I’m delighted to announce that the East Leeds Project [ELP] is part of the Bid Book which formally launches the city’s ambition to secure the title of European Capital of Culture in 2023. The Bid Book, launched today, will be given a good send-off by the city at a celebration on 27 October, the final date for submissions.
The ELP is part of Leeds’ first stage bid submission for European Capital of Culture 2023. From the Bid Book:
The ELP will be a major new visual art and public realm programme that will occupy green spaces in a wide corridor of land and space running north to south through East Leeds. The project is the concept of and will be led by international and Leeds-based curator Kerry Harker. The ELP is a way to think through the issue of deprived ‘east ends’ that many cities across Europe have in common, linking and exploring an issue shared between Leeds, Paris and Helsinki (and London and Glasgow). The ambition is to enhance the aspiration and skills of those who live in east Leeds and to create a stronger sense of collective ownership over how this area might develop in the future. The project brings together a collective of cultural and community arts organisations working at a local level in the area, including Space2, Chapel FM, Gipton Together, Wyke Beck Valley Friends and Canal Connections. The ELP is also building links with Rotterdam-based, internationally-renowned artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde.
I’m looking forward to working with local and European artists and partners to deliver visual arts activity in east Leeds from 2018 onwards, and to building Curator Works as an artist-led organization to deliver this ambitious new project.
Further information on the Leeds 2023 bid and the celebratory send-off on 27 October, can be found here.
Kerry Harker, October 2017
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