Harewood House Trust is an independent charitable trust responsible for the care, interpretation, and public engagement of Harewood House, its collections, and landscape. As a site with deep connections to British colonial history, Harewood has become a space for exploring complex narratives around heritage, identity, and belonging. Through exhibitions, learning programmes, and artist-led projects, the Trust works to open up conversations with diverse communities and reimagine what historic spaces can mean today.
The School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds brings together practice-based, historical, and critical approaches to the study of art, heritage, and visual culture. Through its partnerships and public engagement work, the School supports collaborations that connect academic research with communities and cultural institutions. The Visiting Research Fellow programme provides a framework for artists, curators, and researchers to pursue independent projects while contributing to the School’s wider intellectual and creative environment.
Lychee Red is a Leeds-based charitable initiative supporting Chinese elders experiencing social isolation. Hosted in partnership with Health for All and Time to Shine, the group provides weekly social activities, meals, cultural outings, and language-support, creating a welcoming space for older community members in the city.
The Hongkongers community group offers mutual support and connection for newly arrived Hongkongers in Leeds. It provides regular events, social gatherings, and activities led by staff with relevant language skills and cultural understanding, to help build a sense of belonging and ease the transition to life in the UK.
Established in 1966, Leeds Chinese Community School is a supplementary school offering weekend classes in Mandarin and Cantonese, calligraphy, and dance. Operated entirely by volunteers, the school serves all ages in Leeds, supporting language, culture, and community education.
Cassy Oliphant is a Leeds-based artist of Singaporean-Chinese heritage with a background in painting, illustration, and community arts. With nearly 20 years experience in socially engaged practice, she supported the lead artist in delivering creative workshops, including collage, digital photography, and 3D scanning, and helping participants respond to the historic Chinese wallpaper at Harewood House through personal and cultural reflection.
MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds were involved in the project through the Arts Management and Heritage Studies and Art Gallery and Museum Studies programmes. Alongside volunteering in community workshops, supporting the translation of resources and heritage interpretation, and conducting research, they also contributed valuable feedback to helped shape the development of the project.
The National Lottery Project Grants scheme, delivered by Arts Council England, is a constantly open fund offering support from £1,000 to £100,000 for arts, museums, libraries and cultural projects across England. A Time‑Limited Priority within this programme, Unlocking Collections is specifically designed to support artist‑led work with museum and library collections—promoting creative engagement, reinterpretation, community collaboration, and digital access to artefacts. This priority encourages projects such as artist residencies, reinterpretative or interpretative programming, community participation, use of digital tools and collections review. It enables practitioners and organisations to innovate collection‑based practice and deepen public participation in cultural heritage.
The National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) programme, delivered by Arts Council England, is a rolling open-access fund allocating £1,000–£100,000 to individual practitioners, museums, libraries, and arts organisations across England. It currently includes Unlocking Collections as a Time Limited Priority
The Leeds Cultural Investment Programme, led by Leeds City Council and funded through the Council’s cultural grants budget and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, supports a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable cultural sector across the city. Within this programme, the Grow Project Grants provide targeted investment to small-to-medium-sized cultural organisations, grassroots groups and independent practitioners. Grow Project Grants enable recipients to develop their practice, build capacity, strengthen partnerships and engage diverse communities, contributing to Leeds’ wider ambition to be a leading city for creativity and cultural participation.
The Wallpaper History Society offers a bursary of up to £1,500 each year to support historical and cultural research and/or developments in period wallcoverings. The bursary prize is offered in memory of Merryl Huxtable, a founder member of the WHS and pioneer in the field of wallpaper conservation.
If Walls Could Talk was developed in collaboration with people, community groups, and organisations across Leeds. We are especially grateful to Dr Rob Knifton from the University of Leeds, and Jocelyn Anderson-Wood and the team at Harewood House, for their generous support throughout the project. Thanks also to community group leaders Huazhu Liu and Bei Gao, support artist Cassy Oliphant, community group volunteers, and MA students Lesley, Ssu, Sarah, Poe, Xiyu, Chenfei, Angela, and Dina, from the School of Fine Art, History of Art, and Cultural Studies, whose involvement ensured the successful delivery of the workshops.
We would like to thank our academic collaborators, including Dr Helen Graham and Dr Jo Williams for facilitating the Visiting Research Fellowship, and Layla Bloom, Laura Wilson, Mark Westgarth, and Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis for hosting, and access to the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, and the Part of the Furniture exhibition. We are grateful to symposium speakers and performers Xiaofan Zhang, Seve Favre, Amy Junker Heslip, and Man Chiu Leung for contributing to the public programme, and to members of the Wallpaper History Society Rowena Beighton-Dykes, Wendy Mason, Dr Zoë Hendon, and Eleanor Brooke-Peat, who have supported the project through funding, promotion, and introductions to new collaborators.
Finally, a huge thank you to all the members of Lychee Red Chinese Seniors, Hongkongers, and Leeds Chinese Community School, who generously shared their creativity, ideas, and feedback. If Walls Could Talk was made possible with funding from Arts Council England, Leeds Cultural Investment Programme, and the Wallpaper History Society.
