Arts View: Yvette Huddleston - It is so heartening that art will pop up in all sorts of places

I’ve been thinking about the way in which the arts keep managing to thrive, against the odds with continued cuts to funding and despite an extremely challenging couple of years due to the Covid pandemic. Audiences have in some cases been slow to return to theatres, cinemas, music venues and art galleries – either through a nervousness about going back into public spaces (Covid is still very much with us) or just having got out of the habit – but numbers appear to be gradually increasing. I firmly believe the arts will always find a way to connect with and bring people together, thanks to the creativity, passion, commitment and resourcefulness of those working in the sector.

Around our region it has been uplifting to see so many arts events taking place in outdoor spaces, especially over the recent weeks of warm, sunny weather. Just a few examples include Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe, which has over the past several Thursday evenings, showcased poetry, comedy, theatre, music and spoken word in the courtyard of the town’s 17th century Manor House.

This weekend BD: Festival will be taking over Bradford city centre with all sorts of, mostly free, events popping up such as poetry, live performance, music, dance and art installation. The programme, which runs over today and tomorrow, also features the return of Common Wealth’s Peaceophobia, being staged in the Oastler market car park. I missed the production the first time round and am looking forward to what promises to be an exhilarating, thought-provoking experience. Next month Staithes Weekender will be animating the picturesque seaside town with a packed couple of days of music, stories, film, poetry, guided walks, boat trips and photography.

It is so heartening that art will pop up in all sorts of places – theatre in pubs and car parks, exhibitions on city walls and in deconsecrated churches, music on moors and in fields. On holiday recently up in the beautiful, remote Isle of Mull, I came across a small art gallery in the middle of nowhere. The Tin Shed Gallery is the brainchild of local artist Charlotte Mellis who set it up in August last year. The compact space – literally a tin shed – has a full programme; one of the artists featured, printmaker Meredith Andrea, is from York. There is so much hope and joy in that sense of ‘if you build it, they will come’. Having that belief, keeping the faith –it’s what the arts and artists do best. And that’s always a good news story.