Tag: keighley creative

What a year 2024 has been!

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date December 30, 2024
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Keighley Creative I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

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.

Tags 2024, art, bradford 2025, creative, culture, keighley, keighley creative

Exhibitions Live

Party to celebrate children’s Pledges to the Landscape

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date November 29, 2024
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The Pledges to the Landscape event at Keighley Creative . Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Keighley children’s learning and creativity was celebrated this week as a major project comes to a close.

On Monday we hosted a special event to showcase the Pledges to the Landscape project, a collaboration between Keighley Creative and Yorkshire Peat Partnership.

The event welcomed lots of people who wanted to find out more about this project that uses art to teach local children about the importance of our local landscapes, plants and animals.

Naseem Darbey, artist and project lead on Pledges to the Landscape

Project leads, Naseem Darbey and Lucy Lee, welcomed children that had participated in the project and their families alongside some key members of the local community including the Principal of Keighley College, Kevin O’Hare, and the Mayor of Keighley, Councillor Gulfraz Hussain.

Attendees were also given the first viewing of a special film about the project that has been made by professional filmmaker, Finn Varney.

#peatlands #yorkshire #keighley #keighleycreative #mayorofkeighley #pledgestothelandscape

Tags art, environment, keighley, keighley creative, landscape, nature, peatland

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Welcome Tracy

Tracy Uren, who has been appointed events producer at Keighley Creative. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Keighley Creative are pleased to announce the latest member to join their team. Tracy Uren has been taken on to fill the vacancy of Events Producer and is here to help Keighley Creative organise and run its popular and engaging events and projects.

The team are relishing Tracy’s experience as a Keighley lass having worked in with people and art in the local community for many years.

Tracy’s career started working in schools in Keighley as a playleader, teacher and early years specialist with a strong focus on the arts. Then she moved into working as Learning and Outreach Officer for Bradford Museums and Galleries. Her role was to help audiences connect with the collections and temporary art exhibitions, which included planning and delivery of the Schools Education Programme.

“My role for Bradford Museums directly links to the work I will be doing at Keighley Creative. I organised key events for museums and galleries such as the Yorkshire regional launch of ‘The Big Draw’ and the Schools Linking Project celebration day, which was developed to help promote community cohesion.”

Tracy worked in this role for 10 years and then moved to work for Bradford Council working on various re-development projects across the Keighley & Bradford District.

Riaz Meer, Executive Director said:

“Keighley Creative is thrilled to have Tracy join our team as Events Producer. Tracy is Keighley through and through and will be an amazing champion for our town and the work of Keighley Creative. Her know-how and drive will be a huge asset to the charity as we build towards 2025 and beyond.”

It is clear to see Tracy’s passion for working with people and the arts, not just through her career but also in her free time, as Tracy explained:

“In my spare time I volunteer as an arts activity co-ordinator with ‘Wednesday Leisure Club’ in Keighley. My passion is helping others to connect with their inner creative, so when I stumbled across ‘Keighley Creative’ whilst out shopping, I knew I wanted to be part of it. I’m genuinely proud to be part of something that is making a positive difference to my hometown!

To find out more about Tracy and her role at Keighley Creative, please email tracy@keighleycreative.org

Tags events, keighley, keighley creative, people, projects, staff, team

Community workshops Family fun Previous

Making Keighley’s streets feel safer

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date September 23, 2024
No Comments on Making Keighley’s streets feel safer

Walkers prepare to Light up the Night in the event organised by Keighley Town Council and Keighley Creative. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

This was the aim of a recent community walk organised by Keighley Town Council and Keighley Creative. The walk was organised as a part of Keighley Walking Festival and the theme was “Light Up The Night”.

The walk welcomed anyone who would like to come along and together we walked 2 miles round town.

Walkers prepare to Light up the Night in the event organised by Keighley Town Council and Keighley Creative. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

The walk followed a craft workshop the previous Sunday where attendees were invited to make their own light-up flower torch using recycled materials.

Some of the illuminated flower torches made by participants in the Light Up The Night workshop.

