Past ArtReach Activities

The July Project Festival has been developed by Square Chapel and Eureka! The Museum for Children and sponsored by Halifax Bank of Scotland. The Festival is for young people in Calderdale aged between 5 and 19 years and features activities run at various locations across the district.

The Festival is by and for young people and as well as featuring big name acts. We are really keen that the Festival showcases the creativity of local young people by encouraging then to showcase their skills/work and to get involved in activities they may not take part in normally.

The July Project consists of a combination of professional shows at Square Chapel, activity workshops held at assorted venues around Calderdale and education outreach programmes held in various schools. The Festival in 2007 saw over 50 different performances and activities take place at over 20 venues during the festival fortnight. These included professional shows from author Peter J Murray, The National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Tiny Tin Lady and James Campbell with Comedy 4 Kids. Workshops took place in Elland, Brighouse, Todmorden, Halifax, Mixenden, Boothtown, Shelf, Sowerby Bridge and Hebden Bridge and consisted of a host of activities ranging from rock climbing and raft making to African bead craft to Dance classes.

Our educational outreach programme took place over 5 secondary schools and saw each of them working with a different creative professional from various artistic disciplines, such as theatre, music, visual arts and dance. Each school worked with their creative partner for 6 to 8 weeks leading up to the festival and their work culminated in a performance or exhibition as part of The July Project.