The Greatest Show on Earth: Food Walk and Poetry Trail at Oastler Market, Saturday 20th May

‘The Greatest Show on Earth’

Food Walk & Poetry Trail @ Oastler Market

Food Walk
Come to the most talked about market in Bradford with Oastler Traders, Wur Bradford & The Sparrow Cafe as your guide. As Bradford City kicks off so does Oastler Market with its first Urban Food Forage, if you’re an experienced foodie or complete newbie this is the food walk for you. Meet the traders who can show you the true secrets within the market and taste the many foods. After the forage we finish at The Sparrow Cafe with a platter of food and a craft beer. The Sparrow Cafe gets all its food produce from the Market throughout the year, this is absolutely FREE but spaces are limited.

Tour highlights:
– Go around the world through taste, get to try food from the small traders of Oastler.
– Discover the ‘Lost Art of Market Shopping.’ How to shop in a market from your Vegman, Fish monger and Butcher
– Look at seasonal and local produce including exotic produce from around the world and how to cook with them
– Meet the ‘Spice Man’ who happens to be the nicest man on earth!
– Hear The History of Butchers in ‘My first words were 2 pound 17 & 6’ by John Smith and see the Butchers Mile

The Tour will last approximately 1 hour, finishing a The Sparrow Cafe. To book contact Wurbradford@gmail.com

Poetry Trail
Poetry has gone MASSIVE! Can you spot the poetry that will be up on Stalls of Oastler on #LoveMarkets day. Wur Bradford & Traders are inviting you to get lost in the world of the market and the words of local artists who will premier their back catalogue of work including
Steve Lunn
Florence Remmer
Kirsty Taylor
Rob Hall
& Many More

The work will be up 11am- 4pm in Oastler Market on the 20th May
Poetry Reading 2pm Fountains Cafe

Poetry Sharing ‘Bring us your poetry!’

Come to the 1970s iconic ‘Fountain Cafe’ for their FIRST ever poetry sharing hosted by Wur Bradford & Poets of the Trail. There will be Tea & Cake at 2pm as artist read their work. Feel free to bring your own poetry to share, swap and talk poetry.

Self Guided Walks.
Can’t make those times! Self guided walks now available. New work from Jean McEwan will provide you with a map to follow so you create your own self guided walk. Pick up at the front entrance.

This event has been brought to you by Wur Bradford in collaboration with Oastler traders Bradford Markets  and The Sparrow Cafe for Love Your Local Market fortnight a campaign celebrating British markets #LYLM2017

Tour De Yorkshire Art on Wheels poster workshops and exhibition

Art on Wheels

Join Wur Bradford in two creative workshops to make your own ‘Art on Wheels’ poster celebrating the Tour De Yorkshire! The posters will be exhibited in Bradford Markets in the weekend running up to the race.

Workshop 1
Tuesday 25th April
4-6pm
at the Wild Woods (the ex Marks and Spencers shop in Darley Street)

Printing With Wheels:
Bring any wheels you have (bicyles, wheelchairs, scooters, prams, toy trucks) for a massive collective printing session with tyres of all kinds to make the background for the posters. We’ll be using water based paint which will wash off, but it might be a bit messy so don’t wear your best clothes!
This workshop is suitable for all. Places are limited to please book, by emailing us Wur Bradford at wurbradford@gmail.com. With thanks to our friends at the Brickbox and East Street Arts for giving us use of the Wild Woods!

Workshop 2
Thursday 27th April
at Wur Bradford art space (stall in Kirkgate Market, opposite Home From Home cafe)
1.30 – 3.30pm

Poster Workshop
Make your own Tour De Yorkshire poster by collaging on top of printed wheel marks (made at Tuesday’s workshop) exploring ideas of movement, energy, action and excitement.All materials are provided but please bring your own collage materials if you would like to.The posters will then be exhibited in Bradford Markets in the weekend running up to the race

This workshop is suitable for all. Places are limited to please book, by emailing us Wur Bradford at wurbradford@gmail.com

This workshop is supported by Bradford Council and Bradford Markets.

The Tour De Yorkshire takes place on Sunday 30th April and passes through Bradford – more information here

Facebook event pages
Art on Wheels workshop https://www.facebook.com/events/745368458957055/
Art on wheels poster workshop https://www.facebook.com/events/717052898501636/

Paper bags and poetry

 

Come and get involved on our new Paper Bags and Poetry project at Wur Bradford this Thursday 13th April!
We are creating images on paper bags and then finding or writing poems inside each bag which responding to each image
We’ll be displaying the bags we have made at the final Wild Woods party at the old Marks  and Spencer this Saturday  4-9pm – event details here!.  This will be a very special event, not to be missed, by the amazing Brickbox – we are delighted to be part if it.