The walk welcomed people from all ages and backgrounds to join the campaign and help make Keighley’s streets feel safer.

Thank you to Louise Soothill from Keighley Town Council for leading the walk and to all those who came along.

And thank you to Bob Smith Photography for the photographs.

Tags Bradford, children, craft, keighley, keighley creative, light up the night, safer streets, walk, walking, women, workshop

Family fun Previous

Exploring Engineering Through Art

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date August 28, 2024
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On Saturday 24th August 2024, local engineer and STEM ambassador, Alisha Bell, ran a special event at Keighley Creative.

The event was titled Engineering and Arts Exploration and Alisha and the team welcomed local families to come along and join in the fun activities exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths through arts and crafts.

A highlight of the event was a visit by Toylab, encouraging children to create their own unique creations from reusing old and broken toys.

There were also various other activities and experiments for local children to get involved in, illustrating how fun and exciting science and engineering can be!

The event also exhibited the work of local artists who had created special pieces to showcase the engineering heritage of Keighley, with paintings from Leonie Briggs, Jane Fielder, Nicola Smith, Andrea Shevloff, Andy, Anne Marie, Serena Redferne, Judy Sale and Nicola Storr.

The Engineering and Arts Exploration exhibition is on display in our gallery area and will up for the next few weeks. Feel free to pop in to our premises on Cooke Lane to have a look.

The Engineering and Arts Exploration project was funded by The Leap, partnered with the Arts Council England, Creative People and Places and Bradford Council and hosted and supported by Keighley Creative.

Alisha Bell in her welding mask!

Tags art, engineering, keighley creative, stem

For artists Previous

Open studio event welcomes record numbers

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date August 22, 2024
No Comments on Open studio event welcomes record numbers

Keighley Creative Maker Fayre and Open Studios event. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

On Saturday 17th August 2024, our studio artists were thrilled to welcome more people than ever before to their open studio event.

Nearly 100 people came to visit, had a tour, met the artists and viewed their huge range of artwork and creativity.

The artists that hosted included Jane Fielder, Dripsy, Naseem Darbey, Jonathan Britten, Martin Cosgrove, Sean Jukes aka Rambling Art, Bill Parker and Leonie Briggs.

The first floor studios were opened up to the public whilst a makers fair went out downstairs. Local creatives had stalls selling their handmade products and visitors enjoyed browsing and shopping.

Goods on sale included jewellery, paintings, quilts, prints, homewares and gifts. Stallholders included Black Craft by CK, Charles Humphreys, Miss Hue Designs, Oakfield Crafts, Anna Gouws Artwork, Dripsy, Kat Rose Illustration and Hoping Sew.

Due to the success of the previous events another one has already been booked in for Saturday 30th November 2024. The event will again include artists opening up their studios as well as a makers fair, perfectly timed for Christmas shopping.

Save the date Maker Fair at Keighley Creative on 30th november 2024

To apply for a stall at the next one, please follow the link below:

https://forms.gle/AnKiztVu6zc9DGq48

Photo credits: Bob Smith Photography

Tags art, craft, creative, keighley, keighley creative, makers

Community workshops Family fun Previous

Keighley children celebrate their Pledges to the Landscape

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date August 20, 2024
No Comments on Keighley children celebrate their Pledges to the Landscape

Pippa Vellacott, four, shows off the wind chime she made at the creative nature event at Cliffe Castle organised by Keighley Creative Photo: Bob Smith Photography

On Saturday 17th August 2024, 100s of Keighley people came along to Cliffe Castle park and joined in some fun, creative sessions run by Keighley Creative that focused on learning about the environment.

Families who attended were given the opportunity to join in with all sorts of activities and everyone was welcomed to get stuck in, no matter what their age or ability.

Approximately 350 visitors took part in various activities using and celebrating nature including making journals, sharing stories, making wind chimes, taking a story stick for a walk and adding their self-made pom-poms to the “Blanket Bog Blanket”.

Some of the comments from families that attended included:

“My kids really, really loved it all. It was so nice to see so many people getting involved.”

“Pom-pom making is so satisfying and calming.”

