Event Type: Events

FREE – Everyone is welcome.

Join South Square and our friends at Fountain St Arts, The Watchmaker and How to Speak Hip for a gathering in our garden featuring mindful activities and music.

Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged in the current moment without distraction. It involves learning to pay attention to thoughts, emotions, and sensations in a non-reactive way which can help reduce stress and improve focus.

SCHEDULE:

It Ain’t That Deep: A Meditation Toolkit // Starting at South Square – 12pm

Join Amy Roller (Fountain Street Arts Project) as she shares her journey into mindfulness in a relaxed and accessible format. She’ll discuss what mindfulness means to her, and lead you through a very chilled, non-structured, mindful talk.

Mindful Walk Q&A // Starting approx 1pm

Following a very chill chat, join Amy on a mindful stroll along the Thornton Viaduct, exploring presence and any questions that arrive along the way.

Motanka dolls – dolls made out of fabric or yarn  // South Square 3pm – 6pm

Join artist Olha  Zhydetska in the garden for this drop-in workshop where you will learn to make your own Motanka Doll. They are one of the most ancient folk toys, symbolising women’s wisdom and serving as family amulets. The name of this type of folk art comes from the concept of “winding,” and the general appearance of such a doll is a figure of a person, typically a woman or a child, crafted from pieces of fabric or yarn. The body parts of such a doll were knotted and wound. 
The colours and knots used to create the doll represented specific symbols, forming a code through which the craftswoman conveyed her wishes for the child.

Easy Open Decks // 3pm onward // Garden

How to Speak Hip returns to host another laid-back open decks session in the sunny garden at South Square.

Bring a song along or just enjoy what others are sharing! Dust off your revered LP collection and listen to your playlist outside in the glorious setting under the sun (hopefully). Bring your mellow tempos and laid-back funk for a mindful vibe.

If you want to bring your own vinyls and have a go at DJ-ing, or just bring your own vinyls for the DJ to play – let us know to add you to the list. Email [email protected]

EXHIBITIONS

Where are you from originally? / Main Gallery

Running till Sunday 31st May

‘Where are you from originally?’ takes its title from a question that is often framed as casual curiosity, yet carries the weight of assumption, belonging, and exclusion.

For many, it is a question that refuses a simple answer. The artists in this exhibition respond not by offering fixed origins, but by revealing identity as layered, shifting, and deeply personal. Here, identity is explored through race, religion, language, memory, and lived experience. 

Curator Domino Panton-Oakley assembles Yorkshire-based artists of mixed global identities, all of which use identity as a theme in their work. ‘Where are you from originally?’ invites viewers to reflect on how questions of origin are asked, and who is expected to answer them. Who gets to belong without explanation, and who is repeatedly asked to justify their presence? Through textiles, sculpture, photography, moving image, and painting, the artists explore their relationship to this question and its significance to their own identities.

Townscapes by Caroline Rilatt // Plenty at the Square

Running till Sunday 31st May

Caroline is an artist based in Bingley known for her captivating detailed drawings of local townscapes. Inspired by her surroundings, she is drawn to, and loves to draw, the unique architecture and landmarks that shape the places around her. She likes to capture the contrast between old and new buildings that tell a story about a town’s history and its current day life.

The third Thornton Art Trail takes place over the weekend of 6 – 7th June 2026. Visitors will find a huge variety of art and activities in a range of venues. There’s art in private houses, workshops in galleries, open studios, open-air art demonstrations and much more. The trail can be started at any point. The total distance of a circuit is around a mile.

Find out more about the whole event here: THORNTON ART TRAIL

What are South Square doing at Thornton Art Trail?

Open Studios //

Many of the artists and creators onsite at South Square will have an open doors to their studios. Come in, take a look at their work, chat directly to the artists, and see their creative spaces.

Costing The Earth – Curators Talk with Jane Hiley // Main Gallery

Join curator Jane Hiley in discussing the exhibition in the Main Gallery, Costing The Earth.

12pm – 2pm

Art Doctors // South Square and around Thornton

The Art Doctors think creativity can be good for you.  They playfully break down barriers to participation in the arts and explore the positive role of creativity in all our lives.

Through playful conversation and consultation, they prescribe art works and creative activities that might make you feel better, help you to navigate the challenges of creative endeavour, and feel more confident talking about contemporary art.

They’ll be in and around South Square, helping all you patients in need of some art medicine!

Times TBC confirmed

Charlotte Brontë – Senseless Trash tour // Sapgate Gardens to Brontë Birthplace

Join Charlotte Brontë on a phonic field trip over the Yorkshire Moors and listen in to the sounds that shaped the Brontë sisters’ lives. The howling winds at Top Withens, tranquil trickling of nearby waterfalls and the angelic tones of…Beyoncé will accompany you on your journey. Senseless Trash from beginning to end – don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

Oh, and keep your wits about you, for there are beasts on those moors… 

This event is held in partnership with The Brontë Birthplace.

Age guidance 12+. Audiences use silent disco headphones. Some walking/moving required (around 0.1 mile)

Times: 11am (Book for 11am) and 1:30pm (Book for 1:30pm)

Location: Meet at Sapgate Gardens

Drop in Art Workshop // Community Room

Join Artist Allanah Rhodes to unleash your creativity in a photography based workshop. It’s time to get making! Come along for a drop-in session of inspiration and skill building based on the village of Thornton. You can chose between doing a cyanotype workshop, using the images provided, or colouring sheets for the littler ones, or mono printing using oil pastels. Come along and have a go, all free!

Open from 11am – 3pm

Performance by Philip Codd – In The Stone Tree Shadows // Garden

Philip Codd is a filmmaker and composer. As a composer he works with any combination of instruments and electronics, often creating audio works using musique concrète techniques in which short audio samples are edited and manipulated.  

In The Stone Tree Shadows uses audio clips created by scanning Patrick Whitehead’s prints of Bradford mills. These clips are then mangled and modified to create a sonic landscape of differing textures, rhythms and sonorities, with elements of the piece suggesting Bradford’s industrial past. The work will be performed using live electronics and fed through a surround sound diffusion speaker system.  

Performances are in the garden at the back of South Square at 11:30, 13:00 and 14:30 on Saturday 6th and  12:30 and 14:00 on Sunday 7th June.  The piece is 20 minutes in duration. 

To visit Philip’s website click here