Over several years I was part of the core freelance team at Mid Pennine Arts in Burnley working as both a creative producer and artist on a number of projects.
Cath is an essential part of the MPA team. She has worked on a diverse range of our projects as a Creative Producer, Project Manager and artist and to all tasks brings a high level of skill, experience and enthusiasm. Her work rate would put many to shame! Whatever role Cath has on an MPA project we know that we can trust her to achieve great results. Apart from that Cath is a great team member, supportive to others and knowing when to step in and help, or step back and let people with lesser experience learn. These attributes also make her an ideal person to work with volunteers, community members and young people. We could say more about how fabulous she is, but her head is probably big enough already from reading this!
Melanie Diggle July 2018
Greenways
In 2017/2018 I managed and worked as artist on a long-term programme with the aim of increasing awareness, engagement and ownership of two stretches of Greenway (sometimes known as Cycleways) in Hyndburn and Rossendale. The stretches are currently being improved by Lancashire County Council and our programme of work has included school and community sessions, consultation events and plans for public art works along the route, many of which I have facilitated either individually or as part of the team.
Todmorden Treat
An annual programme of workshops in each of the seven Todmorden primary schools, supported by Todmorden Town Council and managed and delivered by Mid Pennine Arts. Over the years I have facilitated workshops in a number of different art forms on themes including the environment, space, my locality and identity.
In 2019, pupils used the wallpaper panels of American artist Anahata Katkin as inspiration, creating mixed-media collaborative portraits depicting themes and stories from current areas of study. The sessions and images by year 3/4 at St Joseph’s primary explore how to be a responsible explorer of the world and are linked to their current reading of Around The World In 80 days.
In 2018, pupils at each school designed and created collage posters celebrating the people and places of their town, taking inspiration from vintage travel posters.
Previous MPA Projects
- Truce, a mass participation project commemorating the centenary of the Christmas Truces of 1914.
- Bowland Explorers, a year long project employing art and creative activity to support people from local communities to explore the beautiful landscape on their doorstep.
- Fifty Years of MPA, an archive project working with volunteers to unearth and share fifty years of amazing archive materials from the organisation’s history.
- Portraits of the Past, working with the local community to explore and record Gawthorpe Hall through oral history, photography and the creative arts.
Cath in the Attic 