David Yates will run a free-to-use darkroom at Woodend Creative Workspace from June.

The project aims to support artists and creative young people in North and East Yorkshire who are rediscovering and experimenting with analogue photography by providing tuition, darkroom services and mentorship.

Mr Yates says he will cover the basic skills, while visiting artists and photographers will cover a range of techniques.

Over the year, he hopes to help at least 30 people with the darkroom.

He said: “An important part of my philosophy is to give back to my community by sharing my experience, knowledge and skills.

“I see this as both an act of preservation with the passing on of traditional knowledge and techniques of analogue photography and an opportunity for participants to push the boundaries of their creativity.”

As an artist, Mr Yates uses lens based media such as video and analogue photography.

He has delivered more than 300 community arts projects in the Yorkshire area in the past 20 years.

An exhibiting artist and film maker, he has worked as co-ordinator at Leeds Centre for Indian Music and Dance and manager of the Withernsea-based Wyvern Arts, which is a community arts project involving 50 artists in East Yorkshire.

He has organised exhibitions in this country and throughout Europe and curated film programmes and workshops for Leeds International Film Festival.

The community darkroom project is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.