IOU is the North’s leading national Creation Centre of contemporary art, engineering, and technology. Our vision is to inspire artists and participants to be brave and produce innovative art and environments with relentless imagination and curiosity, to influence, co-design and transform with communities of the future. IOU’s mission is to develop, produce, exhibit and tour work from innovative diverse artists working with interdisciplinary contemporary art, engineering and technology. We support artists and community groups with studio, gallery and workshop space as well as overnight artist residency accommodation at the IOU Hebden Bridge Hostel and its outdoor gardens and woods. With a 47-year history and legacy of producing contemporary art, IOU provides skills, expertise, equipment and mentoring from experienced professionals and academics working in the sector, and we inspire artists to innovate, make and challenge as well as co-create with and engage audiences. We are a leading co-producer of interdisciplinary arts in a range of settings: indoor, outdoor, digital, small and large scale, site-specific and touring. The company’s enabling and supporting role has become more central to its programme with our Creation Centre at Dean Clough and the 14 bedroomed contemporary IOU Hebden Bridge Hostel, which hosts around twenty residencies a year for R&D, the creation and production of new work, creative retreats, and workshops for artists and the wider public. The Creation Centre at Dean Clough has 930m2 of studio, workshop and exhibition and gallery space and artists working there have access to tools and expertise including associate artists, directors, producers and marketing professionals. The facility is also used for public workshops and short courses.
