The first commission, which will be shared at Artwalk on 31 January, is the result of a collaboration between The Art House and WE ARE which has seen the delivery of a programme of ‘micro’ residencies. Artists Holly Rowan Hesson, Joseph Jackson, Yoke (Annie Nelson and Chris Woodward) and Emma Papworth were each selected based on their proposals to create new work about or inspired by Wakefield.

Upcoming collaborations that will be shared in March include –

National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMME) and Edgelands Arts

‘Above and Below the Surface’ – exploring the impact of Wakefield’s hidden geological coal seams on the visible landscape and the social lives of the people who live in the area.

HQ Arts and Wakefield Jazz

‘Tango Unchained’ – creating a short performance piece with older Wakefield residents that takes Tango and storytelling as its starting point.

Long Division & Skysail Studios/ various WAP partners

Creating a series of short films to reveal more about WAP partners and where they work.

One to One Development Trust and Axis Web

‘Surround’ will offer local artists and community members the opportunity to work in Virtual Reality to create playful new artwork for showcase in an online VR gallery.

And back in November 2017 The Good of Small Things and the Cluntergate Centre collaborated on a project entitled ‘What Makes Horbury?’ – a celebration of making, creating and doing by the Horbury community with artist Andy Abbott.

 

All of the collaborations are being documented by Wakefield College students under the mentorship of experienced Wakefield based filmmaker Nick Singleton. Films created will be shared through the WAP website and twitter account over the coming months and will be showcased as part of a collaborative event during this year’s Long Division Festival on Sunday 3 June 2018.

The commissions are being managed by WAP coordinators, Beam, and build on the work of artist Andy Abbott who delivered the first artist commission, ‘Hidden Wakefield’, for Wakefield Arts Partnership in 2016. This project aimed to creatively engage Wakefield communities in a dialogue about place – stimulating and gathering information and stories that highlight local distinctiveness. As a focus for the project Andy set up the ‘Wakefield Centre for Dark Matter’, which took the form of a mysterious travelling pyramid that archived and exhibited the hidden, hard to find, strange and wonderful aspects of Wakefield that more people should know about. Andy’s work can be viewed online at – http://wakefieldartspartnership.org/hiddenwakefield/

 

WAP collaborative commissions are supported by Arts Council through its Grants for the Arts programme as part of Beam’s Arts In Place III project.

 

 

Image credit: Andy Abbott – ‘What Makes Horbury?’ event