A Year of Culture
During 2023, Leeds’ Year of Culture, the city has supported hundreds of creative and cultural events. The programme has unlocked opportunities, boosted engagement in culture and delivered a year of creative activities with world-class creatives, homegrown talent, local communities and international arts organisations.
Find out more about LEEDS 2023
Future Perfect
In recognition of Leeds 2023 Year of Culture, The Space partnered with Sky Arts, Arts Council England, LEEDS 2023 and Studio 12, an audio-visual media facility run by Leeds Libraries, to discover and unlock the potential of diverse Leeds artists, providing them with an opportunity to tell, to national audiences, new, insightful stories about the world in which we live.
Artists were invited to submit their ideas for short films on the topic of ‘Future Perfect: What’s worth fighting for?’ as a response to the theme for the final season, which is ‘Dreaming’. Chosen from an open call, each successful artist received bespoke mentoring and support from industry professionals, helping them to create new digital broadcast content.
The four new films, which encompass drama, dance, music, love, community and friendship, received a cinematic premiere in December 2023 before being screened on Sky Arts (Freeview channel 36) on Tuesday 19th December at 10pm.
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts said:
“We really have been impressed by the films, they’re so rich in narrative and diverse in nature. From coming-of-age drama to dance, music and community, the films have unlocked an enormous amount of creative talent from across the Leeds region. I’m delighted that Sky Arts will provide a platform to showcase and celebrate their stories to a national audience.”
Kully Thairai, Director of LEEDS 2023 said:
“This selection of new, short films represents different voices and views of the world, from a range of Leeds based creatives – stories that are local but global in their resonance. We are thrilled to have collaborated with Sky Arts, Studio 12 and The Space to develop and showcase so much rich talent from our city and look forward to seeing what these filmmakers go on to achieve.”
The films are:
- The Last Day by Gomolemo Nyakale: On their last day of sixth form unlikely best friends confront change and the struggle to belong. A heart-warming drama told through the lens of a first-generation immigrant from India in 90’s Leeds.
- Moon Palace: A Stargazer’s Journey by East Leeds Project An otherworldly mobile observatory journeys through the diverse communities of East Leeds, igniting conversations and inspiring hope for the future.
- Working Classical Heroes by Cause UK: Working class Boxer Ellis Arey tells his powerful story of discovering classical music, learning the piano and his journey to Leeds Conservatoire, culminating in a unique performance.
- Push Through, Push Through! By Isla Hurst: A dance film exploring coming of age in unprecedented times. Two friends navigate the night life of Leeds as they grapple with their worries and dreams for the future.
Looking at Leeds – Radio 3 | The Essay
We collaborated with Leeds based audio producers and writers to produce five audio essays that were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and can be heard on BBC Sounds.
The city of Leeds seen through its public art – past, present and future.
The Essays
Malika Booker considers an architectural sculptural frieze located on Abtech House, 18 Park Row, Leeds (formerly West Riding Union Buildings) created in 1900 by the stonemason and sculptor Joseph Thewlis.
The world of magic and enchantment that (League of Gentlemen creator) Jeremy Dyson remembers from the Leeds of his childhood are epitomised by the three intricately carved clocks with life size human figures that still keep time in the Edwardian and Victorian shopping arcades in the city centre, now hemmed in by shopping malls and fast food outlets.
In her essay, Both Arms, Michelle Scally Clarke writes about the statue of that name by William Kenneth Armitage CBE, a Leeds sculptor known for his semi-abstract bronzes.
In his essay, Paradoxopolis, Ian Duhig is inspired by a painting by ‘Leeds’s Lost Modernist’, the reclusive Joash Woodrow, and the former local synagogue, now the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, both sited on the road north out of Leeds, built by Blind Jack Metcalf, iconic Leeds roadmaker of the Victorian era.
Khadijah Ibrahiim’s essay, A Journey of Things Past and Present, looks at how Leeds’s built environment has changed and what that tells us about it as a society.
Listen to ‘Looking at Leeds’
Requiem
We also collaborated with the BBC, Leeds-based Opera North and Phoenix Dance Theatre when they joined forces with South African partners Jazzart Dance Theatre and Cape Town Opera to produce the international collaboration ‘Requiem’ which was screened on the BBC.
Abigail Overmeyer from Jazzart Dance Theatre with the Chorus of Opera North
The production is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Read more
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