Leeds has announced the start of
LEEDS 2023, a year-long event that aims to set culture loose across the
city.
LEEDS 2023 will deliver a year of creative experiences that visitors can enjoy to immerse themselves in
local life. The planned programme will celebrate and transform the city’s
identity locally, nationally, and internationally - creating a lasting legacy
of economic and social impact.
The city's convention bureau, Conference Leeds, believes the delegate experience offering in Leeds
will see a huge boost because of the year-long event, which takes in everything from dance to design, art
to architecture, poetry to pop, sculpture to sport, and grassroots community
theatre to performance in the city’s varied venues.
The line-up of events begins with The Awakening on
January 7, an opening ceremony that will see Headingley Stadium
graced by the likes of Corinne Bailey-Rae, Simon Armitage, Kadeena Cox OBE,
Inder Goldfinger and Graft for an evening of variety and entertainment. Hosted
by Gabby Logan and former Leeds United player and broadcaster Sanchez Payne,
the event aims to celebrate Leeds’ past, present and future, and will kickstart
the whole year of culture with a bang.
Other events include
‘1001 stories’ in April, which has been developed by Leeds Playhouse and The
Performance Ensemble and puts the voices of older people centre-stage telling
stories of love, life, youth, and joy. A programme inspired by Leeds-born,
world-renowned engineer and astronomer John Smeaton, ‘Smeaton 300’ tours the
city from June to December, and allows people to explore the art of
engineering, while ‘All That Lives’, a reimagined celebration of Day of the
Dead, masterminded by Leeds artist Ellie Harrison and Mexican artists Zion Art
Studio, will take place in November at Leeds Playhouse and Leeds City
College.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:
"LEEDS 2023 is an exciting year of culture that will show the world
everything this fantastic city has to offer. We know that our creative talent
rivals anywhere in the country, and LEEDS 2023 will give people a fantastic
opportunity to express themselves, all while boosting our local economy.”
Claire Heap, head of Conference Leeds, added: “We are thrilled with the number of experiences on offer as part of
LEEDS 2023. The cultural experiences that are on offer in Leeds already attract
a huge number of conference and business events, but the line-up announced for
LEEDS 2023 is a fantastic display of what this year-long celebration of culture
will bring.”
“The timetable of events will give delegates
even more of an opportunity to apply their learnings and expand their thinking
through creative and thought-provoking events and activities, and we would
encourage conference organisers to contact the Conference Leeds team to align
their conferences to ensure their delegates experience exceptional.”
To find out more about LEEDS 2023 visit: www.leeds2023.co.uk
