What do we want a culturally vibrant Leeds to look like? In the region of 100 people from arts and cultural organisations from across the city met to try and answer that question.
LeedsArtsFuture 2030 Open Space was held at Dysons Chambers in Lower briggate and saw people from dozens of organisations debate some of the issues faced by groups and individual artists in Leeds.
It was one of the last in the series of What If Leeds … debates to shape the long-term future of the city from 2011 to 2030.
A number of issues were raised by attendees, ranging from funding problems, the need for more cultural diversity, the need for an iconic arts building and how to retain graduates in the city to the need to decentralise arts to the suburbs, the role of the council and the need for a festival fringe event similar to Edinburgh.
A recurring theme was the need for greater networking and communication and the need for Leeds to have a single 'what's on' website for all cultural activity and the future importance of bloggers in light of a 'neutral and declining' mainstream media in Leeds.
Yesterday evening's event was split into a number of sessions and topics, and a number of points were touched upon, including making use of the city's empty buildings. One attendee said:
"Artists could make use of all the empty buildings in Leeds, private as well as council ones."Organisations and artists are crying out for cheaper spaces they could use. If they're empty they should be used as it's cheaper to have someone in there, making them more secure. Organisations should join together to collaborate more in future."
Feedback, issues and ideas from the meeting will be collated and will form part of the strategy that shapes the city until 2030.
You can follow some of the Twitter talk from yesterday evening's meeting on the hashtags #leedsartsfuture and #whatifleeds.
What do you want a culturally vibrant Leeds to look like? Have your say in the comments section below.
