The £500,000 arts spectacular we still don’t know about

It’s five days away, it’s a cultural event costing £500,000 of public money, no-one really knows what it is – and there are increasingly sceptical voices being heard even from within the arts community.

Leeds Canvas is Yorkshire’s cultural response to the Olympic year. Almost three years ago the 12 regions of the UK, as defined by funding body the Arts Council, were invited to bid for money made available to the arts in the Olympic year to stage a cultural event inspired by their region.

From a shortlist of five, Leeds Canvas won the bid against other proposals from around the county. This weekend the event is upon us and the organisers promise something spectacular that will change the city of Leeds forever.

So why the dissenting voices?

There are a number of issues, but the main cause for concern is that half a million pounds has been swallowed up by eight organisations, which came together to form Leeds Canvas, and we still don’t know what the money is being spent on. Leeds Canvas is made up of Opera North, Northern Ballet, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre, Leeds City Council and Leeds Art Gallery.

The conglomerate won the Arts Council bid for £500,000 and commissioned American born, but now London-based film artists The Quay Brothers to come up with an event that would happen across the city.

Their vision will be realised this weekend and, while some may be aware that something is happening in Leeds soon, it would appear that only the cognoscenti really understand the extent of Overworlds and Underworlds, the name of the event that opens on Friday in Leeds city centre and continues over the weekend of May 18, 19, and 20.

The reason few people know about it, says Sheena Wrigley, chair of the board of Leeds Canvas and West Yorkshire Playhouse chief executive, is simple. “We made a conscious decision that we didn’t want to drip feed details out, because as soon as any of it goes public then people think ‘okay, I’ve got this, I know what it is’. The whole concept is that we wanted to keep things secret and then have a big reveal and have that great big impact with everything appearing at once,” she says. “That was the concept the Quays wanted to work with and that was something we felt it was right to let them control. If we reveal little bits about the events as we go along, then the impact isn’t the same. There are going to be a whole host of events over the weekend and they will be greater than the sum of their parts – but only if they are all revealed together and not bit by bit.”

The idea that Quays have always had was that Overworlds and Underworlds would ambush people, but that in itself causes a major problem, in that unless people know about an event, they are unlikely to attend it.

To help spread the word, Leeds Canvas has created one spectacular sight over next weekend. On Briggate in Leeds city centre this morning, a tree measuring four metres high by 14 metres across, will appear to have burst through the pavement and within the branches of the tree sits a boat.

“I have no doubt that people will be amazed when they see this incredible installation at the bottom of Briggate, but if we had told people it would be happening, that impact would be lessened, it’s the same idea with the whole event,” says Wrigley.

The other main concerns that people have voiced are that the Quays, the lead artists on the project, are not from Yorkshire and that the money is going to eight of the county’s better funded arts organisations.

The Yorkshire issue is not merely parochialism – many of the other 11 regions have used their share of the extra Government money to commission local artists.

Wrigley says: “The fact is that, as the lead artists, the Quays have a tiny fraction of the total amount of money for the commission. The vast majority of the 200 others artists involved in the event are all locally based and that is where the majority of the money is being spent.

“As far as the organisations – we have not had a penny of the Arts Council funding.

“We are in fact delivering a project that will have cost £1.2m with a £500,000 grant – all the organisations are putting resources into Leeds Canvas at no cost.”

“It’s a big outdoor event, it’s weird and a bit wacky and some people will think it’s a waste of public money. I also think anyone that sees it will be blown away.”