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MEMBERS NEWS

This is your chance to catch up with all the latest updates from other members. 
All content has been submitted by members of CVF, if you have news to share please head to our member's submissions page to be featured in our next update

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NICKY HATTON

Hello CVF, I'm excited to share that I've recently started working as a freelance arts evaluator in Bradford, specialising in community engagement. Following 2 years as a Senior Consultant with The Audience Agency, I’m really looking forward to working more closely with arts organisations in Bradford and supporting them to understand the impact of their work. As an evaluation consultant, I support arts and heritage organisations to evidence and communicate the value of their work in a way that is rigorous, accessible and engaging. I have led on a broad range of evaluation projects, for organisations of different sizes and remits, including NPOs, CPPs and NLHF-funded projects. I work on projects of different sizes and scales from long-term national programmes with multiple activity strands, to small scale projects run by community organisations. I specialise in creative and arts-based projects which make evaluation more fun and accessible. I also support organisations to develop their own evaluation strategies, so that they can: • Identify tangible outcomes that relate to aims, mission and values. • Build confidence in embedding data collection and evaluation across their ongoing programmes and activities. If you’d like to have a chat about evaluation, I’d love to hear from you. You can find out more about me and what I do through my website, where you can also get in touch.

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CELEBRATE AS ONE: BRADFORD DISTRICT AND CRAVEN HEALTH AND CARE PARTNERSHIP AWARDS 2023

Get your nominations in for Celebrate as One: Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership Awards 2023

It’s time to celebrate our work together across Bradford District and Craven, recognising the individuals, teams and projects that are making a real difference in our communities as we ‘Act as One’ to help deliver our vision of keeping people ‘happy, healthy at home’.


The first Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership awards – Celebrate as One - will take place on 19 October 2023. Nominations are now open in 12 categories; designed to give projects and teams across the partnership a chance to highlight their work in priority areas for our partnership.


With kind support from Sovereign Healthcare and Stand Out Media, our awards are open to anyone working in the health and care system locally - voluntary, community and social enterprises, independent care providers, our local NHS and local authorities. 


Nominate now by visiting www.bdcpartnership.co.uk/awards. Closing date: Friday 11 August.

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SALTAIRE HISTORY CLUB & SALTAIRE COLLECTION

1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIREThe Iwakura Embassy’s visit to Bradford and to Titus Salt’s model village1872 saw something unique in Saltaire. The village welcomed a group ofJapanese dignitaries, theIwakura Embassy. And 2023 sees, for the firsttime, the publication of a comprehensive history of this remarkable event. 

Entitled1872: WHEN SAMURAI CAME TO SALTAIRE, the SaltaireHistory Club’s paper can be found on the websites of both the History Club and Saltaire Collection-https://www.saltairehistoryclub.org/research-publicationsorsaltairecollection.org


The Embassy’s visit was remarkable because, only a few years before, Japan had been closed to foreign influence and contacts. Remarkable also, because the dignitaries were very senior indeed: their leader, Iwakura Tomomi, was Japan’s Foreign Secretary. Remarkable, because the ambassadors were on a round-the-world journey which would last over 20 months, taking in North America and much of Europe, and meetings with the US President, Queen Victoria and Chancellor Bismarck. Remarkable, because they had chosen to visit still-incomplete Saltaire, in their quest to discover how Japan might catch up with thenewly-industrialised and prosperous ‘Western Civilisation’.


Today, Japan has the world’s third largest economy: in 1872, it was just emerging from 800 years of feudalism. The Embassy’s journey was a key step on Japan’s road to modernisation. Saltaire was part of that!

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STATEMENTS FROM THE NEW CO-CHAIRS

Vicky Clifton - Organisation Representative 


Hi there. I’m Vicky and I work as the Learning and Outreach Manager for Bradford District Museums and Galleries. I joined Bradford Museums in October 2022 and before that was the Head of Learning at the National Science and Media Museum.  My big passion is around equity of access to arts, heritage and culture. Having been born, raised and gone to Uni in Bradford I absolutely love our City and want us all to rinse every last drop of opportunity and joy that we can out of 2025 while having our eyes very firmly fixed on 2026 and beyond.  I am absolutely over the moon to have been voted as your co-chair, any of the other candidates would have been brilliant and I hope to keep working alongside you all over the next few years.  Richard and I have been meeting with Alex and Kirran as well as Spin Arts to map out the next few months to ensure a smooth handover.  I’m looking forward to supporting CVF and all of you, so please do drop me a line if there is anything I can support you with outside of the meetings and I hope to see you on 19th May.


Richard Dunbar - Freelance Representative 


First of all I would like to say what a massive honour and privilege it is to have been voted in as your Co-Chair of the Cultural Voice Forum representing freelancers in our strong, bold and forward thinking sector.


I would like to pay a special tribute to Shazia, Shabina, Katie and Ned who alongside Vicky made a very string field of candidates for the positions.


By placing such importance on the value of arts, heritage and culture the Bradford District is telling its people and the world that creativity is central in improving wellbeing, fostering connections and getting positive change.


