First recipients of Culture Grants 2024 announced

Wakefield Council has announced the first recipients of this year’s Culture Grants, as part of Our Year – Wakefield District 2024.

The funding is available for Wakefield district creatives, cultural organisations and community groups to support innovative and high-quality creative and heritage projects and nurture the thriving creative spirit of Wakefield district.

Culture Grants have two main grant strands - Made in Wakefield for the creative sector, and Culture Everywhere for community groups and VCSEs.

Made in Wakefield grants offer support from £1,500 to £15,000 to support new creative work, and ambitious participatory projects.

Culture Everywhere grants support constituted community groups and charities, with up to £1,500 to run small arts and culture activities and events with their local communities. These grants are intended to support residents across the district to have the opportunity to experience culture in their communities during Our Year – Wakefield District 2024.

Applications for Culture Grants 2024 are open, with monthly deadlines throughout the year for Culture Everywhere grants, and the 11 March and 10 June deadlines for Made in Wakefield grants.

Interested applicants can visit www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureGrants to find out more. Anyone requiring further information should email culturegrants@wakefield.gov.uk

Culture Grants are a part of Our Year – Wakefield District 2024, an inclusive year-long celebration of Wakefield district and an invitation to enjoy 366 days of culture, creativity and connection for everyone, everywhere. To find out more about Our Year – Wakefield District 2024 visit www.ouryear2024.co.uk

The first six Made in Wakefield grants that we are delighted to announce today are:

•  Friends of Fitzwilliam Station ‘A Bridge Through Time’ will see the group working with Edgelands Arts to run a series of school and community workshops, to develop a new mural for Fitzwilliam Station bridge

•  Getting Gobby in the Lobby’s Spoken Word Programme will include eleven spoken word performance evenings throughout 2024 with guest writers and three writing workshops, with a final showcase and published anthology

•  Natalie Bellingham will develop and showcase a new production of physical theatre and clowning performance, ‘Look After Your Knees’, with the public performance taking place at CAPA College in July. It will form part of a wider tour in the North

•  Open Country’s ‘Wild about Water’ will be a yearlong programme of creative outdoor activities for local disabled people to enjoy blue spaces around the district. Activities will include photography at Walton Colliery, filmmaking at Fitzwilliam Ponds, and poetry at Pontefract Park

•  Portobello Community Forum’s ‘Our Year Portobello 2024’ will be a full year programme of cultural and creative workshops and events at Portobello Community Centre throughout 2024. Activities will include Gelli printing, henna designing, and African drumming

•  Russell Brammer will create a free public exhibition at Queen’s Mill, Castleford, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike. The exhibition will take place in March 2024

The first three Culture Everywhere grants that we are delighted to announce today are:

•  Well Women Centre ‘Women, Wakefield and Wellness’ will be a partnership with artist Tony Wade to run six silk painting workshops with their service users, with a showcase of the final artworks at Wakefield Cathedral later in the year

•  Wakefield and District Society for Deaf People will install a permanent display of their history and artefacts at their centre in Wakefield. The group aim to preserve and celebrate their 102-year heritage with the new display

•  The Friends of Sandal Library and Wakefield artist Beth Morgan will run two workshops with the local community to develop a new permanent mural for the Sandal Library Dementia Garden