Posted by Rachel Westall on 28 January 2025
WOVEN, the biennial festival celebrating textile heritage and innovation in Kirklees, will take place from 1 to 30 June 2025. WOVEN takes place across Kirklees every other year. Established in 2019, the festival has helped communities across Kirklees celebrate the region's textile heritage and find out more about the future of textiles in the region and further afield. The month-long event will showcase the rich textile history of the area as well as explore cutting-edge developments in the industry.
The Red Dress
One festival highlight will be the installation of The Red Dress, a globally-travelled collaborative embroidery project, which will be on display at Oakwell Hall.
The Red Dress project was initiated by British artist Kirstie Macleod in 2009 to help marginalised women tell their stories through stitching, uniting people around the world without borders. The dress now features the work of more than 300 embroiderers from 51 countries and has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.
"The Red Dress seeks to remove borders and boundaries and shine a light on important issues of social juice, equality, women's rights and empowerment," says Macleod, "These range from survivors of war in DR Congo, Rwanda and Kosovo to students at the Royal School of Needlework in the UK, refugees from Ukraine, Syria and Iran, a visually impaired and deaf community in Bath UK, artists living in rural Wales, Tokyo, India, Sweden and remote Chitta in Russia, to a community of supported Bedouin women in the Sinai desert, Egypt," She adds, "The unique stitches and stories of 380 Individuals from 51 countries around the world brought over together over time and place to create a united voice of love, equality and peace, as well as showcasing an exquisite variety of embroidery skill, traditions, symbols, motifs and imagery from around the world."
WOVEN 2025 is once again calling for community groups, organisations and artists to submit event proposals for inclusion in the festival programme. To support local initiatives, WOVEN will be offering micro-grants through crowd-funding platform Growing Great Places to help bring textile-related projects to life, as well as advising on project ideas, delivery and marketing.
Free and ticketed events
During the festival, various free and ticketed events will celebrate textiles all across Kirklees, with exhibitions showcasing local and international textile art, workshops teaching traditional and innovative textile techniques, talks and tours exploring the region's textile heritage and future and community projects connecting diverse cultural backgrounds through textiles. WOVEN will be working in partnership with organisations across Kirklees, including libraries, museums, charities and businesses.
Natalie Walton, WOVEN's curator, said, "WOVEN 2025 promises to be our most inclusive and diverse festival to date. We're really excited to empower and connect communities together through the universal language of textiles, celebrating our rich heritage while looking toward the innovative future of the industry in the area."
Councillor Carole Pattison, Leader of Kirklees Council and Cabinet Member for Culture said, "It's great to see WOVEN Festival return in 2025. This year's Festival will more than ever showcase the rich textiles history of Kirklees, the diverse stories in our region and the contemporary work of so many artists, makers and groups in our community, from all parts of the district. I'm delighted to see The Red Dress will visit Kirklees as part of WOVEN2025. The dress has toured the world and I can't wait to see how the story of Kirklees is woven into its fabric. It will be a wonderful example of how we can use Kirklees' heritage stories to inspire people. We would like to thank Arts Council England for supporting WOVEN again in 2025."
She added, "The council is committed to threading more artistic and creative opportunities throughout our towns and villages, giving people compelling reasons to visit and immerse themselves in the area's rich history."
WOVEN is initiated and funded by Kirklees Council but is owned by everyone, including community groups, textile businesses, cultural and educational organisations, artists and heritage sites across the district.
For more information on WOVEN 2025, visit https://woveninkirklees.co.uk
