Artists will be showcasing their work at a weekend-long arts festival in the Colne Valley.

The inaugural Slaithwaite Art Festival takes place on May 13-14.

The team behind it, Slaithwaite Community Association, design company ByteBack Creative and Globe Arts Education, are finalising the details, but here’s what’s planned so far:

What is Slaithwaite Art Festival?

Slaithwaite Art Festival is a celebration of local and regional artists.

Slaithwaite Arts Festival organiser Clare Cawthra said: “There is a great creative buzz around the village at the moment and we want to bring all those artists together in the centre of our community. We want to look after our artists in the Colne Valley, we want the wider community to have access to the creative hub.

"The festival will also encourage our children to engage with art and raise awareness of the children’s creativity. A selection of children’s work from local schools will be on show as a preview to the wider Sheer Brilliance exhibition being run by Globe Arts Education in conjunction with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park National Education Archive of Children’s Art and the University of Huddersfield.

Slaithwaite Community Centre in Bankgate, Slaithwaite
Slaithwaite Community Centre in Bankgate, Slaithwaite

When and where is it?

It runs over the weekend of May 13-14 at Slaithwaite Community Centre on Bank Gate and Globe Arts Studio on Carr Lane.

The Community Centre will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday. Globe Arts Education will open its studios for an open day on Sunday where visitors can see the resident artists at work and discover all about the visual arts classes, courses and training on offer.

What visitors will see:

Local artists will exhibit and sell their work in visual art, printmaking, paintings, sculptures, photographs, ceramics, jewellery and textiles. Visitors will be able to see demonstrations in printmaking, textile weaving, felting and marbling.

Slaithwaite Playgroup and Toddlers (SPlaT!) will run art activities for children during the weekend.

Artists already confirmed include Ian Wrench, Frances Noon, Sylvi Gibbs, Dan Booth, Kate Deforges, Janet Clark, Ruth Gilbert and the West Yorkshire Print Workshop.

Poster for Slaithwaite Arts Festival
Poster for Slaithwaite Arts Festival

What does it cost?

This event is free of charge to attend.

Design company ByteBack Creative and the newly-opened Globe Arts Education, which aims to promote art in the community, is supporting the event. They hope it will become an annual arts festival.

Search Slaithwaite Arts Festival on Facebook page or email ByteBack Creative at hello@bytebackcreative.com for more details.