“I made a journal and I’m going to record in here every day of the summer holidays.”

“Making wind chimes was a very therapeutic activity.”

The creative nature event at Cliffe Castle organised by Keighley Creative Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Local artist, educator and project lead, Naseem Darbey, was thrilled that the event was such a success and said:

“It was a family celebration enjoyed by all and we got so much positive feedback evidencing how much the workshops were loved. People left with their nature gift bags stuffed full of all their own fabulous handmade goods including journals, wind chimes, pom-poms and recipes, and even stories to share. Cliffe Castle park was buzzing and it was fab to see so many smiles.”

The Pledges to the Landscape event was a celebration of a ongoing project run by the charity alongside Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP), and funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Community Climate Grants. Local school children from Year 5 at Eastwood, Victoria, Riddlesden St. Mary’s, Worth Valley, Holycroft and Merlin Top primaries were involved as classes were given their own “micro-peatbogs” to look after and then took part in interactive art workshops in the classroom.

The aim of the Pledges to the Landscape project and the event was not only to get creative but to help educate participants about the environment around them and particularly the importance of Yorkshire’s peat bogs, their plants and wildlife.

Lucy Lee from Yorkshire Peat Partnership with the “Blanket Bog Blanket”. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Spokesperson from YPP, Lucy Lee, said: “Our unique landscapes, peatlands and their plants are truly beautiful but they are also critical to the preservation of our natural environment. It’s important that we all learn about how important bogs are so we are keen to get children involved from as young an age as possible.”

The workshops have been designed and delivered by Naseem, who visited the schools and helped children study their own classroom “micro-bog”. She encouraged pupils to be inspired by the plants that were growing in the bog and to study them using hand-lenses and identification cards. They then used their senses to observe and their drawing skills to record what they had discovered.

Naseem said: “The children that have been involved in the classroom project learnt about the importance of the plants and landscapes around them and how their preservation is essential. We looked at the past, present and future of these environments to help the children understand how they work and they documented the peatbogs using drawing materials. They tried different drawing techniques which helped the children really engage with the bog and they created some beautiful art in the process.”

Showing off the Worth Valley Primary School bog at the creative nature event at Cliffe Castle are, from left, Naseem Darbey, Victoria Townson and Lucy Lee. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

As Naseem continued: “The sessions provided by YPP and I were designed to engage the children by having fun, being creative and sometimes getting messy! This hands-on approach really helped the children understand their local environment and has hopefully inspired the next generation to contribute to the conservation of our peatlands.”

The project has been funded by Bradford Council, the Mayor of West Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Community Climate Grants.

Newly appointed Creative Director, Paula Clark finished by saying: “As a newcomer to Keighley Creative I am so excited by the energy and enthusiasm of the people of Keighley to get involved in this creative and collaborative community project. It’s also fantastic to see the commitment of the talented Keighley Creative team and Yorkshire Peat Partnership to make meaningful projects like this happen. I’m looking forward to everything that is to come next!”

For more information on your local peatlands, please contact Yorkshire Peat Partnership. For more information on arts and crafts workshop offerings from Keighley Creative and Naseem Darbey, please email admin@keighleycreative.org

Tags cliffe castle, eco, environment, family, keighley, keighley creative, kids, peat, peatland

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New Creative Director joins the team

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date August 6, 2024
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Paula Clark, who has been appointed creative director of Keighley Creative. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

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.

Tags arts charity, boss, creative director, keighley, keighley creative

Monday Group

Visit to local art gallery for Monday group

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date July 25, 2024
No Comments on Visit to local art gallery for Monday group

Recently one of our Arts for Brain Health groups took a field trip!

10 people from the Monday Creative group visited Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford with facilitators, Ailsa Lewer and Carine Brosse. The Monday group welcomes participants who are affected by dementia and their carers.

We hired a minibus from Keighley Community Transport to take the group there and picked participants up along the way.

The group spent over an hour in the main gallery where people had an opportunity to look around and then we sat round two paintings. We talked about the paintings, discussing the artists and what people thought about the paintings. We also talked about the connections between the subject matter of the two paintings as both are about textile making – the Lowry showing a smoky. industrial landscape of textile mills in Manchester compared to the peaceful, domestic scene in “The Arab Weaver”.

