Where: Batley, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Gomersal and Liversedge in West Yorkshire
With: Lawrence Batley Theatre, Batley Festival, Kirklees Council

“I turned the corner and just went  ‘WOW’! We just didn’t expect anything like it…. these huge fiery heads and magical gardens of lights - everyone was smiling as they walked around” – Participant

Creative Scene has its sights firmly set on putting the arts at the heart of the community, so that they become part of the fabric of the area, part of its currency and its distinctiveness; a place where the arts bubble up from the very seams of the place… where people make art a part of their every day life.

Creative Scene’s busy programme of productions, gigs, spectacular outdoor events and pop-up screenings is being grown with the people of Dewsbury, Batley, Mirfield, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, Birstall, Liversedge, Gomersal and Birkenshaw - and all places in between. Creative Scene is in a rural-urban area of historic towns and villages around the steep valleys of Pennine Yorkshire, the triangle between some great cities and at the heart of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’, that’s home to 180,000 people.

The project is collaborating widely to make great art happen in places where people live, work, shop and play. It’s bringing together local businesses, housing associations, retail parks, transport companies, health providers, educational institutions and the professional, amateur and voluntary arts sectors. Individual residents are actively involved too, initiating and taking part in a wide range of events including cabaret, opera, digital light shows, film and outdoor bingo.

Sice 2014 more than 110,000 people have taken part in over 180 Creative Scene events in the places where they live, work, gather and socialise. There’s been shows in pubs and chip shops, an artist in a biscuit factory, parkour performances amongst the market stalls, children getting a fix of fantastic family-friendly theatre, a poetic performance on the streets viewed from an open-top bus, fiery night time spectaculars in town squares and parks, even a game of digital bingo, projected and played on buildings. 

Creative Scene have also hosted international artists, commissioned new theatre which has gone on to tour around the country, and have supported over 50 local artists – including emerging young artists – with learning opportunities to develop their skills, and get into further education, training and work.