Connecting Cultures

February 21, 2022 Off By admin

With support from The Morrisons Foundation, we’re so excited to tell you about Connecting Cultures – a project offering funding to support access for people in Bradford district to attend cultural events.

Creativity happens all over Bradford, in living rooms, pubs, parks and classrooms. As well as this, more and more large-scale events are going to be happening across the district as we bid for UK City of Culture. Many events are free, but a lot of residents still experience barriers to attending. This can end up with groups being excluded from or not feeling a part of key events in the district’s social calendar.

This pilot project will focus on the following two events:

March 3rd, 4th & 5th The Mills Are Alive in Manningham Huge projections and sound on the chimney of Lister Mill telling the story of the mill and ideas for the future

March 26th Ilkley & 27th Keighley Story Explorer DaysFor young minds aged 3-12 (and their grown-ups). A chance to meet some authors of your favourite children’s books and lots of activities including storytelling, a book trail and fun drop-in sessions.

What’s on offer?

Tell us what you would need to support the groups/ people you work with, and we can cover the costs. You know best, but here are some examples of things we can fund:

Transport (public transport tickets or private transport costs)
Staff or volunteer time to plan and lead a visit with a group
An artist visiting you before the event for a workshop or conversation connected with the themes and explaining what to expect on the day
Artists could run a workshop at the event just for your group
Translator for the event
Translating print and online advertising
Childcare costs
Food and snacks
Equipment to engage online/ remotely through live stream
Covering costs for group members to volunteer for the event so they feel ownership and part of the team (before/ during/ after)
Paying for a support worker/ chaperone
Arranging for groups to be met by event staff/ volunteers acting as personal guides for the event

What’s the process?

Get in touch for a conversation about the events, your groups and what the barriers are
Let us know what access tools you want to try and the costs for this
We’ll get back asap with funding for what is possible within budget
Get going with organising and we’ll keep in touch for any questions and support
After the events tell us what you thought What if the events listed aren’t relevant?

This is a short pilot focusing on upcoming events. If these aren’t right for you then please let us know what type of events your groups would be interested in for the future. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.