Drop in any time on Thursday between 12-3pm to the Wur Bradford art space to make your own paper bag  – We are in Kirkgate Market, the stall opposite Home From Home Cafe.

Bring a poem/poetry books for inspiration or have a look through ours. All are welcome, including small people!

Get involved in our new Bradford photography project!

We are excited to announce a new Bradford photography project, devised by our members Rob and Ben. The project, inspired by this very special old photo book of Bradford ‘Bradford Old and New’, will take you on a journey around Bradford giving you the opportunity to update and replicate images of Bradford from the past.

The project will be happening on Tuesday and led by Rob and Ben and other members of our Tuesday crew.

Meet them at Wur Bradford art space (stall in Kirkgate Market, opposite Home From Home Cafe) at 12pm every Tuesday  to then go and capture a contemporary image of a Bradford street from the book, like this one from Market Street.

This is an opportunity to get involved at the very beginning of an exciting new project  exploring Bradford past and present- who knows where it might take us!

All are welcome!

Got a question or want to know more about Wur Bradford? Email us wurbradford@gmail.com or drop us a message on our facebook page

About us

Wur Bradford (Wur means ‘we are’ or ‘our’  is an independent grassroots arts project which is about exploring how we can make our city and our world better through imagination and collective action.  Run by artists Jean McEwan, Chemaine Cooke and  Uzma Kazi,  Wur work with people to explore how creativity might be used to make empower us and connect us.
Our activities are led by the people who we work with, and have included a wide range of things from  workshops, events, projects, campaigns and discussions. We ran regular weekly sessions in a stall in Kirkgate Market for 2 and a half years from 2015 – 2017,  and we also work in  public spaces and venues throughout the city. We regularly work in partnership with and for other organisations Bradford and have done projects in collaboration with Bradford Council, Impressions Gallery, South Square Gallery, The Brick Box, University of Bradford, Bradford Civic Society, Purple Patch Arts to name but a few.

In 2017 we also ran a year long action research project ‘Power Up Creative Resistance’, exploring creative responses to social and political shifts, in collaboration with University of Bradford’s Peace Studies ‘Thinkspace’ groups, funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

In 2018 we ran a project in Oastler Market called WE ARE HERE, which was celebrating it’s unique history, communities and stories,  working with market traders, members of the public and BCB community radio to tell the stories of the Market and its people through guided walks, printed ‘zines and sound. We shared this work at an exhibition at arts space Kala Sangam after the project.

To get an idea of some of the things we have done ( everything from creative  workshops to bannermaking to art parties to zine-making , self publishing fairs and guided walks) watch the slideshow below, and you can also watch a short video about Wur Bradford, made in late 2015 here at our space in Kirkgate Market.

We are currently looking at how how we can put our respond best to the challenging times we are living in. A new website is coming soon, which we will be updating soon with our plans. In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other, and stay safe.

With love

Jean, Uzma and Chemaine, July 2020

Wur Bradford on facebook

Wur Bradford on twitter

Wur Bradford on instagram

 

 

Women of Influence: Community storytelling session

1-3pm
Thursday 9th March
Wur Bradford Artspace
Kirkgate Market (opposite Home From Home Cafe)

Women of Influence: Community Storytelling about Remarkable Women
Join us at Wur Bradford  in a creative session of sharing stories about the women past and present, familiar and famous, local and international, who have had an influence on us Grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, friends, neighbours, colleagues, public figures.. Come and tell us how these women have shaped your life or inspired you. Feel free to bring any images or words that might help tell your story.. though this is not essential!
Drop in any time between 1-3pm, all are welcome.

Part of the cultural programme for International Womens Day in Bradford

#IWD2017 #IWDBradford #WomenCan

Bradford Bridges Not Walls photos

A selection of photos from Friday’s Bradford Bridges Not Walls action in City Park on Friday 20th January.  On the day that Donald Trump was elected President of the USA a group of us gathered to give a simple, hopeful and unmistaken message to defy the rise of fascism across the world and to affirm that we prefer bridges across our communities not walls. We dropped banners we had made, shared and made placards and messages and sang together.Everyone who came said it felt good to connect on this day! The event was a real collective effort – put together and supported by Migrants Organise, Racial Justice Network, Wur Bradford, Touchstone Bradford, Bradford Action For Refugees and lots of other great people. Thank you all!

Thank you Ute and Uzma for sharing your photos … our friend Neil Terry photographer also documented our event with the photo below and other along with other events across West Yorkshire here http://neilterryphotography.co.uk/galleries/photojournalism/ – thanks Neil!

