Stage is set for Leeds arts groups to share in £1.7m funding boost

Dozens of cultural groups in Leeds are celebrating after being told they are on course to share in a big-money funding bonanza.
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More than 40 organisations are set to receive a combined total of £1.7m in grants from Leeds City Council’s arts@leeds programme, it was announced today.

Community theatre, dance and visual arts are all represented on the provisional list of grant recipients, which will go before the council’s decision-making executive board for approval at a meeting next Wednesday.

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Organisations recommended for funding include Live Art Bistro, South Asian Arts UK, DAZL Dance and the Leeds Big Bookend as well as the Leeds Community Arts Network, an association of 14 amateur drama, music and opera companies from across the city.

Cultural heavyweights such as Northern Ballet Theatre, Phoenix Dance and Opera North are also in line to receive grants.

Council leader Coun Judith Blake said: “We are immensely proud to continue our long-standing support for the fantastic network of arts organisations who create such an exciting and varied programme of cultural events and activities in our communities.

“Our goal is for culture and the arts to play a pivotal role in life in Leeds and for our city to be a place where those with the ideas and ambition to create something unique have the opportunity to bring their visions to life.

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“The arts@leeds scheme is about giving some of those groups the headstart they need to get their ideas off the ground or to help others continue the work they do putting culture at the very heart of everything that makes Leeds so special.”

The arts@leeds programme also helps groups access other forms of public funding from organisations such as Arts Council England.

Details of the scheme’s latest round of awards come amid continuing efforts to ensure Leeds harnesses the feelgood factor that was generated by the city’s European Capital of Culture 2023 bid before Brussels pulled the plug on Britain’s involvement in the competition.