The Arts and Regeneration Unit creates opportunities for local people to take part in the cultural life of their city.
Arts development
arts@leeds is Leeds City Council’s approach to working in partnership with arts organisations to maximise access to creative opportunities for the people of Leeds.
arts@leeds is managed by Arts Development officers within the Arts and Regeneration Unit. The team offer support and guidance to arts organisations while administering the arts@leeds grant aid programme.
Applications are welcomed from non-profit making organisations involved in arts and cultural activities in the community. Work may include workshops, festivals, exhibitions, performances and publications. We work to a wide ranging definition of the arts and priority is given to applications which show evidence of local demand, fill gaps in current arts provision and demonstrate that they are effectively delivering work in the community.
The deadline for applications for the funding year 08/09 has now passed. Applications for the year 09/10 will be available in November 2008.
Who cannot apply
- Leeds City Council, Education Leeds or ALMOs
- Schools
- Individuals
- Closed membership groups whose activities do not reach a wider public
- Students in full-time education or student-led groups
- Uniformed youth groups
- Organisations resident outside the UK
- Profit making companies or commercial organisations
- Organisations delivering the majority of their work in schools in school hours (in terms of either time or resources) or organisations whose primary purpose is to deliver schools or curriculum based work
For more information please contact the Senior Arts Development Officer using the email link on this page.
Get Creative
The project offers young people aged 10-16 the opportunity to take part in a programme of workshops fusing theatre, visual arts, dance, film and music. Get Creative actively engages young people who lack opportunities, are at risk of exclusion or who live in areas where there is little arts-based provision.
Participants are recruited through an extensive network of key workers and organisations within the voluntary and public sectors.
Black History month is a national initiative, held every October in Britain, to commemorate and celebrate Black African and Caribbean history .
Black History month small grants scheme
In Leeds, communities are encouraged to take part by organising projects or events with the aid of these small grants, of up to £300
Main aims and objectives
- to spread knowledge and awareness of Black History and cultural heritage
- to raise the profile of positive contributions to British society
Who can apply?
Community or voluntary organisations committed to implementing projects or events for Black History Month.
What can the grant pay for?
The grant can be used towards the cost of room hire, publicity, speakers, trainers, activities and events celebrating and marking Black History Month.
The 2008 funding round has now closed, but the 2008 Black History Month flyer is available to download from this page.
Passion and Pride
Passion and Pride was an exciting, innovative and creative partnership project which included performances, exhibitions, and workshops to celebrate black heritage and culture in Leeds during 2007 to commemorate the bi-centenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Twelve local community organisations came together to develop Passion and Pride throughout the year in partnership with Leeds City Council's Arts and Regeneration Unit. The partners built on the momentum established through the international Black History Month (BHM) celebration which has seen a regular programme of African and Caribbean events and activities become established around the world.
The twelve organisations saw an opportunity to develop their own work further and to widen awareness and understanding of their diverse histories, heritage and cultures. The programme complemented the range of BHM grant aided work being undertaken with support from Leeds City Council’s Equalities team.
Passion and Pride was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Leeds City Council.
You can download the Passion and Pride brochure for events which took place in 2007 in pdf format from this page
The Passion and Pride Resource Pack is available to download in pdf format from this page.
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Breeze International Youth Festival
The first Breeze International Youth Festival (BIYF) was held in 1996. Over the 12 years it has been running, Leeds City Council has worked with over half a million young people across the city. The festival is a celebration of young people and their work, as well as a good opportunity to let them know about all the great year round projects and opportunities that the council provides.
Combining the work of schools, community groups, national and international guests, the festival programme of performances, workshops, sports and arts adds up to the biggest youth festival of its kind in the UK.
While continuing to offer high-quality opportunities for every young person in Leeds to try out new activities through school-based taster sessions and studio-based workshops, this year’s BIYF will also include a high-profile outdoor Celebration Weekend.
From Friday 27th to Sunday 29 June, prime sites such as Millennium Square, Victoria Gardens and Briggate will host a jam-packed schedule of creative, arts and sports-related installations, shows, fun activities, outdoor performances and general celebrations.
For a full details about everything going on, check out the Breeze website, where you can download a free copy of the full festival brochure: www.breezeleeds.org.uk/BIYF
We will also be putting on events to tie in with Shine – the UK’s National School’s Festival, which celebrates and showcases the talents of all young people.
