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

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Let’s Talk About.. Street Harassment

Let’s talk about street harassment: A conversation and creative ideas session

Wur Bradford
Kirkgate Market
1-3pm
Thursday 20th October

Some of us are very concerned about street harassment we have been witnessing  in our streets and other public spaces in Bradford. This is a problem which needs to be addressed and we all have a part to play. We want to see an end to this, and we want to explore what we can do to take action –  to educate, raise awareness and change attitudes so that street harassment becomes unacceptable in our city.

What is street harassment?

“Gender-based street harassment is unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation.”
Street harassment is a human rights issue because it limits harassed persons’ ability to be in public, especially women’s. Read the United Nations’ stance on the issue.
(From Stop Street Harassment website http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/about/what-is-street-harassment/

This is a informal session to explore and share conversation and creative ideas about how we can tackle street harassment. Everyone is welcome!
We’ll capture the conversation and ideas through the making of a collective zine (a DIY magazine)  and we’ll sharing the knowledge we’ve gained and the distribute the zine at  Bradford Women of the World Festival 4-6th November, at which there will be a panel discussion about street harassment.

We’ll hear from women who have led and worked on campaigns in Bradford to combat street harassment  including Samayya Afzal    previous Women’s and Campaigns Officer at University of Bradford Union of Students, and others who have worked with interfaith groups. We’ll also hear from men who are actively trying to combat the issue and about what they want to do to raise awareness among other men.

We also welcome any other contributions – so if you have a perspective, experience, viewpoint or have information, resources or campaigns you think we should know about we would love to hear from you! Come along to the session, or you can also get in touch with us at wurbradford@gmail.com