 

 

Bridges Not Walls Bradford banner drop, Friday 20th January

A group of us ( Migrants Organise, Racial Justice Network, Wur Bradford and others) collectively organised a Bridges Not Walls banner drop action in Bradford this Friday 20th January, the day of Trump’s inauguration

Friday 20th January
8.30 – 10am
Pavillion Cafe, City Park, Bradford

On the 20th of January 2017, at approximately 5pm UK time Donald Trump will be sworn in as the new and 45th president of the United States. Those who have heard him know he is a racist, misogynist and against Muslims. He has spread fear, hatred and division amongst communities.
On this day we will be taking to bridges across the country to defy the rise of fascism across the world. In Bradford, we will be dropping a banner on top of the pavilion cafe at City Park at 8.30-10am and are inviting people to join us to give a simple, hopeful and unmistaken message to defy the rise of fascism across the world and to affirm that we prefer bridges across our communities not walls.
Bridges not walls call out http://bridgesnotwalls.uk/ is a chance for everyone everywhere to say in their own your words and as part of a bigger collective about need for peaceful and just world rid of oppression and hatred.
Because some media and politicians are creating a new normal where extreme views are tolerated, we must actively defend the rights of our most vulnerable brothers, sisters and communities. The situation is not going to fix itself and the government isn’t either so it is down to each one of us to take action and stand in solidarity with those whose message is of unity, building connections and looking out for each other.
Please see Wur Bradford Facebook page for more information on banner making session on Thursday 19th January 2-4pm –  https://www.facebook.com/events/234017930341188/  – join us in making a collective banner or  feel free to bring your own banners and posters on the day with your own messages of solidarity.  ALL ARE WELCOME!

#BridgesNotWalls
#LoveTrumpsHate

Facebook event page for the action: https://www.facebook.com/events/789488467857122/

The action has been organised collectively by Migrants Organise, Racial Justice Network, Wur Bradford and others.

‘Bridges Not Walls’ Bradford action: planning meeting and banner making sessions

Bradford is joining the Bridges Not Walls national day of action on 20th January the day Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America. http://bridgesnotwalls.uk/
That day, together, people across the UK will drop banners from bridges across the country to send a simple, hopeful and unmistakable message:
” We will build bridges, not walls, to a peaceful and just world, rid of oppression and hatred”
Wur Bradford along  with Racial Justice Network  and other friends are joining to do a Bradford Bridges Not Walls action. We’ll make a banner and drop it from a bridge in Bradford (bridge tbc) on the morning of 20th January.

We invite you to join us to help make this happen! Here’s how you can get involved

1. Come to an informal alanning meeting, Thursday 12th January 2-3pm at Wur Bradford- a chance to chat and plan how we organise the action – all are welcome, no special skills required just your enthusiasm! (this will be a first for many of us but we will do it and learn together)
2. Banner making sessions at Wur Bradford on Saturday 14th January 2-4pm, and Thursday 19th January 2-4pm – join us in creating a banner to drop from a Bradford bridge on the 20th January. No specialist skills needed! You can also make your own posters and signs to hold up on the day
3. Come along to the banner drop on the morning of the 20th January – more details coming soon
4. Help spread the word via social media – follow our Wur Bradford facebook page for updates

 

Wur Bradford art space is situated in a stall in Kirkgate Market, above the shopping centre. You can find us at the back of the market -nearest the Westgate entrance, we are opposite Home From Home cafe

End of Year Party!

Wur Bradford End of Year Party

Thursday 22nd December
12-3pm
Wur Bradford artspace
Kirkgate Market (Opposite Home From Home Cafe)
Above Kirkgate Shopping Centre

Join us at Wur Bradford to mark the end of the year and to celebrate the festive season with art, music, market treats and seasonal fun, frolics and friendliness

Featuring:

– Our specially made ‘Market Shrine’ – a  celebration of the amazing people and stalls in Bradford Markets,  containing traders in miniature and objects collected from the markets

 – Acoustic live music and singalong with Rob, Clive and others (including a rendition of You Can’t Always Get What You Want and more)

 – Tarot readings with Graham

 – Family friendly creative activities

 – Mini art exhibition: see some of the we have created this year! From zines to wall drawings to posters to cardboard box art

 – Festive food nibbles gathered from Oastler and Kirkgate Markets stalls, from savoury to sweet treats

 – Decorations made by Julie

Plus more surprises!

All are welcome! Bring your loved ones! Drop in any time between 12-3pm
If you can , please bring us a non perishable food donation for our Bradford Metropolitan Foodbank donations

Heartfelt thanks to our supporters Two28, Bradford Council and Bradford Markets this year – without you we couldn’t have had the amazingly creative and productive year we have had!