LEEDS 2023 director rejects ‘damp squib’ criticism

Organisers of LEEDS 2023 have defended the festival from comments made during a Leeds City Council meeting which questioned the success of the programme so far, by sharing evidence on how well it has been received.

During a council meeting held last week, Conservative Councillor Alan Lamb said he feared the festival was in danger of becoming a “damp squib” and questioned whether it had succeeded in spreading culture throughout all areas of the city.

Speaking to Arts Professional, LEEDS 2023 Creative Director and CEO Kully Thiarai said she was “rather surprised” to read Lamb’s comments, “given we are only half-way into our year of culture and we are three weeks into one of our major community programmes for the year, My Leeds Summer”.

Thiarai added the My Leeds Summer programme, which runs until 2 September, will “support and celebrate the diversity of communities across all 33 wards”.

“From the get-go, LEEDS 2023 has been designed to celebrate the extraordinary creativity in every nook and cranny of the city,” Thiarai said.

“To help us do this we have recruited 33 neighbourhood hosts from each ward of the city and are working alongside anchor organisations in each ward.”

Thiarai added that LEEDS 2023’s Signature Programme and Creative Learning Programme has attracted 24,149 audience members and active participants so far, with events having been held across each of the city’s wards.

The festival has also engaged with schools in every ward and trained 675 volunteers from across the city.

Meanwhile, an evaluation report of the festival’s 10,000-capacity free opening event in January found 95% of attendees enjoyed it, with 86% saying they were more or much more likely to attend other LEEDS 2023 events.

Over 90% of attendees at that and subsequent events have agreed with the statement ‘the event made me proud to live in Leeds’.

“We believe culture is well and truly being let loose in Leeds and the evidence shows that people are really enjoying it,” Thiarai said.

‘A missed opportunity’

While acknowledging the festival still has five months to go, Lamb suggested that residents may not currently feel it has lived up to its promise.

“The concern I was trying to articulate is that six months into the year of culture, there is a danger that it hasn’t yet captured the public’s imagination, despite millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being spent on it,” Lamb told Arts Professional.

“There are many events still to come and hopefully it will attract more people to the city and the local ward events will be successful,” Lamb said.

“At this stage, I don’t think many residents would feel that culture has been unleashed throughout the city.”

“There seems to be a lack of coordination so far. I don’t feel that people would make a conscious effort to make a day out in Leeds specifically because of the ‘Year of Culture’. It feels like a missed opportunity so far.”

‘Clear economic benefit’

In that council meeting, Labour Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader of Council and Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education, said LEEDS 2023 had a “clear economic benefit”.

Council spending on the festival totals almost £6m, while additional funding from sources including trusts, foundations, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the private sector currently amounts to £8.8m.

“We expect to double the investment from Leeds City Council and make a positive contribution to the city and wider region’s economy,” Thiari said.

She added the festival will continue its fundraising efforts for the remaining five months of programming and “is confident it can reach around £21.5m”.

Research from BOP Consulting, conducted during the festival’s planning stages, predicted that the festival had the potential to have a combined direct and indirect impact on the Leeds visitor economy of £114m, growing to £163m for West Yorkshire as a whole.

The research also projected the creation of 1,310 new jobs in 2023, rising to 1,620 by 2030, and an anticipated return on investment of 8:1 for West Yorkshire and 6:1 for Leeds.