“Leeds International Festival (LIF17) was a huge success, showing the creative talent and cultural diversity Leeds has to offer the world

Friday, 23 June 2017

Leeds International Festival is back on the billing for the city after a highly successful first year with plans to be even bigger and more ambitious in 2018.

Individuals, groups and organisations have the opportunity to help shape the programme with an open call to submit ideas on new content for next year’s event.2017 saw the launch of Leeds International Festival which highlighted the international appeal of Leeds’ rich and vibrant portfolio in front of an audience of 17,000.

This new exciting cultural festival, funded by LeedsBID (Leeds Business Improvement District), saw 35 events from tech, music, moving image and fashion strands, with more 300 speakers and artists over a nine-day period in April. It delivered something for all, with a line-up including footballing greats and a Hollywood star, a BRIT winner and a not so classical symphony, an array of international headline speakers at the top of their game and an interactive event for children, served up with side orders of fashion and food.

LIF secured the backing of big industry names, collaborating with Sky, BBC, Screen Yorkshire and AQL as well as many major city centre retailers and venues which stepped forward to host events.
Plans are now in the pipeline for LIF 2018 running 28th April until 12th May – the festival has been extended to run over a two-week period and organisers are welcoming input into the programme.
Interested parties simply need to submit an outline of an event idea with key details including format, target audience, capacity, description and budget before the end of July when submissions shortlisting begins. Successful submissions / programme of events will to be confirmed in September.

Andrew Cooper, Chair of Leeds International Festival and Chief Executive of LeedsBID says:
“Leeds International Festival (LIF17) was a huge success, showing the creative talent and cultural diversity Leeds has to offer the world. The unique and innovative approach we took in creating Leeds International Festival delivered a broad, eclectic mix of events from high art, to family friendly to some of the most innovative Tech speakers in the world and the biggest name in British music this year! From such a strong start we now want to build LIF18 to be even bigger, even better and bring more profile, engagement and success to our great city. The website is now presenting an open call for submissions to bring the festival amazing events, if you have a great idea and want to get involved we need to hear from you”

For further details and to enter the open call please visit www.leedsinternationalfestival.com
@LeedsIntFest

ENDS

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