Leeds: In the Lead
Calling all culture vultures! There has never been a better time to visit Leeds than in 2023, says local expert Sally Bendall, aka Girl About Leeds.
This is a feature from Issue 15 of Charitable Traveller.
Join us for Leeds 2023 as the city throws itself, heart and soul, into a year of culture and creativity, the likes of which have never been seen in the city before. The city’s response to the cancellation in 2017 of the UK’s participation in the European Capital of Culture competition was to ‘do it anyway’, and Leeds 2023 is the result.
Launched with a huge Awakening celebration in Headingley Stadium, thousands of Leeds residents enjoyed a spectacular show, hosted by former Commonwealth gymnast Gabby Logan MBE and BBC broadcaster and former Leeds United footballer Sanchez Payne. Performances from Opera North, poet laureate Simon Armitage with his band LYR, and a heart-warming appearance from young presenter George Webster and his father kept the crowd buzzing despite the January weather. The event closed with a fantastic finale from Corinne Bailey Rae. That evening, something really did ‘awaken’ in the heart of the city.
There’s a jam-packed programme of events throughout the year, with so many huge venues involved. Opera North, Northern Ballet, Leeds Art Gallery, the Henry Moore Institute, the Royal Armouries and the Tetley, to name a few, are all playing their part. Plus there are plenty of outdoor installations, such as a Finnish sauna experience, ‘Making a Stand’ – a huge representation of the Forest of Leodis (from which today’s city arose) in the City Square, and even a new Leeds sauce, flavoured with ale from every single pub on the infamous two-mile pub crawl, the Otley Run.
The year is divided into three stages: January to April is ‘The Awakening’; May to August is ‘Playing’; and September to December is ‘Dreaming’. “Our Year of Culture is designed to wake up our senses and reveal our city in brand new and surprising ways; in ways perhaps that you never expected or noticed previously,” says Kully Thiarai, Leeds 2023’s creative director and CEO.
“We know that when this city speaks it has a proper story to tell. And it is our ambition to be the spotlight and foghorn for all the glorious creativity that is behind every door, in every home: broadcasting the brilliance of Leeds beyond the region and to all of us who live and work in the city.”
My highlights
During ‘The Awakening’, I’m looking forward to A Barn Raising. Leeds 2023 is recruiting 300 women, girls, and non-binary people from the city and beyond with an interest in architecture and engineering, and they plan to ‘raise’ a barn in just 24 hours. This is a partnership with WOW – Women of the World Foundation, a London-based movement that believes a gender-equal world is urgently needed, possible and desirable. The barn will then be used to house the first ever WOW Festival to be held outside of London. In ‘Playing’, I can’t wait to get involved with ‘The Smeaton 300’, a stunning and magical mobile observatory, inspired by Leeds-born engineer John Smeaton, that’ll tour the city from June. Visitors will be encouraged to get playful and explore the role of science in art.
Lastly, during ‘Dreaming’, I’m looking forward to ‘All That Lives’, a city-wide, nine-day celebration of those we’ve loved and lost in true Mexican Day of the Dead style. On a personal note, this will coincide with the first anniversary of losing my dad, so I have big plans to
create a colourful ‘Ofrenda’ display with photographs, candles and colourful things as an act of remembrance. Not a sombre moment, but a celebration of love remembered. There really is a buzz in the city, an excitement about what the year holds for us, and what creativity is in store, and I for one can’t wait to find out, so come and join us for Leeds 2023 and follow me on Instagram (@girlaboutleeds) for all the latest.
We asked Sally to write her perfect itinerary for 48 hours in her hometown of Leeds for Issue 10 of Charitable Traveller Magazine. Click the link below for more.
Girl About Travel is a unique online platform created by travel industry experts – a journalist and tourism marketing and comms specialist – and provides content for women who want to make amazing memories with their loved ones, either in the UK or overseas. A trusted partner of Charitable Travel, Girl About Travel’s content is created by a network of writers, aka the Girl About Blog Squad – the official Girl Abouts in their cities and counties.
This is a feature from Issue 15 of Charitable Traveller.
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