I love our place and I love our sector and I can promise you I will use this passion to advocate on your behalf, celebrate your creative brilliance and ensure we are all doing more to be proactively inclusive in our practice. 


Me and Vicky are excited to formally take over from Alex and Kirran after the next meeting and work with you all to ensure our amazing sector goes from strength to strength.

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LOST MILLS AND GHOST MANSIONS. A MAJOR NEW TEXTILE HERITAGE PROJECT IN BRADFORD

As the Bradford district gears up for the UK City of Culture celebrations, Shipley based 509 Arts has been awarded a major grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to reveal stories of Bradford’s mass mill closures at the end of the 20th Century.


Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will collect stories and memories from people who worked in the mills from the 1970s onwards and map the sites where mills and textile mansions once stood. With support from Bradford Council, 509 Arts will work with Bradford Community Broadcasting and other local partners to reveal the last years of Yorkshire’s ‘wool city of the world’.


509 Arts and BCB want to hear from people across the district with memories of Bradford’s mills from the 1970s onwards. The collected memories will become part of a rich textile artwork commissioned with arts organisation Saltaire Inspired that will tour around the district.


BCB will be working with schools and communities to uncover stories of mills that have been closed and forgotten and will create special programmes for broadcast. A website packed with information and online learning materials will be available in the new year and in June 2024 Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will conclude with a major outdoor celebration at a mill site somewhere in Bradford.


Alan Dix, Artistic Director of 509 Arts, said: “There were once 350 working mills in Bradford and almost every family in the district was connected to the textile industry in some way. Mill buildings were everywhere: Barkerend, Listers, Dalton, Salts, Albany and many more were once household names. Today, most of them are gone. Some have been demolished, some are derelict, some have found new purpose and some, sadly, have burnt to the ground. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will work with mill workers who remember the last years of Bradford’s mass textile industry. Many are now in their 70s and 80s, and we will explore their stories with today’s young Bradfordians, who may not know what life was like in the late 20th Century when textile mills employed whole communities.


“The face of Bradford has changed dramatically in the past 30 years and the mills and textile mansions that were so dominant are rapidly disappearing. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will employ a small team to work across the district, recording mill workers' stories and documenting the places where mills once stood. Bradford 2025 supported our application and this project will be a great way of getting people involved in preparation for our City of Culture celebrations.” Mary Dowson, Director of Bradford Community Broadcasting, sees the project as a great opportunity for Bradford people of all backgrounds in the run up to Bradford City of Culture 2025.


“We are so pleased to be working in partnership with 509 Arts on this project. BCB’s vibrant network of contacts with community organisations, schools and local groups will mean we can dig deep into those times and the changes that were happening in Bradford. Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions will provide a rich seam of stories, interviews and features for broadcast across the district.”


Humayan Islam, CEO of BEAP Community Partnership based in Manningham, said: “Community elders in Bradford have stories that no-one has heard. People came from across the globe to work in Bradford in the 60s and 70s and their experiences of mill life needs to be collected before it's too late. Working with 509 Arts and BCB will bring Bradford’s recent history into focus for today’s young people and the district’s future generations.”


Do you, or someone you know, have a mill story to tell? If you want to know more or get involved with Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions, please email info@509arts.co.uk. Alternatively, you can register your interest on this form Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions has been generously supported by Bradford Metropolitan District Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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THE PEACE MUSEUM

The Peace Museum is moving to Salt's Mill!


The Peace Museum has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £245,651 towards our 'IMAGINE: Creating The Peace Museum of the Future' project. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project will create brand-new public exhibition and engagement spaces at Salts Mill in Saltaire.


We are aiming to reopen the museum to the public in summer 2024. Supported through The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the funding will be used to create engaging and accessible exhibitions, and to develop a dedicated learning space in our new home. Opening in these new premises will create many more opportunities for visitors, researchers, and community groups to explore the diverse range of stories told by the our collection.


With Salt's Mill being a key Bradford landmark and located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire, we're confident that opening at this venue will allow a larger number of people to freely access peace history for the foreseeable future. We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years, particularly while we've been closed to the public. We are still fundraising to support the costs of reopening the museum, including expanding our team to help us to welcome more visitors.


You can find out more about supporting the project at peacemuseum.org.uk/donate

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BRADFORD INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM CONSULTATION

Bradford District Museums and Galleries are looking at setting up a consultation session to see how we can best remodel a currently unused space at Bradford Industrial Museum. The idea is that it will become a Maker Space.  For a museum, this is a pretty exciting proposition, as it’s a blank canvas space with very few parameters – which means the consultation will be really meaningful (and help me loads as there are so many directions we could take this)!  If you would be up for seeing the space and sharing thoughts and ideas as a Maker or a Creative (nice cake and coffee included of course) would you drop me a line on Vicky.clifton@bradford.gov.uk

