Five local projects awarded Wakefield Council’s Culture Grants

Wakefield Council is pleased to announce five successful recipients of its 2025 Culture Grants Connecting Communities awards, supporting creative organisations that engage residents.

The grant programme supports projects that use creativity to strengthen community ties, promote wellbeing, and celebrate local heritage. This year’s recipients include a range of organisations with established programmes in visual arts, heritage, and creative health.

Five grants have been awarded to the National Coal Mining Museum, The Art House, The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Theatre Royal Wakefield.

Lynn Dunning, CEO, National Coal Mining Museum, said: “We are thrilled to have received funding from Wakefield Council Culture Grants for this exciting project supporting our Black to Green Festival in October. This project will see us working with schools, family centres and young carers in ex-mining communities across the district to create an exciting, animated projection and accompanying soundscape as the culmination of the festival.”

Lucy Juniper, Co-Executive Director, The Art House, said: “We are thrilled to be delivering our project with the support of a Wakefield Council Culture Grant. It will enable us to deliver the crucial community co-creation aspect of our exhibition 'Emotional Geographies' by Charlotte Smithson, opening at The Art House from 21 June 2025. The project will use nature-based creativity to explore wellbeing, environmental stewardship, community cohesion, and local social history.”

Olivia Colling, Deputy Director, The Hepworth Wakefield, said: “We are delighted to receive a 2025 Connecting Communities grant. This generous support will enable us to build on our successful creative health programming, with exciting new initiatives connecting local communities with the wellbeing benefits of arts and creativity, as well as continuing our impactful work with families seeking sanctuary.”

Alex Hodby, Interim Head of Programmes at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: “We are so grateful to have received a Wakefield Council Culture Grant to support local learning and engagement projects at Yorkshire Sculpture Park this year. The Culture Grant has enabled YSP to nurture existing partnerships as well as make new ones. As a result of these projects, we are welcoming new visitors from across Wakefield to YSP for the first time, and we are bringing YSP into Wakefield classrooms and community centres too.”

Sarah Shooter, Head of Development, Theatre Royal Wakefield, said: “Thanks to funding from Wakefield Council Culture Grants we can continue supporting and improving the lives of Wakefield residents. As a Theatre of Sanctuary, we are proud of our warm welcome to all. Conversation Café funded through this grant allows us to do just that, offering a cup of tea and biscuit and a chance to practise spoken English. Wakey Wakey brings alive the theatre on a Saturday morning, supporting the youngest in our community to share stories, learn, play and have fun.”

For more information about all of Wakefield Council’s cultural funding please visit: www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureGrants 

The five projects are:

National Coal Mining Museum

The museum will use the funding to support its Black to Green Festival in October. The festival will culminate in a powerful animated projection and soundscape co-created with young people from ex-mining communities.
National Coal Mining Museum for England’s mission is to keep the stories of coal mining alive by collecting and preserving the industry’s rich heritage. We co-create enjoyable and inspiring ways for people of all ages, backgrounds and needs to engage with the history of coal and its legacy. 
National Coal Mining Museum for England is located at Caphouse Colliery, on the western edge of the Yorkshire coalfield, where mining has been carried out for centuries.
Museum entry is free.

The Art House

The Art House will deliver a community co-creation programme as part of its upcoming exhibition Emotional Geographies by Charlotte Smithson.
The Art House (TAH) is a visual arts organisation and gallery in Wakefield City Centre. TAH was founded in 1994 by a group of artists with a vision to provide studio space that was physically accessible and adaptable for as many artists as possible. TAH is now home to 45 artist studios, 2 exhibition spaces, 3 maker spaces, a shop and cafe. Open to the public 5 days a week and free to enter, visitors are invited to engage with the creative process through a year-round programme of residencies, exhibitions, events, workshops, and professional development opportunities.

The Hepworth Wakefield

The Hepworth Wakefield will expand its creative health programming, including work with families seeking sanctuary.
Designed by the acclaimed David Chipperfield Architects, The Hepworth Wakefield is set within Wakefield’s historic waterfront, overlooking the River Calder and The Hepworth Wakefield Garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. Named after Barbara Hepworth, one of the most important artists of the 20th century, who was born and brought up in Wakefield, the gallery presents major exhibitions of the best international modern and contemporary art. It is also home to Wakefield’s growing art collection – an inspiring resource comprising outstanding works of modern British and contemporary art. The gallery runs engaging programmes for schools, families and local community groups, providing inspiring creative learning opportunities, alongside a vibrant programme of workshops, talks and events, including regular art fairs and markets.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP)

YSP will receive funding to support its ongoing work connecting communities with contemporary art and sculpture in meaningful and accessible ways.
Awarded VisitEngland’s gold accolade in 2023–24 for an outstanding visitor attraction, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture. Welcoming around 300,000 visitors each year, YSP is a registered charity and accredited museum situated in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate in West and South Yorkshire.

YSP was founded in 1977 by Sir Peter Murray CBE, and it is the largest sculpture park of its kind in Europe. It is the only place in the world to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety, alongside a significant collection of sculpture, including bronzes by Henry Moore, and important works by artists such as Hemali Bhuta, Roger Hiorns, Damien Hirst, Kimsooja, and Erwin Wurm.

YSP mounts a year-round temporary exhibitions programme including some of the world’s leading artists across six galleries and the outdoors. Over its 48-year history, YSP has worked with over 1,000 artists from more than 40 countries and supports 40,000 people annually through its learning programme.

Theatre Royal Wakefield

Theatre Royal Wakefield will use the grant to support inclusive community programmes such as Conversation Café and Wakey Wakey, as well as community outreach to reduce the barriers for audiences accessing the theatre. 
Theatre Royal Wakefield’s mission is to develop new creative opportunities and experiences both within the theatre building, throughout the wider community and on tour, encouraging high-quality engagement across a broad sector of the performing arts.

They do this by offering a busy programme both on and off stage, working with and in the local community to use the performing arts to enhance people’s lives.