Graft Collaborative

Graft Collaborative is a non-profit Community Interest Company established to support emerging creative practitioners from a range of artistic and performative disciplines through the development of projects involving Leeds-based communities to engage residents with important social issues.

"At the start of this year we seemed to have everything put in place for our projects and what we wanted to achieve. But as you’re all aware by the end of March the whole of the UK went into lockdown leaving a lot of companies and workers in the creative industries in limbo. Only a week into lockdown, we found out that funding for three of our projects had been put on hold. At this point, myself and the rest of the grafters began to wonder when this will all be over so we could just get back to ‘normal’.

As the days and weeks have past we began to come to terms with the idea that ‘normal’ wasn’t coming any time soon, and we could either take this time to rest, wait for this to all blow over or we take this as an opportunity to make sure that the artists and communities we work with were still getting the opportunity to create, explore and have fun.

It’s for this reason that we developed two new projects which will take place during these times of isolation and social distancing. The first is a development of the anti-curatorial project, Playground, a travelling interdisciplinary exhibition space aimed at tackling important social issues by connecting emerging artists, performers, writers and creatives of all backgrounds to break down barriers in accessing arts and culture.

This new small-scale Playground will give residents in Armley the chance to explore the history of its community, as well as the incredible work being done within it. Planning is under way for the installation, but we envisage that this will be a simple addition to people’s walks and exercise during the lockdown and future months of social distancing ahead, to help people feel more connected to their community, introduce them to new possibilities and provide some much needed entertainment.

Our second project is aimed at helping young children to process this difficult time in their lives, whilst also supporting key workers. Through discussions with primary school teachers and local artists, we have created an activity pack where the children can do word searches, maze puzzles and colour in illustrations of key workers to keep them entertained. This project shows schools and those caring for our children that people in their communities care and recognise the hard work they are all doing.

The packs have been created on a voluntary basis, however if you are interested in receiving one (and can afford to) we would ask you to make a small donation to a local charity currently working to help others during this crisis."

To get involved in Playground, or to receive an activity pack, you can get in touch with Graft Collaborative on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or through their website.

CuratorSpace are currently featuring articles by artists, curators and organisations who want to share their experiences of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether that is artists using their practice as a way of exploring new boundaries of isolation, or as a way to connect more broadly with their communities. We are also interested in hearing from curators and organisations who are offering support to artists.

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