About the Project

The Leeds Songbook project is a unique creative collaboration bringing together local-to-Leeds poets, student composers, and visual artists to tell the real-life stories of Leeds people through words, music, and art.

For the past three years, Leeds Song’s long-established Composers & Poets Forum has brought together student composers and Yorkshire-based poets to create new songs, performed during the annual Leeds Song Festival by Young Artists from the Leeds Song Young Artists Programme. These works, telling the stories of Leeds people through words and music, are collected in A Leeds Songbook.

For the 2026 Festival (11–18 April 2026), the project will expand to include a visual art component. Student/recent graduate artists will produce artworks responding to the subjects and themes of the new poems and songs written about the lives of Leeds residents. These stories may be ordinary or extraordinary — reflecting the city’s diversity and character and will be presented as part of an exhibition at Leeds City Museum, alongside a performance showcase of the new songs at Brodrick Hall on 15 April 2026. The exhibition forms part of Music Leeds Us: Celebrating 60 Years of Music in Leeds, a special exhibition at Leeds City Museum (10 October 2025 – 28 June 2026), marking six decades of Leeds Conservatoire, one of our key partners.

Full details about the project can be found here.

Who Can Apply

• Postgraduate students and recent graduates of the visual Arts (within the last two academic years) working in any medium (painting, drawing, sculpture, textile, collage, printmaking, photography, video, digital, mixed media, etc.)
• Applicants must be available to attend occasional online meetings, 2 days of workshops on 14 and 15 April 2026, and the final showcase/exhibition in Leeds on 15 April 2026.

What We’re Looking For

• We’re seeking 10 student / recently graduated artists to take part.
• Each artist will collaborate with a poet and composer to create work based on a Leeds person’s story chosen by the poet — building a shared creative response in poetry, song, and visual art.
• Artworks should be easily transportable and suitable for standard exhibition display (approx. max. size 1m × 1m tbc).

To Apply

Please submit:

• Photographs of examples of your work (or a link to your website/portfolio)
• A short biography (including your course(s) and educational institution(s))
• A short paragraph (max 300 words) explaining why you’d like to take part and how your practice connects to the project theme
• Deadline for application: Monday 24 November 2025

Send your submission to: Madeleine Middleton, Leeds Song Project Manager: concertsmanager@leedssong.com

Key Dates for Artists

• End of November 2025: Artist–composer–poet groups confirmed
• Early December 2025: Online group introductory meeting will be organised with artist participants to be confirmed
• December 2025: Groups of 3 composer/poet/artist participants will be encouraged to discuss their ideas/subject for the new song/artwork at a mutually convenient time in person or remotely
• By Friday 19 December 2025: Poet to share completed poem with artist and composer
• By Friday 16 January 2026: Artist to submit proposal of what their artwork will be (in the form of basic sketches, plans and/or written proposal)
• Friday 13 March 2026: Deadline for completion of artwork
• 14 April 2026: Workshops
• 15 April 2026: Workshops, exhibition set-up, and performance showcase at Leeds City Museum and Brodrick Hall

More detailed information about the project timeline can be found here.

 

Additional Info

This is a voluntary participatory project (no fees are available). Participants will gain valuable experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement, and professional exhibition and performance presentation.

The final performance during the Leeds Song Festival takes place in partnership with Leeds Conservatoire and Leeds City Museum as part of their Music Leeds Us exhibition, celebrating 60 years of music in Leeds.