2025 funded projects
About our 2025 funded projects
Please find on this page a list of the Culture Grants projects supported in 2025. They are arranged by project theme categories.
Community events and festivals
- 1st Castleford Guides Whitwood Division ran Whitwood Celebrates, a celebration event for children and volunteers, including a range of creative activities
- Carr Gate Community Association held their ‘Movie Magic’ themed community flowerpot and scarecrow festival
- Castleford Tigers Community Trust marked Castleford Tigers’ 100th year through dance, art, and heritage
- Frontside ran a one-day festival at Castleford Skate Park. Celebrating local culture, creativity, and skate achievements
- Horbury Civic Society ran Horbury Picnic in the Park 2025, a community one-day event in Carr Lodge Park, Horbury
- LonGBoaT Wakefield CIO ran a Community Pride Fringe. The day will include creative activities, talks and music performances
- Next Generation CIC held Wakefield Mela 2025, a cross-cultural event celebrating South Asian culture through music, arts, food, and stalls
- One Ummah Community CIC’s Cultures in Harmony project included a cultural sharing celebration day and a theatre performance showcasing Sudanese cultural heritage
- Portobello Community Forum hosted Portobello Gala - Treasures in our Community, including performances from local theatre groups, cheerleaders, dancers, and local students
- St Mary's Chequerfield Community Project hosted St Mary’s Summer Showcase 2025, a community celebration day with arts and crafts, games, storytelling and more
Crafts
- Community Foundation Wakefield District ran a 6-week programme of weekly workshops. Participants will learn how to upcycle their clothes
- MHA communities Wakefield ran a 6-week spring craft programme for older adults
Heritage
- Ackworth Parish Council held creative workshops with the community to explore Ackworth's heritage
- Castleford Heritage Trust uncovered Castleford’s overlooked glassworks heritage
- Featherstone Rovers Foundation ran storytelling and creative heritage workshops exploring the bond between mining and rugby league in Featherstone and the 5 towns
- Story Trails ran heritage trail walks around the district and led during Heritage Open Days, developed in collaboration with local communities
- Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation offered a programme of rugby heritage reminiscence sessions in local care homes and family workshops celebrating Trinity heritage through creative displays
Music
- Fanfare Music ran a Music Production Summer School for children aged 8 to 15 during the school holidays with 3 experienced music educators in Ossett
- Wakefield Music Collective’s Clarence Park Festival 2025 featured 22 live bands, DJs, children's crafts, stalls and more
Performing arts
- Christopher Dyson’s project revived the historic folk tradition of Mummers Plays with schoolchildren in Knottingley
- Empath Theatre CIC’s Wakespeare theatre programme reimagined Shakespeare through Wakefield voices
- Outwood Academy City Fields ran a 6-week after-school theatre project home and belonging. They held a final sharing at the Theatre Royal Wakefield
- Topsy Turvy Theatre ran performance and poetry sessions at HMP New Hall - engaging with mothers and their families
Visual art and sculpture
- Castleford Art Space delivered creative mapping workshops. They will create an art installation at Carlton Lanes Shopping Centre in Castleford
- Horbury Community Centre Trust offered drop-in mosaic activities as part of their 10th anniversary open day, to create a new mosaic marking their 10th year
- Lakeside Creative Arts Centre ran a community stained glass project. Inspired by Newmillerdam’s landscape
- Ossett and District Camera Club delivered weekly photography sessions. Featuring expert talks, hands-on feedback, and competitions
- Spectrum People held design workshops with the local community for the Wakefield Calico Dress project
- Three Lane Ends Academy worked with an artist to deliver lantern-making workshops. With a final display for families and the local community
Creative health and wellbeing
- Footprints Forward with HKers and Locals CIC supported Hong Kong families through creative activities. With a final celebratory exhibition for the local community
- Reflections Yorkshire CIC delivered new weekly art classes for Reflections’ service users in recovery
- Sustain Wakefield worked with service users to create a new community-driven newspaper highlighting the benefits of art in mental health and neuro inclusion
- The Optima Collective CIC offered creative sessions exploring alternative and heavy metal music. Supporting emotional wellbeing and self-expression
- Wakefield Parent Carer Forum CIC offered 24 creative sessions for SEND children and their families in Wakefield
Nature and Sustainability
- Grow Wakefield ran weekly arts sessions using natural materials
- Mindful Movers delivered creative workshops to create a new mosaic artwork sign. They will also make nature-inspired outdoor artworks. With a final display at the charity’s site at Thornes Park
- Open Country’s Wild about Woodlands project offered weekly creative woodland sessions for local disabled people in nature spots around the district
- Tony Wade ran creative workshops in Airedale and Fryston, focusing on local green spaces and trees. With a final public artwork