This year has been one of change for the partnership as we focused on building a sustainable future for Leeds33 and its mission to enable access to arts and culture for children and young people in Leeds.
Earlier this year, we were delighted to share that our application to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) was successful. With this news came much behind-the-scenes work: writing policies, setting up operational systems, reviewing governance, applying for grants, and recruiting Trustees.
As well as recruiting new Trustees, we have successfully recruited new members to our Advisory Board, with a breadth of representation from cultural organisations and educators across Leeds. We will share further news on the profiles of our Trustees and Advisors in the new year. So, watch this space!
We’ve also revamped our communications, with a new website launched this year, and a regular monthly newsletter shared with our membership. This has included regular blog posts on our website – hearing from partners at Opera North and Cockburn School. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with us and hear from colleagues across the city.
We’ve continued our partnership with the University of Leeds and Open Innovations to support the research project ‘Mapping Creative Arts Education: access, inclusion, and progression in Leeds’, which you can access here. This collaboration has seen us support the development of case studies of arts-rich schools in Leeds, set to be released in 2025.
Much time has also been spent on identifying funding opportunities and writing funding bids to support future activity and to develop the organisation. We are pleased to share that we have been awarded a grant by Leeds City Council to support us this academic year to build Leeds33 as a sustainable organisation with a long future ahead.
As ever, a huge thanks to our partners, members, Advisory Board and Board of Trustees for all your support. We are a small organisation – and officially a new organisation – working with you to drive forwards cultural education in Leeds. We are excited to see what the future holds. This period in our history sees us laying down the foundations needed for organisational stability. As much as we are able, our aim is to future-proof Leeds33 so we can continue to ensure all children and young people in Leeds can experience joy, wellbeing and self-expression through the arts for many years to come.
The Leeds33 Team wishes everyone a peaceful festive season and for those celebrating, we wish you a merry Christmas. We’ll see you again in January 2025!
