Let us introduce ourselves...

Hello there!

Thanks for stopping by. You are reading the very first ever Arts and Regeneration Unit blog. It's new territory for us. We've always been great at doing what we do but what we haven't always been the best at telling everyone about it. So here we are, boldly immersing ourselves into the (now not so) new digital age. Perhaps a little bit later than everyone else, but we have been very busy. We do hope you'll continue to drop by to read about what we've been up to.

Let me introduce our team.

The Arts and Regeneration Unit at Leeds City Council is part of the Arts and Events service. We are here to support and local artists and arts organisations, to promote partnership working within the arts and cultural sector and to create opportunities for local people to take part in the cultural life of their city.

We provide grant funding for a large number of arts organisations, both large scale (such as West Yorkshire Playhouse, Northern Ballet Theatre, Opera North, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House and Yorkshire Dance Centre) right through to small community arts organisations and local arts festivals and workshops. You can download a full list of organisations that we support, or find out how to apply for grants, on our website at www.leeds.gov.uk/arts

We also organise, coordinate, and support a whole range of our own different projects and events to make the arts accessible and beneficial to everyone in Leeds. Here's a list of some of what we're working on at the moment:

• Light Night – the biggest event in the city’s cultural calendar, “like urban planning by Daft Punk”, held on the 2nd Friday in October
• Breeze International Youth Festival - a chance for young people to try out a range of artistic and cultural activities and to showcase their talents in June
• Breezereads – a year round programme of events and opportunities that encourage young people to read more, improve their reading skills and raise their literary aspirations
• Get Creative - professional quality performing arts workshops in July for young people who may not otherwise have access to the arts
• Black History Month – participatory projects every October spreading knowledge and awareness of black history, cultural heritage and positive contributions to British society
• Holocaust Memorial Day – an annual day of commemoration in January for communities affected by the Holocaust
• Youth Music Mentoring – a two-year project that aims to improve the life chances of young people through music-based mentoring

You can find out more information about all of these on our website at www.leeds.gov.uk/arts

We've plenty more to tell you but for now I need to rush off for a meeting. In the next blog, I'll introduce us all individually and say a little bit more about what we all do.

As they say in text speak, TTFN.