Purple Patch Arts - Projects and Partnerships

Projects and Partnerships

Purple Patch regularly works with day services, supported living providers, libraries, universities, schools and other organisations to deliver short-term funded projects that meet specific outcomes. We actively seek grants to fund a wide range of projects, and organisations also invite us in to provide specialist training, consultancy and workshop delivery.

Why we do it

To meet need

Projects allow us to deliver targeted sessions that respond to identified needs.

To work with new people

We get to work with people in new areas, or those who might not be able to attend our Lifelong Learning Programmes.

To support others

We have the opportunity to share our expertise with other organisations to upskill their staff.

Current work

Below is a selection of the projects we’re currently working on:

Move on Up

Funder:
The National Lottery Community Fund

Description:

We’re very excited to be developing a transitions project aimed at providing early support to 240 young people with learning disabilities and autism in Leeds and Bradford leaving school, college and young people’s services, empowering them to transition successfully to adult community services.

Purple Research Group

Funder:
n/a

Description:

A group of participants from our Lifelong Learning Programmes are working with a researcher from the University of Leeds, called Melissa, to find out what people think about Purple Patch.

The Purple Research Group meet every two weeks over Zoom, and are exploring three key themes using creative, interactive research methods.

Link

To Wander is to Adventure

Funder:
The National Lottery Community Fund

Description:

We’re working in partnership with Wur Bradford to improve health and wellbeing for adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults by co-producing mindful walking resources.

Link

Highlights

We’ve been lucky enough to run some fabulous projects over the years. Here are some of our highlights.

We were funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to create a film about the social history of learning disability.

Watch Here

We were part of a research project called ‘Living Life to the Fullest’, which sought to forge new understandings of the lives, hopes, desires and contributions of children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. An arts retreat that we ran as part of the project was featured on BBC Breakfast.

Watch here

We delivered training to library staff on Kirklees and Bradford in how to deliver Sensory Stories. The work, funded by Arts Council England, had a huge impact, with Kirklees libraries being nominated for a national Libraries Change Lives awards.

Watch Here

We collaborated on a sensory installation based on Dylan Thomas’ ‘Under Milk Wood’, funded by Arts Council England.

Watch Here

We were funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation to work with celebrated poet Ian McMillan and create a poem based on the responses of children with complex needs to classic literature.

Watch Here

We ran workshops for young people with learning disabilities as part of a cross-disciplinary, arts-based research project which explored the toilet as a place of exclusion and belonging.

Read here

Got an idea?

We’re always keen to develop new partnerships; if you have an idea of how we could work together, or for more information about our previous work, please get in touch.