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Leeds 2023: An impact that lasts for many years?

By Don Mort, local democracy reporter

The economic impact of a 12-month programme of cultural events is being assessed following the city’s official year of culture.

An evaluation report will assess whether Leeds 2023 delivered on its targets to increase visitor numbers, create jobs and attract outside investment to the city.

The programme was delivered by Leeds Culture Trust, a charity set up by the council in response to the cancellation of the UK’s participation in the European Capital of Culture competition.

Funding included grants and a £1.8m loan from Leeds City Council.

A report to the council’s Strategy and Resources scrutiny board said more than 1,000 volunteers collectively contributed 17,766 hours of their time to the events.

It said: “The year-long programme of events featured at least 1,100 events. This figure is expected to increase once final data has been collated.”

The report said the year of culture attracted national media coverage and 643,000 unique visitors to the Leeds 2023 website.

Jonathan Pryor, deputy council leader and executive member for economy, culture and education, said: “I think what we are going to see is an impact which lasts for many, many years.

“I think there’s been some phenomenal coverage across the country of the year of culture. I personally think art is of value for its own sake, but we will see that there’s a huge economic benefit to this city in addition to that.”

But Coun Sam Firth, Conservative member for Harewood, said questions should be asked about spending on Leeds 2023.

He told Monday’s scrutiny meeting: “We’re going to wait and see what the final results of the report are when it comes out.

“Coun Pryor talks about it being a phenomenal impact, well a phenomenal amount of money has been spent on a phenomenal flop, in my opinion.”

Coun Pryor defended the council’s involvement, saying he saw many children enjoying the cultural events.

He said: “It’s an essential part of what this year was about.

“There has been phenomenal value in this and it’s disappointing to see people snipe from the sidelines who didn’t really attend that much.”

Leeds 2023 events included the unveiling of Hibiscus Rising, a colourful sculpture by the artist Yinka Shonibare, on Meadow Lane.

The sculpture was designed in honour of David Oluwale, a British-Nigerian man who drowned in the river Aire in 1969 after being chased by police.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Just more rubbish from the Leeds City Council who appear intent on bankrupting our once proud city, if they haven’t already done so, with yet more unneeded virtue signalling to satisfy their already massively inflated egos!

  2. Agree with Philip Bell.
    There are people who do “good” throughout the city. There are people who will take OUR MONEY/COUNCIL MONEY, to do good things and they even benefit themselves personally.

    The example of the statue is an example of a waste of money. It may have been tragic circumstances, but tragedy happens every day to someone, somewhere in Leeds. The accountants need to take control of the budgets. They will have known half way through the financial year that costs were exceeding the budgeted amounts. So why were some projects not cancelled at the time?

    Its time to concentrate on key tasks and be strict on not overspending on projects that are small projects. Every £100k saved will help keep the compulsory services running.

    Leeds does not need promoting by the council. Its one of the biggest cities in the country. People can quickly google, or see social media what the city is all about.

  3. Beforehand, I was on-board with this event, I thought it was a great concept and potentially a tourist puller to the city. The reality, super disappointing. This is in no way knocking the volunteers or the artists and performers. It was poorly run, badly marketed and the people I have spoken to about it just didn’t get it. I’ve even seen posts elsewhere from artists participating who felt conned by the organisers too. It’d be interesting to know how much money the organising board were earning for this, because it’s been money down the drain. The legacy of Leeds 2023? Wasted opportunity.

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