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About Me

Chemaine has built a sustained and successful track record over more than two decades of conceiving, producing and delivering ambitious cultural projects across Bradford, the North of England and internationally.

Her work spans concept development, lead production, choreography, facilitation and community development, with projects such as The Party People, Our Patch — Bradford City of Culture 2025, WOW — Women of the World Foundation demonstrating consistent delivery across site-specific, participatory, digital and performance contexts. This breadth of practice reflects her ability to originate strong artistic ideas and translate them into high-quality public outcomes across complex settings, from markets and museums to disused mills, churches and cinemas.

A defining strength of Chemaine's practice is long-term collaboration with communities, artists and cultural partners. Her work spans markets, museums, theatres, galleries, public spaces, festivals and grassroots venues, consistently combining artistic ambition with participation, access and co-production.


An image of Chemaine Cooke.

Professional Experience

  • The Party People Project — Director 2019–ongoing Learning-disabled-led free party, visual and live arts collective creating inclusive events. Rooted in DIY and countercultural scenes, the project builds community-led cultural spaces and pathways for learning-disabled artists into creative leadership.
  • Our Patch – Bradford City of Culture 2025 — Assistant Producer 2024–2025 Co-designed artist training for city-wide cultural engagement activity with Bradford Producing Hub.
  • New Focus - Bradford Young Curator, Impressions Gallery — Project Manager 2024–2025 Led delivery of Make Yourself at Home, a major Bradford 2025 exhibition combining newly commissioned photography with the community-sourced Bradford Family Album. Recruited and supported ten Young Curators and coordinated partnerships and outreach across community organisations and cultural institutions.
  • WOW – Women of the World Foundation — Assistant Producer Bradford Tour Jan–Mar 2024 Regional engagement lead for WOW Girls Festival Bus, supporting access for 6,000+ young people in schools, community and public settings.
  • My Leeds Summer – Leeds 2023 — Co-Creation Producer Jun–Dec 2023 Signature project, supporting 33 Community Hosts to produce local events; designed and facilitated a three-month community participation training & support exit programme.
  • Oastler Market Speaks — Concept Development & Producer Oct 2022 – Apr 2023 Co-created culture and heritage project celebrating the people, stories and life of Bradford’s Oastler Market ahead of its final year of trading. Worked with traders, local communities and cultural partners to gather stories and deliver a participatory public programme.
  • Reasons To Gather — Concept Development & Event Producer series Produced a four-part artist-led event programme at the 1 in 12 Club Anarchist Club (Bradford) bringing together activists, artists and filmmakers. Developed in collaboration with Union Arts and collaborated with independent film curator Mosa Mpetha, including screenings of work by young filmmaker collective Toothless Films.
  • Wur Bradford — Artist & Creative Producer 2016–2023 Grassroots collective work including cultural heritage in Bradford Markets, consultation and community walking projects with learning disabled adults.
  • The Brick Box — Associate Artist & Community Engagement Specialist 2013–2021 Delivered participatory and public-realm projects across festivals and civic contexts in the UK and internationally. Selected projects include:
    • People in the Landscape — David Hockney 80th Birthday Celebrations, Cartwright Hall, Bradford 2018
    • Hope, Springs, Eternal — Baltic Circle Festival, Helsinki 2016
    • Electric Fireside — Lumiere Festival, Durham with Artichoke 2014–2015
    • ISAN Outdoors Ideas Summit, Bradford — 2016
  • Purple Patch Arts — Programme Leader 2015–2022 Delivered lifelong learning arts workshops for adults with learning disabilities, focusing on inclusive facilitation and progression.
  • Chapel Street Studios — Project Manager 2019–2020 Managed district evaluation for the Changing Places programme (Bradford Council).
  • Midland Road Nursery & Children’s Centre — Freelance Community Project Coordinator 2011–2018 Developed creative programmes to increase parent and family engagement.
  • The Bradford Playhouse — Programme Development 2009–2011 Volunteer coordination for ‘Art Farmers’ and cross-disciplinary programming support.
  • Dance City, Newcastle upon Tyne — Dance Artist, Facilitator & Youth Engagement Practitioner 2006–2010 Delivered youth dance programmes in the North East. Designed inclusive workshops in schools and community settings and supported talent progression. Key skills: youth engagement, workshop facilitation, community outreach, safeguarding, inclusive practice.
  • Benfield Secondary School, Newcastle — Dance Teacher (Maternity Cover) 2007 Planned and delivered GCSE Dance, BTEC and Sixth Form provision across Key Stages 3–5 (ages 11–18). Maintained strong safeguarding and behaviour management practice.
  • The Fathom Project — Associate Artist 2006–2010 Integrated dance company performer with outreach delivery. Commissions Sadlers Wells, London. The Place, London.
  • Mother Dance Company CIC — Co-director 2006–2009 Choreographer/facilitator for ACE-funded project The In Between Spaces; developed education workshops in the North East.

Screen & Dance Film Experience

Works across dance film and screen projects as performer and maker, exploring how movement translates to camera and expands access to performance. Performer in dance film and interdisciplinary screen works with independent filmmakers.

  • Swimming Pretty (2008) — Performer in short dance film by Australian dance artist Wendy Erickson, commissioned by Northern Film and Media
  • Self Placed (2006–07) — Performer in Arts Council England-funded digital integrated-dance film, screened across Europe.

Creativity, Participation & Belonging

Creating opportunities for learning disabled, neurodivergent and neurotypical people to connect through creativity, build confidence, develop relationships and shape cultural life together through collective participation, collaboration and leadership.

Producing & Project Development

Project design, partnership development, artist development and programme delivery.

Creative Facilitation

Participatory workshops, community engagement, learning disabled and neurodivergent-led practice and co-creation.