High Peak Community Arts receives £10,000 grant

A long-running community arts group is celebrating after winning a £10,000 grant from Northern Rail’s Community Improvement Fund.

High Peak Community Arts (HPCA) will benefit from the award, which was part of a £100,000pot divided between 11 different projects in deprived areas across the north.

The money will be used to set up SMART (Serious Makers of ARTs), a training scheme for those aged 13-25 who are interested in taking non-traditional routes into their career.

“This approach is particularly suited for neurodivergent young people, or anyone who faces a barrier to accessing routes such college and university,” said Sophie Mackreth, HPCA’s Creative Programme Manager.

“These settings and the reliance on unpaid work experience have traditionally excluded many creative people from entering the creative industries.”

SMART will launch on between October 29-31 with a Creative Training Camp, where those enrolled will have one-to-ones with industry professionals, experiment with VR apps, and learn how to plan and run workshops.

Trixi Bold, Gareth Carbery and Joseph Doubtfire – whose expertise extends from 3D sculpting and music production to teaching dance - will lead the sessions.

“I always love running leadership training,” said Trixi. “It’s so important for young people’s development as artists or other creative practitioners.”

Founded in 1979, HPCA focuses on bringing the arts to those with the least access to it, with programmes that include school music groups, filmmaking, and performing arts in Fairfield and Gamesley.

The rest of the £100,000 fund was split into two grants of £20,000 to projects in Leeds, four other awards of £10,000, and a further four smaller allocations of £2,500.

Anyone who wants to sign up should visit to www.highpeakarts.org/SMART or contact sophie@highpeakarts.org for more information.