Immerse yourself in Leeds’ fabulous culture of creativity. From classic and contemporary art to the decorative arts; from sculpture parks to galleries to performance art, we’ve got it all. You’ll never be short of information or inspiration.
Places
There are far too many amazing galleries, museums and other fascinating places in and around Leeds for us to list here, but these are some of the absolutely-can’t-miss ones:
- Leeds City Art Gallery has just had a £1.5m facelift, and is “probably the best collection of twentieth century art outside London”, according to the Times.
- Leeds’ Henry Moore Institute has a superb gallery, a research centre and a library and archive.
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an international centre for modern and contemporary art spread over 500 acres of parkland.
- Leeds University Gallery offers a programme of exhibitions and a permanent collection room displaying selected items from the university’s art collection.
- Sheffield’s Millennium Galleries is an outstanding venue for the visual arts, craft and design, with frequent visiting collections from places like the Tate and Victoria & Albert Museum.
- Leeds’ Temple Newsam, the stately home, holds one of the most important collections of decorative arts in Britain, including one of the largest collections of Chippendale furniture in the country.
- Leeds’ Royal Armouries is home to a major part of the national collection of arms and armour, and also hosts a constant stream of exhibitions, displays and interactive workshops featuring arts and crafts.
Events
- Leeds’ Light Night is a night-time celebration of the city’s history: weird, magical, secretive, surreal... there’s loads to do and see all over Leeds, from amazing light installations to boat trips to nowhere.
- Leeds International Film Festival is an outstanding alternative cinema event, with human-rights and music documentaries, Far-Eastern fantasy, international horror, independent British filmmaking—seen with outdoor projections, live music performance, comic book art and much more.
- The Bradford Mela is the most important Asian cultural festival outside Asia, attracting 140,000 visitors over 2 days to experience art, crafts, bazaars, traditional and contemporary music and dance, fairs, markets and food.
