Alison McIntyre

Alison McIntyre is our Visual Arts Instigator at Bradford Producing Hub. She spends time speaking with artists and organisations to understand their needs and how we can best support and advocate for them.

“I’m really enjoying meeting visual artists across the district to find out what they’re doing and what they need. I’m now excited to see how we can support them to build on what they’re already doing, and who we can work with to develop a thriving and exciting visual arts sector in Bradford.”

Each month, Alison hosts Visual Arts Support Sessions both in-person at Assembly Bradford and online. Through these sessions, Alison can provide creative advice and signpost to funding, support and networking opportunities for people working in the Bradford visual arts scene.

“I love that Bradford is developing its cultural sector with such a strong focus on the people who live and work here. It seems to be supporting what they are already doing in the build-up to Bradford 2025, and committed to creating a legacy afterwards.”

Alison is an artist and engagement specialist with over 20 years of experience in making and collaborating with communities on exhibitions, at festivals and with museums and galleries.

Alison’s artistic practice includes drawing, painting, mixed media, textile and performance. She has created thread installations for corporate customers, sold her work online and at exhibitions, collaborated with schools and communities on large-scale artworks and murals, and created a collaborative curve stitching project, Threads, that explored the relationship between making and conversation.

In 2019 she set up HATCH, a Community Interest Company, with Co-Director Nat Walton, where she leads Art Doctors, which playfully breaks down barriers to participation in contemporary art, and explores the positive role of creativity in all our lives.

Before setting up HATCH Alison worked within the arts and mental health sphere with Leeds MIND at Inkwell and as Programme Co-ordinator at Love Art Festival. She was Unlimited Theatre’s Operations Manager, touring shows to festivals and other outdoor events, including headline events for the Manchester Science Festival.

“When I first started in the role in March 2023, I felt there were lots of brilliant visual artists and organisations doing great work in the district, but there seemed to be a lack of wider infrastructure to support that work. As a result of initial research, there is now evidence to back up these feelings, with visual artists asking for more studio spaces, galleries, networks and events that connect everyone and offer opportunities for collaboration.

I’ve also fallen in love a bit with Bradford! In particular the generosity, friendliness and enthusiasm of the people in the cultural sector; I feel very warmly welcomed.”

You can read Alison’s Bradford Visual Arts Report (2023) here.