Gallery 37 Plus
The Gallery 37 Plus project is an intensive youth arts summer programme which gives young people the chance to find out what working in the arts sector is really like and opens up routes to training and employment. It is aimed at young people 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training.
We are now recruiting for the Summer 2008 programme, featuring 8 multi-arts projects across Leeds.
Project delivery partners are holding taster and recruitment days:
- Monday 30th June, 5-7pm at RJC Dance, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Chapeltown Road, Leeds - information session for young people interested in dance
- Monday, 7th July, from 1.30pm at Archway, Roundhay Road, Leeds – information session for young people interested in visual arts, drama and photography.
- Wednesday, 23rd July, afternoon at West Leeds City Learning Centre – information session for young people interested in journalism, media, film and digital music production.
- Thursday 31st July, 1-5 pm at the Yorkshire Dance Centre, Leeds – dance workshop and activity session
Gallery 37 Plus starts on 4 August and runs for five weeks (four days a week) until 5 September. Young people must complete an application form and attend one of the taster days to apply. Application forms are available from the Gallery 37 Plus Co-ordinator Samantha Blackburn at samantha.blackburn@leeds.gov.uk
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment is an exciting project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Leeds City Council. The Victorian courtroom and police holding cells within Leeds Town Hall have been developed so that people of all ages can visit this unique space. We offer a learning package for schools, which includes a guided tour in authentic Victorian dress. We are also open to the public on selected dates.
The courtroom has been used as a innovative venue for author events and recently featured a sound installation as part of the Evolution festival. The courtroom is also available for hire and has been the backdrop to a number of court scenes for television dramas.
For more details about the learning package, or dates when we deliver public tours, please contact the Cultural Heritage Learning Officer on 0113 3952309. To enquire about hiring out the space, please call 0113 2450222.
Light Night: 10th October 2008
Light Night is an annual cultural event based on European models such as Nuit Blanche and Notte Bianca. The concept involves opening up city centre venues that are normally closed at night in order to host a range of cultural events, displays, shows, exhibitions and tours.
In 2005, Leeds became the first UK city to host a Light Night event. In 2008, Light Night is set to become a national phenomena based on the model that the Leeds team initiated. Other cities involved this year are Nottingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Belfast, with plans for an additional London event in 2009.
On 10th October 2008 Leeds will fill the venues and the streets of Leeds City Centre with spectacle, participatory entertainment, projections, and magical, sinister, surreal fun.
Light Night in Leeds is a showcase for the full range of creative activity in the city, with involvement from Leeds-based organisations of national and international repute such as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Northern Ballet Theatre and Leeds Metropolitan University right through to local emerging arts groups, students, individual artists and the public themselves, who will all be playing a part!
The event now makes use of over forty venues in the city centre. As well as the established cultural mainstays such as galleries and theatres, the event takes over libraries, places of worship, public squares, shops, bars, barges, graveyards and prison cells, bringing a carnival of creative activity to unexpected spaces and thus shedding new light on the city centre for a night. In 2007 the combined venues received in excess of 20,000 visits throughout the night, and we expect this to continue to grow year on year.
Bright Young Things
A unique annual project that enables young musicians and bands to get an unrivalled step up on the ladder in the music industry. Following an application and selection process, we pick musicians with talent and potential and offer them free studio recording time and professional photographs, set them up with gigs, introduce them to industry experts, give them press and media coverage and promote their music through distribution of the BYT compilation CD.
Holocaust Memorial Day
This year's civic commemoration event took place on Sunday 27th January with the theme of ‘Imagine…remember, reflect, react’, which provided a focus for people to remember the past and reflect on the racism and intolerance which exists in society today.
Hosted by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, the day included a keynote speech from Rev. Dr. Simon Robinson, FRA, Professor of Applied and Professional Ethics at Leeds Metropolitan University, and spoken tributes were made by members of local faith groups.
In addition, students from Priesthorpe School in Farsley performed a piece of dramatic theatre, which they themselves created in response to their feelings surrounding the Holocaust. Entitled ‘Painting a Picture, the theatre piece was the result of a series of workshops that the youngsters participated in alongside Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah. A musical backdrop was provided by The Adel Primary School Choir and the Magenta String Quartet.
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