The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a grant of £50,000 to Ascendance Rep towards the ‘Your Space’ project, which is a unique heritage initiative taking place across 10 Yorkshire churches. The award will enable communities of all ages to creatively participate in preserving history that would otherwise be forgotten.
Ascendance Rep have been extra lucky as they have also successfully gained £1,000 from The Churches Community Fund and £1,000 from The Peter de Haan Foundation to put towards the dance project.
The Leeds based company will take dance workshops with over 250 children bringing to life local stories, histories, church architecture and memories. Even those not partial to a spot of dancing are invited to get in on the act as a documentary will be made alongside the project.
The documentary will capture the progression of the project but will also focus on the impact it has had on the local community through interviews with various members of the local community. Local history will therefore become a new reality, re-experienced and enjoyed by everyone.
Rachel Wesson, Artistic Director of Ascendance Rep said: “This is an amazing opportunity for us to work with diverse communities from the young through to the very old. The project uses creative dance as a way to unlock and interpret the history stored within these churches. It is so important that information is passed down through the generations so that we can learn about our past and understand our heritage.”
To ensure the local history continues to be shared, the ‘Your Space’ project have set up an additional educational resource website for schools, libraries and local archives.
Fiona Spiers, Regional Manager for the Heritage Lottery Fund said: “The Your Space project will provide a wonderful opportunity for the local communities to learn more about the buildings and stories of their local area. The use of dance and the arts to help interpret history and memories will allow more people to learn about and understand their heritage.”
The arts, like history, should be enjoyed by all and that is exactly what Ascendance have set out to do, making dance accessible to all sorts of people and communities. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) continues to enable communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about Britain’s diverse heritage.
‘Your Space’ Project is touring churches across Yorkshire. To find out more visit www.ascendance.org.uk
