Barnsley Treasures Workshops

You are warmly invited to take part in a fun, free creative workshop in your local area.

What’s your piece of treasure?

Barnsley Council, Collective Sense, and seven amazing local artists and creative facilitators are on a mission to find out what culture means to the people of Barnsley. 

What activities inspire, engage and support the wellbeing of local residents?

To do this, in Spring 2024, we're running seven creative workshops with local residents, across the borough. 

Each workshop will be facilitated by Chris Rolls from Collective Sense, as well as one of seven passionate local artists and community connectors:

• Sam Batley  (local artist)
• Victoria Agnew  (Jolly Good Communities)
• Rachel Massey  (Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance)
• David Sinclair  (New Art Exchange)
• Ian McMillan  (poet & journalist)
• Helen Boutle  (Creative Recovery - *closed workshop* for Arts Cafe attendees)
• Gary Clarke  (Gary Clarke Company)

Come along to a fun, free creative workshop in your local area!

We'd love to invite you to a 90-minute Barnsley Treasures workshop to find out about your experiences, stories and views.

To attend, please bring along your own personal piece of "treasure" to a workshop. 

A treasure can be anything: an object, a photo, or a memory. As long as it’s precious to you, it’s welcome.  There are no rights or wrongs, and all items brought along will be respected. 

In the workshop, you'll be invited to share any stories connected to your piece of treasure, as well as take part in simple, fun creative challenges related to them. 

We will not keep your items at the end of the workshop, but we may ask you if you're happy for us to photograph them and record some of your experiences.

Each workshop will be unique, shaped by the artistic practice of the local creative facilitators. The workshops will be: Caring, Curious & Playful.

Who knows what Barnsley treasure we'll discover?

What’s the purpose of these workshops?

Barnsley Treasures is a piece of action research informing the first phase of the development of a cultural strategy for the borough being developed by Barnsley Council and local cultural partners. 

In this early stage we want to hear from diverse Barnsley residents about what matters most to them, what's going on in their local areas, and what they would like to have a go at or do more of. 

We expect these initial workshops to inform how we further engage with a range of communities.

Barnsley Treasures also coincides with an exhibition at Experience Barnsley in the town centre showcasing the "treasures" of Barnsley: Chamber of Treasures - cultural artefacts which tell the story of the borough's rich past, present and hopeful future. 

Barnsley Treasures - funded by Arts Council England and Barnsley Council's Cultural Development Fund programme, 'Storying Barnsley'.