Community projects

Our Voices, Our Words: On Our Own Terms 

Since 2022, Thackray has collaborated with community organiser and local activist, Natalie Tharraleos, as well as writer and public educator Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, on a series of creative writing workshops for local people.

On Our Own Terms is a series of creative writing workshops, focusing on themes of safety, wellbeing, health, history, family and more. They explore how connection through words can lead to real change. Many poems from the sessions focus on the lives and realities of people living in the local area, and one of the aims of the project has been to complicate the media narrative that Harehills is a ‘bad neighbourhood’.

Following the latest series of workshops in 2025, a selection of poems from the project are exhibiting at Thackray, starting on the front fence and going all around the galleries. 

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Culture Club 

Culture Cub was a project in partnership with Leeds 2023 and Sable Radio, which ran throughout 2023.  

It included a weekly youth club at the museum for people aged 16-21 from East Leeds, where they explored healthcare topics and medical histories using creative media and collaboration with artists using a variety of skills and practices. 

The young people also worked with Thackray and Sable to run a series of ‘Culture Club Lates’. These were after-hours events at the museum, combining music and food, as well as their very own alternative tours of the galleries.

We are continuing to build on the legacy of this project, working with local young people to embed their voices in the museum. 

Upcycling Workshops  

In addition to offering our community spaces for free to local organisations, the museum is committed to supporting local projects that can positively impact the people involved.

From January to March 2025, the museum funded and provided support for self-taught designer Goodness Woodhead to deliver a series of free upcycling workshops for the local community. These workshops were an opportunity for people to gain skills in creating their own sustainable fashion, and gain confidence in expressing themselves through clothing.  

We are currently working on securing funding for the next stage of this project.