Old Red Bus Station in Leeds launches design competition to support upcoming artists and to try and secure venue's future

With the city starting 2021 under lockdown, it has made it difficult for the venue to continue as a cultural space and food and drink business.

So the team there has come up with ideas that can help upcoming artists and creatives as well as off-setting some of the money the Old Red Bus Station will have lost through the current and previous lockdowns.

The first project for 2021 is is a design competition based on the theme ‘Multiply’. A call has been put out to all local designers, illustrators and artists to consider their experiences of the pandemic and use this opportunity to ‘speak out visually’. The brief includes designing a slip mat, a CDJ/ Turntable skin and/ or a tape inlay responding to the theme.

Winning designs will be showcased on the Old Red Bus Station’s online DJ competition in February this year. A selection of winning submissions and artists will also feature on their website throughout February and March and the overall winner will have a solo show at the Old Red Bus Station later in 2021, with private view and publicity across the venue's networks.

Rikines, the Old Red Bus Station director said: “We want to reach out to the local community to support young people that have missed out during the pandemic to get exposure and to bring a sense of connectivity to artists and designers operating in the local area”.

The Old Red Bus Station has been giving Leeds raw, cutting edge music ever since and has continued to have an emphasis on supporting new and local talent but along with other venues across Leeds and the UK, it had to close its doors due to COVID19 and is now at risk of never opening again.

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