Can Leeds salvage a legacy from the doomed 2023 European Capital of Culture bid?

Leeds councillors will debate how the city can go about salvaging a meaningful legacy from its seemingly doomed European Capital of Culture bid for 2023.
March 2017:  Joe Taylor and Dreda Blow preview Northern Ballets new production of Casanova, at a launch event to Leeds business leaders to back the Leeds 2023 City of Culture Bid.  Picture: Tony Johnson.March 2017:  Joe Taylor and Dreda Blow preview Northern Ballets new production of Casanova, at a launch event to Leeds business leaders to back the Leeds 2023 City of Culture Bid.  Picture: Tony Johnson.
March 2017: Joe Taylor and Dreda Blow preview Northern Ballets new production of Casanova, at a launch event to Leeds business leaders to back the Leeds 2023 City of Culture Bid. Picture: Tony Johnson.

A White Paper motion on the bid is being put forward at tomorrow’s (Wednesday) monthly full council meeting at Leeds Civic Hall by Conservative opposition councillor Neil Buckley.

The motion says: “This council is deeply disappointed by the recent announcement from the European Commission that appears to prevent a UK city from being named the European Capital of Culture in 2023.

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“Rather than lose the work that has already gone into this ambitious project, this council calls for an alternative approach that would see Leeds host its very own ‘Year of Culture’ by 2023.

“Working in partnership with organisations that have already pledged in support of the Capital of Culture bid, this event would showcase the cultural heritage of Leeds, deliver exciting events and projects and would highlight Leeds as a thriving and successful city capable of delivering a cultural showpiece all of its own.”

As reported in the YEP earlier, £400,000 is being set aside in the council’s budget for the coming year for “cultural legacy” work, thought to be linked to the 2023 bid.

Senior Leeds figures remain in discussion with the other four UK bidding cities who all saw their hopes for 2023 dashed when the European Commission seemingly pulled the plug on the UK’s hosting of the competition post Brexit.

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At a meeting at Leeds Civic Hall last month, a cross-part scrutiny panel was told that “the focus is now about building on the energy and enthusiasm of the cultural community”.

The panel was told that to date, the council has spent £155,000 on the bid, with four times that amount spent by private and education sector sponsors.

The council insists it undertook a full risk management strategy, and that “the biggest risk identified was not winning, particularly since four other UK cities had submitted bids”.

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