Five creative artist projects at Barnsley Libraries to celebrate the National Year of Reading

We’re excited to announce five artist projects at our libraries this year, to celebrate the National Year of Reading.

As part of our Barnsley Libraries National Portfolio Programme, funded through Arts Council England, these projects see our team working alongside five different artists to bring stories, creativity and communities together through workshops, exhibitions, performances and more.

Matt O’Neill, Executive Director of Place, said: “These creative projects are a brilliant way to celebrate the National Year of Reading. By working with talented artists and local people, we’re creating opportunities for residents to try something new, share their stories and experience the joy of reading in inspiring and creative ways. I’m really looking forward to seeing these projects come to life over the coming months.”

You can find out more about each of the five artists below.

Testament will become Writer and Poet-in-Residence at our libraries, delivering public, school, and community workshops from September 2026, leading to podcasts, performances, and an exhibition. He’s a multidisciplinary artist, working as an acclaimed poet, award-winning playwright, composer, rapper, and world record-holding beatboxer.

Testament said, "I’m thrilled to be working with Barnsley Libraries! I’m an artist who is all about people, so helping people to try new things and find their voices is really important to me.  

“The opportunity to work with different communities and dig into Barnsley’s history and find out what makes the place tick is really exciting. People-powered poetry is what it’s all about. And with any luck, we can dream the future too!”

Bethan Maddocks, our Green Libraries Commission artist, will work with the local community in Royston to create a Story Tree, a large-scale paper ‘mobile’ that will be a celebration of the joy of reading and the book characters that the residents of Barnsley hold dear.   

Bethan is a visual artist known for her collaborative work with archives, communities, and organisations, creating immersive artworks that explore the relationship between storytelling, ecology, and changing land use. 

Matt Abbott is one of our Young Producers Commissioned artists and has been working with pupils at Penistone Grammar School to create poetry.  

Matt is a poet and award-winning lyricist from Wakefield. Throughout his poetry career, he's shared a stage with names including Paul Weller, Shaparak Khorsandi, Sara Pascoe, and Sleaford Mods. He's also known for fronting indie band Skint and Demoralised. 

Katie Harriman, founder of Fly Girl Films, is our second Young Producers Commission and has been working with young people in Penistone to co-create a film showcasing stories from Penistone. We held a screening at Penistone Paramount for the young people to see their film on the big screen, and you can now see the film on the Barnsley Libraries YouTube page.  

Katie is a videographer, cinematographer and director based in East Yorkshire. Over the last 12 years, Katie has racked up a long list of notable clients, most recently producing short films with youth theatre groups to enable them to speak out on important topics. 

Kerry Lindeque is a textile artist, creative facilitator, theatre maker, and researcher – working largely with children and young people in the South Yorkshire area.

Kerry will be working with Cudworth Library users and local groups to co-create a community textile banner, celebrating reading and the library’s newly refurbished building. Through a series of workshops, she’ll work with participants to create fabric patches of books they’ve loved reading, using fabric paint, beads, stamps, and embroidery - they’ll even get to try their hand at free-motion machine embroidery to attach it to the banner. The end of the project will be celebrated through a public banner unveiling at Cudworth Library, where participants in the project can view their completed work and library users can come see the new addition to their local library’s walls.  

These commissions are funded through Barnsley Libraries’ status as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), using public funding from Arts Council England. You can find out more about Barnsley Libraries National Portfolio Organisation on our website.