Over 80,000 people have attended events as part of Calderdale’s Year of Culture, as the year-long celebration reaches its halfway point.
Calderdale’s Year of Culture (CultureDale(external link)), is being celebrated throughout 2024 and until April 2025, with a programme of creativity and activity to celebrate the borough’s 50th anniversary.
To celebrate the halfway point in the year, an event was held at Todmorden Town Hall on Thursday 17 October, called ‘Looking Back, Moving Forward – CultureDale midway event’.
The event looked back at what has been achieved so far, and what there is to look forward to in the next six months. It was attended by the CultureDale team and local organisations, including Todmorden Folklore Centre, Northern Broadsides and Bankfield Museum, all highlighting the importance of heritage in cultural activities.
CultureDale celebrations kicked off in April, with hundreds of local performers showcasing their talent in an opening celebration to remember.
Since that time, the CultureDale team has worked with over 130 artists and creative professionals to deliver events, training and workshop activities across Calderdale, with 60 valued volunteers providing 600 hours of support to the programme.
There have been many highlights from the last six months, including:
- The People’s Park Festival, which saw over 13,000 people enjoying the weekend of cultural celebration, with music, film, and food from local traders.
- The Tinker, Make, Create roadshows, showcasing children’s arts and crafts activities and culminating in a fantastic festival day at Eureka!
- Happy Valley Pride, which lit up Hebden Bridge with week-long festival, bringing famous drag acts, creative activities, and a whole lot of community spirit to Calder Holmes Park.
- Little Amal, the internationally acclaimed 12 foot puppet of a ten-year old refugee girl, which visited Halifax in September, bringing her message of hope, and raising awareness of the experiences of refugees.
- The Anne Lister Memorial Weekend, which welcomed visitors from as far afield as the west coast of the USA, Australia, and across Europe and the UK. They joined local people at a series of events to commemorate the death of Halifax’s famous landowner, entrepreneur, traveller, and lesbian,
The CultureDale programme is packed with many more collaborative, creative events to come in the next six months. This includes:
- The ‘Chocolate Has A Name’ (CHAN) Festival (25-28 October), which will shine a light on the untold stories behind West Africa’s rich cocoa farming heritage, and the deep connections between West African cocoa production and European chocolate consumption. https://www.culturedale.co.uk/events/chocolate-has-a-name-chan(external link)
- Northern Broadsides’ Acting for The Planet workshops (www.northern-broadsides.co.uk(external link)), which will offer a unique opportunity to collaborate with theatre professionals to create brand new performances exploring the landscape of Calderdale, inspired by The Iron Man and The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes.
- Antidote, a unique and experimental music programme at the Victoria Theatre(external link) on 3 November.
- Annapurna Indian Dance who will be holding a mini dance and music festival on 10 November at Dean Clough, celebrating the rich splendour of Indian classical dances and music with ancient stories with the theme of ‘The World is One Family’
- The Starlight Parade, in Halifax, which will be held on Saturday 30 November 2024, featuring a dazzling array of lights, music, and performances to kick off the festive season in style.
For more information about these events and the many more CultureDale events still to come, visit culturedale.co.uk(external link).
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Services and Communities, Cllr Danielle Durrans, said:
“It’s incredible that we’re now halfway through our Year of Culture – it’s flown by! It’s been such an honour and a pleasure to attend so many of the fantastic events as part of the CultureDale programme. We’ve also had such positive feedback from the many people from all over the borough, and further afield, who’ve attended events.
“Our ‘Looking back, Moving forward’ event in Todmorden, was an opportunity to reflect on the programme so far and it’s many successes. It’s wonderful that over 80,000 people have attended CultureDale events, many of whom haven’t previously attended similar cultural activities.
“There’s so much more to come in our Year of Culture celebrations. I continue to be blown away by the sheer amount of local talent that the events are showcasing.”
The Year of Culture (CultureDale(external link)) is a 12-month celebration of Calderdale turning 50 on 1 April 2024 – a landmark moment in the borough’s story – and marks the ultimate year for the Vision 2024 for Calderdale(external link).
The whole CultureDale programme features locally-created events, festivals, exhibitions, performances and initiatives for everyone to enjoy from April 2024 to April 2025. The programme reflects Calderdale’s rich history, amazing landscapes, incredible people, creativity, entrepreneurship, talent and diversity.
CultureDale is funded by Calderdale Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and UK Shared Prosperity Fund.