New sculpture for Leeds

News of the commissions, which will remain in place for three months and whose creators will be unveiled in the autumn, are the first details to emerge from organisers of the event, which was announced last summer by Arts Council England.

It awarded £750,000 to Leeds Art Gallery, the neighbouring Henry Moore Institute, the Hepworth Wakefield and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to stage an event that will be known as the Yorkshire Sculpture International, every three years starting in 2019 – with the aim of cementing the county’s place as a world centre for sculpture.

The event will run from next June 22 to September 29, as part of a year-long programme that will also involve schools and see commissions given to a handful of professional artists.

Jane Bhoyroo, the event’s producer, said the programme so far was “incredibly exciting” and would “put the region on the international map for sculpture”.

She said: “It’s the first major project that has involved all four institutions on anything like this scale.

“What’s so excited is that we’re going to have these major new outdoor sculpture commissions and exhibitions across the four venues.”

Invitations have been extended to three sculptors to produce the works, whose exact locations and subject matter is still under wraps. At least one sculpture will be in Leeds, one in Wakefield and a third at a location yet to be decided.