Hebden Bridge Arts

Who we are

Hebden Bridge Arts aims to ignite the creativity in everyone. We work with communities and inspiring artists to create exciting art informed by the environment and the climate emergency. 

We bring together brilliant artists of all disciplines with grass roots organisations that work with under-served, under-represented communities and the public. We produce highly ambitious, artistically exciting, socially engaged work, and support the development of community confidence and great art through mentoring and co-creation.

You can connect with us as a maker, co-creator, workshop participant, volunteer, audience member and visitor. We create and share visual art, film, written and spoken work, theatre, dance and music, and present our/your creativity to the world.

Our 2022-2023 project was Open Space 70. It culminated in a four day festival and weekend arts trail in July 2023. Here we share the scale and scope of the project and its impact for our community. You can browse the festival programme, check out our short film and read a PDF of our our legacy book (download link below). We are delighted to share some of the work made during the project: enjoy a selection of short films made by young people, creative soundscapes made by our Engaging Neighbourhoods and Allotment Arts groups, Bodies of Water protest performance images, soundscape and resources and our Moth inspiration page. 

The learning we take from Open Space 70’s programme of work and its outcomes is being fed into the development and delivery of a partnership community performance for 2024, to be presented as part of CMBC’s 50th birthday year celebrating culture in Calderdale, which begins next April. 

We’re busy working on the creation of an environmentally themed project, with workshops, sharings, exhibitions and performances around the mid-century French short story, ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ by Jean Giono.

As with Open Space 70, the project will be created and co-curated with a small team of outstanding professional artists, environmental experts, local communities and community groups in partnership with other leading arts and environmental organisations from across the borough, and presented in June / July 2024 as part of Calderdale’s Year of Culture. 

We’re now looking for new board members (trustees of the charity) who will support our work as we move forward with our new strategy and vision.   

Whether you're an experienced trustee or taking your first steps at the Board level, we encourage individuals from all backgrounds, ages, and experiences to apply. We offer support, mentoring, and training to those who have never served as Trustees before, and welcome applications from young people. The time commitment is around 4-5 hours each month, and you must be aged 18 or over to join our board. Board meetings are held roughly every 2 months on a Monday evening in a central Hebden Bridge location. Travel expenses are available and/or online attendance at board meetings is possible.