We’re proud to have funded 6 projects in the second round of our Community Heritage Fund programme, in collaboration with Leeds Community Foundation.
The fund supports grassroots activity that celebrates the best of Leeds and its communities, encouraging diverse communities and creatives from across Leeds to share their histories, heritage and stories.
Music House
The Music House ‘Past and Present’ project celebrates the history of the organisation’s home and the heritage of diverse local communities. The work includes research, heritage walks and the creation of a local heritage group who work alongside the staff leading the project. The work will culminate in a photographic exhibition and digital collection to celebrate a heritage of community music and 1 St Mark’s Avenue.
The first year of the project has focused on engaging and involving local people and researching the history of Music House and its role in the neighbourhood. The team of heritage specialist Joe Williams and writer and storyteller Matthew Bellwood have led a series of activities including Heritage Walks, a Christmas Fair, weekly heritage sessions, music creation sessions, performances telling the aims and story of the project and the formation of a Community Heritage group. These activities have drawn people into the project and surfaced past Music House connections with, among others, composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge Taylor, a cappella ensemble The Fisk Jubilee Singers and actress Julie Andrews.
Plans for Year 2 of the project include two further Heritage Walks, 15 Community Heritage sessions, a photographic exhibition and digital collection, the creation of three songs which will be performed at various shows and events, a Heritage Open Day event, new Heritage documents which will be added to the website, and a final celebration event.
Yorkshire Contemporary
In partnership with Rowland Road Working Men’s Club in Beeston and local families and volunteers, Yorkshire Contemporary are transforming a plot of land adjoining the club into an accessible, green play space. The area includes play structures for children aged 0-5 and seating / picnic areas, co-designed with local people and artist(s).
Yorkshire Contemporary is a visual arts charity aiming to create exciting opportunities for people to see art for free, support children and adults to be creative and provide a platform for early career artists.
Work started in the Spring to clear the outdoor area. Over several weekends, volunteers cut away overgrown vegetation and removed rubbish. Grounds workers were hired to remove vast areas of brambles, and rubbish from the club and from fly-tipping. A steering group of 19 local residents, councillors, club members and professionals working in play or community work has led the work.
A fire pit, a compost store, a canopy, a bug hotel, a ‘telephone’ between sections and a den building area were constructed using mostly repurposed materials, creating an inviting space for play.
Year 2 plans involve creating a visual brand identity for the Play Patch, installing new signage, and building additional fun play areas on the site. Community-led activities will be a feature, building participation and ensuring a local voice in the work. 33 volunteers have been involved to date, and over 200 adults and children have participated, building a strong sense of belonging to the local community.
Retreat 2 Rebirth
Retreat 2 Rebirth are running engagement activities that record and celebrate dance from the African communities of East and North-East Leeds. The project involves six awareness workshops for African communities and wider communities.
Costume making, writing and drawing activities enabled learning about 6 different African dance traditions and the stories of African dancers who have migrated to Leeds:
💃The Guinea Bissau Women’s Group
💃 Zulu Stomps
💃 Dabie Simul & the Kuduru Dancers
💃 Sankofa Masquerades 5
💃 Ethiopian Wetatoch
💃 Zimbabwean drumming and dance from the Ndebele tribe
Each dance session attracted different and diverse audiences. Those attending said the sessions evoked nostalgia and feelings of wellbeing and broke down stereotypes and promoted mutual understanding across different age groups.
The Conservation Volunteers
The Conservation Volunteers Hollybush Rhubarb Roots project celebrates the heritage of the Hollybush site with a focus on rhubarb, historically grown at the site, re-designs of the gardens bringing in new plants, fruit bushes to reflect both the site’s heritage and the diversity of modern Leeds.
11 practical conservation volunteering days have seen the upper garden cleared and levelled, paths built and a bench and seed library installed. In the lower garden a play area has been cleared and levelled with a fence, raised beds, benches and information board installed.
20 half day gardening sessions have seen the planting of new cottage garden plants, fruit bushes and rhubarb to reflect the site’s heritage. Ideas for rhubarb recipes have been collected and are being served in the site café.
41 people have been involved the first year of the project, which has helped to attract over 7400 visits during 2024.
Skippko Arts Team
Skippko are working with members of Hope Project Leeds on the ‘Tales of Hope’ project with the goal of researching, developing and designing a stained-glass effect window which will be installed in HOPE’s new home.
During the first year, 14 workshops have been held, including sessions with HOPE’s men’s group, a craft group, a friendship group, and with children and families. Three research trips have taken place to Leeds Local and Family History Library, Leeds Minster and Leeds Victoria Gate (both places with stained glass windows) and The Leeds Library, which holds an original 1598 stained glass piece from Osmondthorpe Hall.
Sessions working with local residents on the design of the new window have involved participants in sharing stories of their local area, researching local history, discussing what makes their area special, and looking at and making their own maps of the area, all of which will inform the design of the new window. 51 people have been involved in the project to date.
Refugee Education & Training Advice Service
RETAS (Refugee Education and Training Advice Service) is a charity supporting the social, cultural and economic integration of refugees and asylum seekers in West Yorkshire. They address destitution and social isolation, housing, health and wellbeing, welfare, language development, debt management, education, training and employment advice and guidance.
The Patchwork Project is a celebration of Harehills, focused on the concept of ‘home’. During 2024, RETAS worked on the creation of a photographic exhibition and a community recipe book. The exhibition celebrates the diverse community of Leeds and more specifically, Harehills. All those included in the exhibition reside or work in the neighbourhood and believe in celebrating a diverse and thriving community within Harehills. The images and stories reflect the positive impact and legacy of those who have sought sanctuary in the local communities and made this place their home.
The recipe book encapsulates the different cultures which make up the area, further celebrating the coming together of people from different cultures and countries to share food and learn about each other’s stories. 54 local people have been involved in the project to date.
Year 2 plans include curation, facilitation and delivery of a multi-lingual walking tour of the Harehills community. Extensive research has been undertaken to learn about local history and heritage, with the walk planned for the Summer of 2025.
