bradford 2025 Archives - Keighley Creative

Talented local artists selected by community panel

Keighley Creative are pleased to announced that 5 artists have been specially selected by a panel of local people to design sculptures for a new arts trail launching this May.

Local artist, illustrator, sculptor and studio holder, Leonie Briggs is the founder of the sculpture and is working with the KC team to bring this new project to life.

Leonie explained:

“As an artist based in the heart of Keighley I wanted to design a project that demonstrated the creativity of the local community, brought something positive to the town, and highlighted the area’s rich folklore. After painting a sculpture for the Snooks Sculpture Trail in York and speaking to local young people about what they would like to see in the town, I thought it would be amazing if we could have our own sculpture trail.”

For the project’s theme Leonie has been inspired by local legend, Rombald the Giant, whose statue sits in the Airedale Shopping Centre. The story goes that Rombald and his wife threw stones that broke and created the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor. But Leonie wondered where the other little rocks might have ended up?! And the idea for the Rombald’s Rocks themed trail was born.

The Keighley Sculpture Trail is being supported by the Bradford 2025 Creative Communities Fund and Keighley BID, as its aims are to encourage creativity and increase footfall for businesses within the district. Therefore the team wanted to involve people from Keighley as much as possible so have been proactively looking for those who would like to get involved. Opportunities we have recruited for include workshop facilitators, graphic designers, selection panel members and artists.

Ten “Rombald’s Rocks” sculptures are being made by Leonie. Five of them will be decorated by groups representing different communities of Keighley, namely Highfield Community Association, The Good Shepherd Centre, One in a Million group at Sue Belcher Centre, Wednesday Leisure and Hainworth Wood Community Centre. The other five will be decorated by selected individual artists that have been chosen by a community panel made up of local volunteers.

The chosen artists are:

Catherine Fortey – a Shipley-based author, illustrator, printmaker and potter;
Dripsy – a Keighley-raised street artist;
Jon Britten – a self-taught creative artist based in Keighley;
Nicola Storr – an illustrator, art teacher, and workshop facilitator based in Bingley; and
Sven Shaw – an illustrator and painter based in Baildon.

The launch of “Rombald’s Rocks” will be on Saturday 24^th May 2025 when the ten sculptures will be unveiled in different locations around Keighley, encouraging people to explore the town centre and highlighting some local landmarks. The trail is also supported by Keighley BID and local businesses as they recognise how such events are key for promoting shopping on the high street.

Prior to the launch weekend, the team will be encouraging more people to get involved so they are running free, family-friendly arts and crafts workshops.

Keighley Creative arts workshop — “Rombald’s Rocks themed arts and crafts workshops will soon be coming to Keighley. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Cat Murray, Keighley Creative’s Event Manager explained:

“The trail is not just for artists, it’s for everyone. We want as many local people as possible to get involved so we are running workshops around town from the end of April, where local people can come along and make their own Rombald’s Rocks themed artworks. Also we’d love people to take an active role in the launch weekend if possible so we have volunteer roles available. Watch this space for more information on these upcoming opportunities.”

For more information on Keighley Sculpture Trail, workshops and volunteer opportunities, follow us on social media @keighleycreative or look out for the flyers including a trail map which will be available at key locations in the town centre.

GiveBradford is an independent grant maker and is the place for giving in Bradford and they’re building a movement. Working collaboratively with leaders, community organisations and donors, they’re strengthening the future of local communities, building a fairer Bradford for everyone.

Pears Foundation is a family foundation driven by a desire to demonstrate the good that philanthropy can achieve in the world. The Pears family has given more than £450m to charity since the Foundation was established.

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture (Bradford 2025) runs from January 2025 to December 2025 and is a celebration of Bradford city and district, taking place across its city, towns, villages and greenspaces. It will showcase the rich history of the area and spotlight its dynamic contemporary culture in all forms; dance and theatre, music and film, visual arts and crafts, food and sport. The City of Culture designation has already brought significant investment to the region and been a catalyst for development. It is set to have a lifelong impact through its reshaping of the local curriculum, skills and training programmes, investment in existing and new creative spaces, and opening up opportunities for cultural participation.

What a year 2024 has been!

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.

Bradford Visual Arts Social at KEighley Creative — Credit: Ant Robling

KAILEY play Stockroom Keighley — Credit: Ant Robling

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.

DJ workshop at Keighley Creative with KIya Major

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.

Otley Walking Festival - Bog in A Drawing Box group on Denton moor

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.

Riaz Meer, Executive Director at Keighley Creative. Photo credit: Bob Smith Photography — Riaz Meer. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Paula Clark Keighley Creative — Riaz Meer. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

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.

Open Door newspaper being given away from Asda Keighley — Photo: Bob Smith Photography

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.

Leonie Briggs with puppet — Photo: Bob Smith Photography

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.

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