Leeds City College announces £25,000 fund for developing local artists

Leeds City College has launched its fourth and final round of arts funding, the biggest to date, to support new and developing creative talent across the Leeds City Region.

The Arts Fund was set up by Luminate Education Group to provide financial support for innovative artists and creatives in West Yorkshire. Each round of funding gives away £3,000 to five separate artistic projects in the district.

To celebrate the final leg, the college has released an additional £10,000 prize to support a significant new piece of work from a talented creative. It means the fourth round of funding is worth £25,000, and will fund six separate creative projects.

Richard Lee, head of Media and Performance Production at Leeds City College, said: “This is another significant opportunity for creatives in our region. There is so much incredible talent here and we want to bring their art projects to life, and celebrate the artists behind them who, too often, face barriers to funding.

“We’re now looking forward to seeing the high standard of applications come in from creatives working across the full spectrum of arts, be it photography, music, illustration, design, writing or performance – anything goes. We want to see boundary-cracking ideas and authentic concepts, which I know our arts community is brimming over with.”

Previous projects that have benefitted from the Arts Fund include a typographic mural by local artist Jameson Rogan, a first album by Leeds-based band Polo, a portrait exhibition by painter Lydia Blakeley, a female-led podcast named Better Songs and a public writers project entitled Street Stories.

The Arts Fund, which has been running two years and has so far provided £42,000 for local artists, aims to bridge the gap in the system between leaving education and being able to secure funding from national bodies for creative projects.

Creatives who would like to apply for the latest round of funding have until 7 January 2022 at 12 noon to do so and should apply online at www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk/artsfund. Applications are open to the local and regional arts community, members of the public and small collectives.