we were part of the WoW Girls Festival who brought their big bus to town. Keighley Creative hosted the event and put on a series of activities including tattoo drawing, DJing, dried flower crafts, live performances, sound engineering, henna art and much more.
The Drawing Box project is led by Naseem Darbey and continued to develop this year following last year’s hugely successful Mega Drawing Box event. This time things went mini rather than mega with “the bog in a drawing box”, which was designed to be portable and taken onto the moor enabling walkers to get up close with nature through art.
Bradford Arts Centre, Kala Sangam, and Keighley Creative joined forces this year with a focus on celebrating arts and heritage. They employed Arts and Heritage Officer, Lauren Kelly, who took the “K-Town Cart” to communities around Keighley and helped local people celebrate their heritage through art.
Lauren is not our only new team member as this year has also seen us welcome new Executive Director, Riaz Meer, Creative Director, Paula Clark and Event Producer, Tracy Uren.
And in 2024, more relationships has been built between Keighley Creative and potential supporters and funders. This year we have been happy to announce that we are working with more organisations than ever including businesses such as Timothy Taylor’s and Craftscale, charities such as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and National Lottery and government organisations such as Keighley Town Council, Bradford Metropolitan District Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The local community’s concerns for the welfare of local residents and the cost-of-living crisis led to the “Open Door” project. The aim was to make a well-designed Keighley-centric newspaper that directs people to help locally. It brought together lots of of local organisations and includes lots of useful information and 01535 phone numbers for support on a range of issues including managing debt, mental health, food and wellbeing.
September brought the walking festival organised by Keighley Town Council and we were keen to get involved so designed the “Light Up the Night” walk. Local people including adults and children got together to create unique illuminated flower torches and held an evening parade through town.
Pledges to the Landscape was a collaborative project between Keighley Creative and Yorkshire Peat Partnership. It was designed to educate local school children on the importance of protecting our environment, landscapes and wildlife through drawing. The artwork was then added to a special “leaky dam” installed on a local moorland to help preserve the drawings and the land for the future.
Throughout 2024, Keighley Creative has continued to support local artists in a number of ways such as providing artist studios for hire, regular get togethers, maker fairs and exhibitions, all with the aim of supporting those developing careers in the creative industries.
Keighley Creative’s popular community arts and craft workshops will continue in 2025 thanks to their success in 2024. This year they have brought free family fun and creative opportunities to venues around town including the market hall, Airedale Shopping Centre, Town Hall Square, Cliffe Castle and various community centres. This year’s workshops included celebrations of Easter, Hallowe’en, Eid, Christmas, St. George’s Day and recognising 100 years of the Keighley Cenotaph.
Our Arts for Brain Health project providing weekly workshops to Keighley people continues to go from strength-to-strength. The workshops not only give creative opportunities but also the chance to develop skills and meet new people. Thanks to some new National Lottery funding, in 2025 we will grow the programme further.
2025 is set to be a big year for the city as a whole with a host of big arts and culture projects with various special projects coming to Keighley as part of Bradford 2025.
To find out more about what’s Keighley Creative are up to in 2025, please sign up to our mailing list or follow us on our social media channels @keighleycreative.