Lowry at Cartwright Hall — Studying a Lowry

Many thanks to staff at Cartwright Hall from Bradford Museums who made the visit possible – helping us with access to the disabled entrance, providing chairs and making refreshments.

We look forward to further visits to Bradford Museums.

If you are any to find out more about our Arts for Brain Health project and the Monday Creatuve group, please visit our website.

#artappreciation #dementia #artsforbrainhealth #alzheimers #bradford #cartwrighthall #keighleycreative #artgallery #fieldtrip

Tags art, Bradford, cartwright hall, dementia, field trip, keighley, keighley creative, monday

Live

Children from Riddlesden make their “Pledges to the Landscape”

Post author By KeighleyCreative
Post date July 22, 2024
No Comments on Children from Riddlesden make their “Pledges to the Landscape”

Local primary schools have recently taken part in a project educating children about the importance of our peatlands and the latest school to take part was Riddlesden St. Mary’s.

The children were invited to take part in the Pledges to the Landscape project, a classroom programme using art and mark making to engage children, which has been designed by arts charity, Keighley Creative, working alongside the Yorkshire Peat Partnership and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

The project is designed to help children to get creative and to help educate them about the environment around them and particularly the importance of Yorkshire’s peat bogs, their plants and wildlife.

Each class was gifted their own “bog in a box” kit containing high quality drawing materials and hand-lenses to help the children observe and document the growth of their own micro-bog.

The workshops have been designed and delivered by local artist, Naseem Darbey, who visited numerous local schools and helped them create their own classroom “bog”. She encouraged the pupils to be inspired by the plants that grow in the bog and to use their drawing skills to record what they had learnt.

Naseem Darbey artist — Artist, Naseem Darbey. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

The children were given challenges to help them connect with the bog and to improve their drawing techniques using mark-making, to help them get to know the drawing materials and using touch drawing to develop their senses and record texture.

As Naseem explained: “We challenged the pupils to try new ways of drawing. For example, we encouraged them to draw without looking at the paper, which is tricky but it’s brilliant for developing hand-eye co-ordination. We also got them to draw with their other hand to take the preciousness and worry of a perfect drawing away, and to try drawing using a continuous line taking their drawing materials for a fast, spontaneous walk across the paper!”

The children all made their own ‘Pledges to the Landscape’, working together to explore, champion and protect our important doorstep superhero wetlands!

Spokesperson from the Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Lucy Lee, said: “Although the word “bog” may sound ugly, these unique landscapes and their plants can be truly beautiful and are critical to the preservation of our natural environment. It’s important that we all learn about how important they are and we are keen to get children involved from as young an age as possible.”

Lucy Lee Yorkshire Peat Partnerships — Lucy Lee from the Yorkshire Peat Partnership

Naseem said: “The children that have been involved in the project loved getting dirty and engaging directly with a bog in the comfort of their classroom. From there we taught them about the importance of the landscapes around them and how their preservation is essential. We looked at the past, present and future of these environments in order to help the children understand how they work. They documented the peatbogs using drawing materials and created some beautiful art in the process.”

Laura Woodcock, a Year 5 teacher at the school said: “It has been a truly inspirational experience. We absolutely adored it!”

The sessions are also being run at other primary schools around Keighley such as Worth Valley, Merlin Top, Eastwood, Holycroft and Victoria.

Other Keighley families also will be given the opportunity to join in with similar drawing activities as well as story writing, clay modelling and painting at the Pledges to the Landscape celebration event on Saturday 10^th August 2024 in Cliffe Castle Park. And everyone is welcome to come and join in the fun and get stuck in, no matter what your age or ability.

For more information on your local peatlands, please contact the Yorkshire Peat Partnership. For more information on arts and crafts workshop offerings from Keighley Creative, please email admin@keighleycreative.org

Tags bog, children, keighley, keighley creative, kids, peat, peatland, schools, workshop, yorkshire peat partnership

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