A LONG-STANDING arts charity sent out almost 50,000 information and activity booklets to Bradford families suffering from severe isolation and data poverty during the pandemic.

Artwork Creative Communities won the Covid Public Service Star Award at the Community Stars Awards last Wednesday.

There were 1,311 votes in the category in total, with Artwork Creative Communities receiving 640 of those.

The other finalists were, Louise Brown and Karen Regan.

Deb Collet from Artwork Creative Communities said on receiving the award: "Covid has wrought havoc, deepening wounds and divisions - locally, regionally, globally.

"Bundles landed a few good punches, by collaborating, connecting and working alongside municipal agencies, the member-led unincorporated, the anarchic, those motivated by faith, or politics, and all sorts.

"Because we are stronger together, by steadfastly believing in people's humanity, their dignity and knowing art and creativity are fundamental.

"Because denial of that diminishes us all.

"By looking honestly at what's occurring, seeing the digital divide opening up, adding to economic, food and fuel poverty and all the rest, so hardcopy was best.

"Because people, communities, society and cities need art.

"Everyone here is rightly celebrating our civic life.

"But everyone here also has a rich, cultural life.

"It's when we can somehow combine these aspects of ourselves, individually and collectively, that beautiful and needed change can happen and we can truly begin to call ourselves a City of Culture."

Artworks Creative Communities has served Bradford for more than 20 years.

It has become one of the leading participatory arts organisations in the region, reducing barriers to engagement through creativity.

The pandemic could have been considered a barrier, but the group's volunteers and partners rallied together to create a "Covid Action Team".

The group started a project called "Bundles of Creativity" in May 2020, which was a booklet containing essential health information for parents and activities for young people.

A total of seven editions of the booklet were made in total, with more than 48,000 issues handed out across 10 months to severely isolated families across the Bradford district.

This effort was helped by food banks, volunteers and other community-based services and groups.

Estelle Cooper from Artwork Creative Communities said: "I thought the project itself that Artworks had been leading on was just really important and just really demonstrates how all the VCS and art sector came together during Covid and produced something that was, I believe, a really important piece of work.

She added: "I think Bradford does so many projects, but we can be a little bit terrible about singing our own praises, so I hope it's an opportunity, not to just celebrate Artworks, but everybody that's been involved in the project from start to finish."

Mrs Collet explained that the project is still running to this day.