By Kirkstall Art Trail’s Jim Corah
Kirkstall Art Trail ended two weeks ago and the impact of the celebration of art is still spreading like ripples through the west Leeds community.
Taking part on Saturday 20 July and Sunday 21 July 2024, this year’s event saw the art trail increase the number of artists, venues, activities, and visitors.
After such events there is always a period of time when the committee go through all the comments and feedback we receive from participants.
Without going into too much detail (there’s twenty-odd visitors’ books to go through), the reaction has been one of positivity and thanks. I think this visitor quote sums it up, with the event displaying an “absolutely stunning level of creativity.” Thanks, we are glad you all enjoyed it.
The main event of Kirkstall Art Trail remains artists exhibiting their work in venues across Kirkstall, meeting and interacting with members of the public.
Venues are a mixture of residential homes, businesses, community buildings, and public spaces. 2D and 3D art was on display, from fine art to lino-printing, gelli prints to public murals, ceramics to stone cutting.
Our artists came as individuals and as groups, with notable displays from Assembly House and Aire Place Studios. The Kirkstall Art Trail website has a page dedicated to all the artists involved, which you can find here.
New additions to Kirkstall Art Trail expanded our offering. Our totally number of artists pushed pass 130 this year, and we added ten new venues on 2023.
A special fashion show featuring upcycled clothes from the local Cancer Research UK shop took place on Sunday in the Abbey Nave.
Poetry was also involved, both as print and spoken word, with a 24-poem trail over two miles taking visitors from the Abbey to the Leeds Liverpool Canal. This was complimented with a Spoken Word performance on Sunday evening in Burley Rugby Club, with established poets Cherie Taylor Battiste and Simone Yasmin performing with local poets.
There was an effort to increase community involvement. Artist facilitators worked with residents from two areas of Kirkstall on art exhibitions. Groups from Hawksworth brought a quilt they had created to display in St Stephen’s Church. A special achievement for us, made possible through support from Kirkstall Forge developer Ceg, was large, yellow KAT letters on Morris Lane.
The free community event has been running since 2015 with the aim of encouraging engagement and education in art. Kirkstall Art Trail has grown from a one-day event to a full weekend of artists, workshops, exhibitions, and visitors. The success of each event is in the community involvement, our community of Kirkstall, west Leeds, artists, performers, visitors and more.
While there are tangibles linked to the weekend (the number of visitors, artists, venues, the comments of participants), it is the intangibles that are more important.
Cultural organisations in Leeds are in a curious position. In the wake of a successful Leeds 2023 there has been announcements from a number of groups needing to close or move due to raising costs. It might feel like an exaggeration now but without the smaller organisations and new artists feeding into it there is a possibility that Leeds’s cultural fire might go out.
It is notable how both established and new artists during the Kirkstall Art Trail weekend appreciated the free nature of our event. With the exception of some workshops covering their costs, it is free for visitors just as it is free for artists to exhibit.
While we have work to do when securing funding the ripple effect of helping an artist find an audience or giving a visitor the opportunity to experience a new hobby is worth it. I mentioned it above though the aim of Kirkstall Art Trail is to encourage engagement and education in art, this is our driving force.
Kirkstall Art Trail is funded in part with support from Leeds City Council’s Inner West Leeds Community Committee, with projects supported by Ceg and through generous donations from members of the public.
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