Ilkley Literature Festival are one of the organisations in town behind 'Creative Ilkley', part of a district wide consultation on the development of a new cultural strategy for Bradford District called ‘Culture is our Plan’.
A number of the creative organisations in Ilkley are coming together to embark on a short public consultation process.
Erica Morris, director of Ilkley Literature Festival explains: ‘We have called this project Creative Ilkley and we want to involve as wide a cross-section of the community as possible in the time available, capturing people’s views on what is great about creative and cultural offer in Ilkley and the wider Bradford District, and what elements are missing or people think could be improved,
“We want to encourage everyone to get involved and have their say. Taking part will help shape important decisions about future creative opportunities in our area.”
Running from Monday 14 – Sunday 27 September, the Creative Ilkley project is asking local people to contribute in one of three ways:
1. Recording a short video or piece of audio with your thoughts on the creative experience and activities on offer in and around llkley and uploading the recording to your social media channels using the hashtag #CreativeIlkley. These will be used to create an online gallery which can be browsed via the Creative Ilkley website.
2. Pick up one of the #CreativeIlkley ‘Tops & Pants’ cards, fill in the ‘tops’ shape with what’s good and the ‘pants’ shape with what’s no-so-good about creative opportunities in the area, and drop it back into one of the collection boxes. You can collect and return your card at the following locations: Ilkley Manor House, the Grove Bookshop, and outside the Ilkley Lit Fest offices at 9 The Grove. You can also download the template from the Creative Ilkley website and print off your own version at home.
Completed ‘tops’ and ‘pants’ cards will be used to create an installation of ‘washing lines’ in the Manor House Courtyard on Saturday 3 October.
3. Take part in a short online survey at www.creativeilkley.org.uk
The Creative Ilkley project is funded by a ‘Culture is our Plan’ Community arts and culture grant from Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The findings of the consultation will be reported back to the Council in October and also shared with the public through the Creative Ilkley network of organisations and groups.
Erica from ILF spoke to Ilkley's radio station Rombalds Radio, you can hear that interview here.
For more information and to have your say, visit www.creativeilkley.org.uk