Our Biennale is a festival of arts and culture made with children and young people in Kirklees.
Throughout the festival musicians, artists, theatre-makers, and choreographers work with schools, colleges, and communities to enable children and young people to make their very own remarkable pieces of music, art, poetry, drama, and dance.
The most recent Our Biennale projects were delivered in schools and communities from April - June 2022 and the theme was MAGNIFICENT ME!
The focus of the festival was well-being and using the arts to inspire children and young people as they juggled school and overcame the effects of lockdowns and isolations.
Artists helped them celebrate and express themselves through movement, music, self-portraits, alter egos, avatars, puppets, costumes and more.
The Our Biennale Finale celebration took place on Saturday 2nd July 2022 and saw Huddersfield town centre taken over by 100s of children and young people.
Their creations, made during the festival, were paraded through town in the Magnificent Me Piazza Parade and teens performed and skateboarded at the Summer Slam. Both events showed just how magnificent they could be …
Produced by the Kirklees Local Cultural Education Partnership, Evoke, Our Biennale is led by The Children's Art School. Partners from Evoke collaborate with young people, artists, cultural organisations, and teachers in Kirklees to co-create this amazing festival for the whole community.
“The looks on our children’s faces are the reason why we will continue to partake in Our Biennale over and over again, absolute joy.”
Our Biennale was made possible through projects with these artists and arts organisations:
The Children’s Art School, Chol Theatre, Elizabeth Walker, hcmf//, Isobel Denton, Jane Howroyd (Arts 4 All), Kirklees Year of Music, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Manasamitra, Musica Kirklees, Nisha Lall Dance, Parley, Rag & Bone, Sam Charlesworth, Sangam Festival, Seaglass Collective, Toria Garbutt, and West Yorkshire Print Workshop.
