Today we reveal the three nominees for the Arts Award in this year’s Examiner Community Awards.
The winner will be revealed at the glittering awards night at the John Smith’s Stadium on Wednesday.
This award is sponsored by First.
It said: "Huddersfield is built on a history of art and creative talent with the focus now on high tech working and advanced engineering. Art, design and creativity help shape our future and this applies to all areas across our communities including our local bus services."
"Art and creativity are undoubtable an important part of our future and First would like to wish good luck to everyone shortlisted for the First Bus Arts Award."
Here are the award nominees:
Create Space
Art can be a powerful medium especially when it is harnessed to tackle stigmas and myths.
And in Huddersfield a project called Create Space is doing just to enhance people’s awareness of mental health and it stages about five workshops a week.
It was nominated by Scarlette Homeshaw, who said: “Although newly opened in January this year, Create Space has already proven to be a fantastic resource for the local community. This diverse and ever evolving space houses one-off workshops, creative drop-ins and short courses that explore all manner of media and creative learning approaches.”
Based in the Packhorse Centre close to the mental health charity Support to Recovery (S2R), Create Space is an open and welcoming venue providing mental health and wellbeing information and letting people know about appropriate services. Create Space’ is S2R’s activity hub, bringing together interactive initiatives from all of its key projects.
It plays an invaluable role in how S2R now reaches the community, keeping an open dialogue about mental wellbeing and helping to reduce stigma.
Workshops staged in just two months include textiles for beginners, willow weaving, Viking knitting (weaving jewellery), drawing for beginners and horticulture. Community groups and local artists can also showcase their work throughout the space which can take up to three exhibitions at any one time.
Scarlette added: “Create Space is designed to be a safe and inclusive environment with an emphasis on reducing social anxiety and feelings of isolation by endeavouring to build confidence and resilience through creatively diverse and stimulating activities.”
Between February 2015 and February 2016 Create Space is offering six people the chance to be its resident artist for one month each and will spend at least 18 hours per week there making new work, talking to the public about their art while providing information about S2R and its projects.
The Create Space exhibition schedule is now full through to the end of July ranging from university students to famous Huddersfield inventor Wilf Lunn.
Brass Factor
When it comes to Holmfirth where there’s music there’s brass,
For the young man behind a competition to massively promote brass music in our area and far beyond has received several nominations for the Arts Award.
Brass band contest the Brass Factor was originally started by Alex Bray back in 2010 when he was studying journalism at Huddersfield University and it was his final year project. The idea was to give a brass band contest a talent show twist to change people’s perceptions of brass music – and it earned him the highest mark ever awarded by the university for this part of the course.
Since then Brass Factor has just grown so much it has expanded from Holmfirth – where it has been a continual sell-out and huge boost to the local economy – into other venues in Harrogate and Wetherby and now attracts 42 brass bands with an age range from six to 85. Last year the contest featured 450 musicians aged from six to 21.
But more than just a contest, it has led to brass band music being taken out into the community with a junior band playing on board a Grand Central train and at Kings Cross station to spread the Brass Factor message down south. Brass Factor is now working with sponsor railway company Grand Central to develop a Brass Factor schools programme to keep the bands alive in the future.
On top of all this the Brass Factor has raised more than £15,000 for local charities including the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, the Huddersfield Town Foundation and the Yorkshire Regiment Benevolent Trust in memory of Meltham soldier Tom Wroe who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012. Alex has raised more than £70,000 for different charities since he started fundraising at the age of just 10.
Kay Crewdson from Holmfirth said: “Brass Factor is about a lasting legacy, making an impact on people’s lives. Alex is an inspiration.”
Yorkshire Society chairman Keith Madeley said: “His work supporting young musicians to display their talents and raise an awareness of such a great heritage to the younger generation is truly remarkable.”
And Chris Phillips from Holmfirth added: “Alex’s passion for developing a platform for grassroots musicians is a cut above the rest, ensuring that brass will live on for the next generation and win new audiences as it goes.”
Cornet player Alex, 25, of Holmfirth, is a corporate fundraiser for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
He said: “I wanted to reignite people’s passion for brass bands – I saw it as in danger of becoming a dying art. It needed refreshing and I wanted to create that buzz about brass bands again and make it appeal to a younger audience.”
Adam Blakey
He’s only been a tattooist for a year but Adam Blakey has already proved he is a phenomenal talent.
For the 20-year-old beat competition from around 40 entrants from across the world to get the trophy for best colour tattoo at Manchester Tattoo Show.
It meant Adam triumphed against tattoo artists who had been in the business longer than he has been alive.
Adam, who works at Slawit Ink in Slaithwaite, won with his full forearm tattoo of two characters from Guardians of the Galaxy film which won him the accolade. It took him five and a half hours. The characters are pair of bounty hunters – the genetically engineered raccoon Rocket and the tree-like humanoid Groot.
Adam said: “Winning certainly boosted my reputation among other tattoo artists. Doing tattoos is not an art form that is open to anyone. Not everyone can try it – there are probably only 20 in the Huddersfield area.
“I was always interested in art at school and wanted to carry it on as a career but not in the art industry so it seemed natural to turn to tattooing.”
Adam has done hundreds of tattoos in his short career – but the first one was on his own leg and features taekwondo symbols.
He used to get nervous when faced with the task of marking people’s skin – but not anymore. The trickiest ones are in what Adam describes as the more ‘inaccessible’ places such as between fingers, behind ears and he even did one across a person’s throat and voice box.
Many of the tattoos created by Adam are of fantasy characters.
He has worked on images of Wolverine and Iron Man from the Marvel Comics along with Alien.
But the one that really captures people’s attention is a bottle of Jack Daniels on a customer’s arm.
Adam lives in Linthwaite with girlfriend Grace Daniels but lived most of his life in Denby Dale where he attended Scissett Middle School and Shelley College.
Coming tomorrow: the shortlist for the Sports Team of the Year.
