Art charity Keighley Creative has appointed a woman with more than 25 years’ experience working with communities throughout the North to lead its creative team.
Paula Clark said she is very excited to step into the post of creative director at a crucial time for the expanding organisation.
She will lead the team in ensuring delivery of existing projects and new ventures as the charity looks forward to a move into its new home in the former Sunwin House on Hanover Street. Keighley Creative currently runs weekly Arts for Brain Health sessions; the Drawing Box Project; hosts studios for artists, along with their pop-up shops and Makers’ Fairs at its present base in the former Argos building on Cooke Lane.
The charity is also collaborating with Yorkshire Peat Partnership in the Bog in a Drawing Box project, culminating in a family creative-nature day on 10 August in Cliffe Castle Park and is hosting a series of watercolour painting workshops with artist Linda Hollingshead. It also holds regular artist get-togethers. Keighley Towns Fund board recently commissioned the organisation to consult with communities on the town’s long-term plan.
Paula, who was born in north Wales but who has been based in York since she was 10, was impressed with Keighley when she first visited the town. She said: “I’m really new to Keighley but I’ve already picked up that it feels a really vibrant place.
“I have been given such a warm welcome; people are really friendly. It feels like a town that, despite challenges, is still living and breathing. There’s so much there to celebrate and build on.”
The new creative director said social cohesion is an important part of building communities. “People have been really struggling. Covid 19 and the cost of living crisis have had a huge impact on people socially and financially. I’m from a disadvantaged background, and know first-hand how accessing creativity can improve wellbeing, mental health, reduce social isolation and bring joy. So, to me it’s important to be working on people’s doorstep and making sure everyone is getting access to these kinds of provisions and cultural experiences that can bring people together, help us to heal and look forward to a better future.
“We know the power that arts and creativity have to bind us together and it can be a game-changer, especially for young people and people who face barriers to accessing opportunities. It’s only by listening to and working together with our community, that we can learn more about how people are already engaging with culture, what they would really like to see more of and challenge the perception that arts and culture is only for those that can afford it.
“At Keighley Creative we want to include everyone and make sure the people of Keighley know that their ideas and opinions are valued and cared about.
“I’m very excited to be joining Keighley Creative at what feels like an exciting moment in time for the organisation and I’m really looking forward to working with the incredibly talented team here to create vision for the next 12 months that is all about celebrating Keighley and its residents, everything it’s already got going on, but also all of the new possibilities that will come with the redevelopment of Keighley Creative’s former home, Sunwin House, that will hopefully put Keighley on the map as a cultural hub and bring new people into town”
Paula worked at York Theatre Royal in various roles, including outreach director, for 10 years. She was head of programme for Creative Scene in Dewsbury, an Arts Council-Creative People and Places organisation; set up her own female-led community-interest company Bolshee and has extensive experience working with young people and communities in socially engaged practice.
Paula’s appointment follows that of former Keighley Creative trustee Riaz Meer as executive director, funded by and seconded from the Kala Sangam charity. The Bradford-based organisation also funded Lauren Kelly’s post of arts and heritage officer with Keighley Creative. Cat Murray continues in her post as event manager, with Naseem Darbey creative lead. Naseem has been running the Bog in a Drawing Box and the Pledges to the Landscape project with schoolchildren. Two new artists have recently been added to the team of studio holders and there will be an open studios event during the Makers’ Fair on 17 August, when the public can view the work of the Keighley Creative studio holders.
For more information contact Paula Clark at paula@keighleycreative.org or Helena Dowsland, Keighley Creative, at helena@keighleycreative.org
Attached photos: creative director Paula Clark. Bob Smith Photography.