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CAT SCOTT

I'm excited to share that I was successful with my first ACE Project Grant, Making Inner Horizons accessible, environmentally responsible and commercially viable. I want to be open about this, and share that receiving access support for the first time, enabled me to eliminate my barriers to applying. I have been working towards applying for this, for several years, so it feels surreal that it will soon become a reality. For this project I will research and develop a new series of work with a technician, using Inner Horizons, 2019, as a starting point to create limited series of sculptures that can tour in different locations simultaneously, to generate income. I will research how to make future editions of this sculpture accessible to the physically impaired, through a series of consultations with physically impaired artists, during my exhibition at The Art House, Wakefield. I will showcase Inner Horizons in my first gallery group show, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park at the end of the summer, for their wonder and curiosity programme. I will be mentored by Mediale and Luke Jerram to learn about touring models, to financially sustain my practice. More information to be announced - follow me on Instagram @catscottart and sign up to my mailing list to be the first to find out more: https://catscott.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3b7f09866fd1f8f3d4843a1ff&id=a727897805 Image courtesy of Mediale. Image by Adam Garbutt.

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KALA SANGAM

Kala Sangam are undertaking an exciting heritage interpretation project as part of our major redevelopment, and we want to hear from you. Share your stories, ideas, and wishes for the future of our building and organisation. Join us for a small workshop/Q&A session to be involved. Let us know if you would like to take part by contacting our Head of Community Engagement: Amer on amer@kalasangam.org.

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THE SALTAIRE COLLECTION AND BRADFORD THROUGH THE LENS

A Chance to see a hidden piece of history in Saltaire: One of the tunnels. In this special instalment from Bradford Through The Lens You Tube Team bring you one of the SECRET TUNNELS under Exhibition Road, Saltaire. It will give you an idea of the millworkers who were able to access skills education during the Victoria era. Use the link to see the video and hear the story of this tunnel. https://youtu.be/xN6jVHoOuHA The Saltaire Collection is very grateful to Bradford Through The Lens for making this short film. Ever since the event in 2017 when ‘the secret tunnels of Saltaire’ were opened for the public and so many visitors couldn’t get to see them due to the interest the event created, we have been asked ‘could you open the tunnels again’. For this tunnel, the only way we could do that was by asking Bradford Through The Lens to make this film. We hope that you enjoy the film and the hidden history of the tunnel. Thank you for watching and especial thanks to those of you who take a minute to answer the survey questions which will very much help a piece of audience research, funded by the heritage Lottery programme of grants, that we are undertaking.

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A TALE OF 2 ESTATES

A Tale of 2 Estates is a multi-arts project which fuses Theatre, Rap & Classical music, and Film to deliver a unique storytelling experience. Written by Bradford artist Jae Depz, and produced by Rosie Freeman, the story follows two teenage friends from Bradford, from very different backgrounds in regards to class, race and culture. Both are exposed to situations that a lot of young people face such as drugs, exploitation and crime. Themes of neglect and grief also occur throughout the story as both young people navigate these issues to gain a better sense of their identity and heritage. For the R&D (Research and Development) stage of this project, a team of creatives which included Bradford rappers Kenzo Jae and Jack West as well as Kirsty Taylor (Cashy C's), came together over the course of 2 weeks to write and produce original music, film scenes, and act out scenarios taken from the story. The result was an epic performance at St Clements Church, Bradford, which showed 2 rappers acting as the main characters, performing live over a classical ensemble and acting out scripted scenes, as well as film being shown to pull the audience into each scenario. The sharing received a standing ovation and was met with positive feedback, with hopes for a full production to take place between 2023/2024.
Funded by Bradford Producing Hub, Bradford Council and Help Musicians

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NATIONAL SCIENCE AND MEDIA MUSEUM

National Science and Media Museum to be transformed ahead of City of Culture 2025 The National Science and Media Museum is about to undergo a radical and ‘once-in-a-generation’ transformation ready to inspire millions of visitors to Bradford City of Culture in 2025. Huge changes will be delivered by December 2024, through a £6 million capital project called ‘Sound and Vision’, including two new galleries, a new passenger lift and improvements to the main entrance. To facilitate these works, the National Science and Media Museum has announced a period of temporary closure from June 2023 to summer 2024. Pictureville Cinema will remain open throughout.

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BRADFORD DISTRICT MUSEUMS

Maurice Bloomfield’s Industrial Sublime exhibition comes to Bradford An exhibition of Maurice Broomfield's dramatic photographs capturing factories and their workers in an era of rapid transition, is coming to Bradford. The exhibition of stunning photographs depicting the remnants of the industrial revolution alongside emerging technologies, has recently been on display at the V&A Museum of South Kensington and will go on display at Bradford Industrial Museum from 18 February until 3 September 2023. Maurice Broomfield (1916 – 2010) made some of the most spectacular photographs of industry in the 20th century. His work spans the rise of post-war industrial Britain in the 1950s to its slow decline into the early 1980s. From shipyards to papermills, and textiles production to car manufacture – he emphasised the dramatic, sublime and sometimes surreal qualities of factory work across the UK. When he left school in 1931 at the age of 15 he started work in the local Rolls-Royce factory as that’s what you did. Not long in to the job he saw a photo of a retiring employee being handed a gold watch and realised that this was a person who’d never had any control over his own life. Maurice decided he wanted something more from his life. For more information visit www.bradfordmuseums.org

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