Keighley Creative: An Origin Story

Throughout our existence, we’ve made excellence a priority in all the work we do and we operate socially engaged practice.

Thursday, 10 September 2026

Author: Keighley Creative

The Origins of Keighley Creative:

Keighley Creative’s origins lie in 2019 when, working with the then MP John Grogan, the town’s arts organisations came together to plan a three-day Keighley Arts and Film Festival (KAFF) offering visitors and locals the chance to enjoy and participate in a variety of creative events and exhibitions. The group wanted to address historical low levels of cultural provision in the town.

The initiative secured the backing of the arts minister, Bradford Council and Arts Council England.

Leeds charity East Street Arts secured the use of the former household goods department of the Co-op’s Sunwin House on Hanover Street, on a ‘meanwhile’ basis – a rolling monthly agreement providing artists’ studios, gallery space and education areas.

These artists formed a community interest company and combined to stage the inaugural KAFF.

It was then decided to apply for charitable status and Keighley Creative was formed and a board of trustees appointed. Many of these were founder members of Keighley Creative and are still involved, with additional board members recruited from different walks of life. A Bradford Council grant enabled a business plan to be drawn up.

An ambitious bid for funding was made to the then UK government for a community arts hub. Several locations were investigated, including the former Marks and Spencer and Beales stores, but it was decided the Hanover Street was the best prospect. Bradford Council, which administered the central government money, decided East Street Arts, with its extensive experience in running buildings, would be the best body to oversee the new building.

The original intention had been to buy both floors from the building’s owner Frasers, but the company decided to lease the lower floor to a retailer and lease the upper floor to ESA, with Keighley Creative as anchor tenant.

In the meantime, the Covid-19 pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns, changed the world and we scaled down the festival to an online series of events.

In 2021, Keighley Arts and Film Festival came back with a bang, with more than 20 events across the town. With extra staff, we delivered KAFF 2022, almost twice the size of the previous years, and featuring more than 40 events.

We work both with professional artists and local people of all ages and backgrounds. Our aim is to contribute to the regeneration of our town and provide opportunities for people to come together and learn and share new skills and experiences.

Throughout our existence, we’ve made excellence a priority in all the work we do and we operate socially engaged practice. This means we involve the people and communities of our town and surrounding area, enabling collaborative creative projects, often involving trained, professional artists together with members of the public with no previous artistic experience. And all have a fun time being creative!

Keighley Creative also supports asset-based community development. We believe in this bottom-up method of mobilising the skills of the people of the area, so they become active co-producers of creativity rather than passive consumers.

Our New Home:

The building is very different from the one we moved out of in 2022 to our temporary base in the former Argos store in the Airedale Shopping Centre. The architect-designed interior and renovated exterior has 26 artists’ studios of varying sizes; a large gallery and a second window gallery; a large multi-use space; a classroom; and a meeting room, along with offices for our staff. The roof has been fitted with photovoltaic panels to provide green energy.

Keighley College will also occupy a space in the building, offering adult learning courses and the chance for us to collaborate with them in creative environment.

These are exciting times for Keighley Creative as we prepare to occupy our new, long-term home, rather than rely on ‘meanwhile’ temporary spaces.

We believe the Hanover Street building will be a real asset for the town and its creative practitioners, attracting regional national and even international visitors.

The Future:

As we move into our exciting new phase in a permanent home, with some of the best facilities in the North of England, we’re looking forward to welcoming visitors from across the country and beyond, and putting Keighley firmly on the creative map.

We’ve doubled the number of studios available to rent, and are encouraging both those at the start of their artistic journey and established practitioners to join our community.

We’ll continue working with our partners and the people of Keighley to put life into the town centre. Our new premises include improved social facilities for our studio holders and other users. Its various spaces will be available to hire by local organisations, businesses and individuals.

We’ll continue our programme of community-based activities and events, enabling our town’s diverse communities to enjoy their creativity, while promoting excellence in all we do. We look forward to welcoming Keighley people to our new creative base so keep checking our website and social media for updates.