Leeds has been hosting a delegate from our friends in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden to find out more about our work with young people and culture.
Leeuwarden are applying to become Youth Capital of Europe in 2028 and want to ensure they do it in the most inclusive, youth led way possible. Leeds's international reputation as a Child Friendly City made us a natural choice for them to learn fresh ideas to inspire their bid.
The visit has been made possible through Culture Next, an international network that works towards achieving wider European acknowledgement and recognition of culture as sustainable development and towards extending the existing European cultural cooperation frameworks.
Leeuwarden celebrated being a European Capital of Culture status in 2018, and as part of their legacy programme, are applying to be the European Youth Capital of Culture 2028.
Gerda Roorda, a Cultural representative of Arcadia (the independent delivery trust for Leeuwarden’s Year of Culture), who is the adult who will be leading the work of the Young People’s bid, visited Leeds for 5 days to meet with a range of organisations that work with children and young people to discuss best practice.
During the course of the visit, the Dutch delegation spoke with people bringing a massive variety of local expertise to share, including from: Arts Together, a growing network of arts and community partners; Bradford Theatres; award-winning youth organisation CATCH Leeds; community radio and arts centre Chapel FM; Getaway Girls, who work with young women and girls in Leeds, LEED2023, Leeds's recent year of culture; Leeds Museums and Galleries, including their award-winning youth curator group, the Preservative Party; Leeds Libraries' digital media project Studio12; Leeds Young Film; LS14 Trust; Thackray Museum of Medicine, and; TRANSFORM, Leeds's international biennial performance festival.
As part of the trip, Gerda also met with a visiting delegation from a leading arts venue in Nairobi called The GoDown. They are developing a new public realm project in collaboration with TRANSFORM, and the project will explore themes around Young People, Democracy and Public Space.
Gerda said: 'I am now returning to Leeuwarden with a wealth of tips, general takeaways and ideas that I will seek to implement as our own bid progresses, to give it the best possible chance of succeeding.'
If you would like to know more, please get in touch with Lisa Turney at creativecity@leeds.gov.uk.
The trip was supported by the European Union, Culture Next, Leeds City Council and Arcadia Leeuwarden.
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