It was a big moment when I received the grant for my new project Division. 

I wrote The Easy Way Out by accident. My name is Eli Yim, a musician, and incidental theatre maker based in Liverpool. This is the story of how the show came to be.

Leeds Arts Centre’s main focus is our shows. We’ve been putting on roughly four productions a year for more than 75 years, and they’re grand affairs that take months of planning, development and rehearsal. We do not rush into things. So when the opportunity came to work with Planetarium Go UK, we found ourselves doing something rather different.

A new and improved TESTBED will relaunch this September, at the dynamic intersection of electronic music, live culture and community. The landmark Leeds venue will reopen its doors to showcase permanent structural improvements and major upgrades across sound (a custom L-Acoustics L2 system), lighting (a fully integrated Chauvet lighting system), and overall customer experience. With a capacity of 2,500, the countdown has begun as TESTBED prepares to relaunch at the forefront of Leeds’ vibrant creative culture.

Leeds-based Red Ladder Theatre Company and Hull’s Silent Uproar have joined forces to produce a powerful new play from an exciting and original voice in northern theatre.

Close Enough to Touch, a one-person drama about secrets, sex… and toilets written by new playwright Henry Roberts, will go on tour to venues across the North of England and is at Leeds Playhouse Fri & Sat, Oct 23 & 24, 8pm.

Arts charity East Street Arts in Leeds have partnered with Bow Arts, one of the UK's leading providers of affordable artist studio space, to extend access to Artist Studio Finder for free, promoting affordable studios across Yorkshire and the North of England, and granting local providers the use of a tool that connects them with artist designers and makers across the regions.

2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the first Leeds Charter, issued in 1626 and granting the growing town a measure of self-government for the first time in its history. Leeds Libraries are marking this important moment in the city’s development through a dedicated Leeds400 exhibition at their Central Library and a related programme of events. 

After a highly successful debut in 2025 the Leeds Writing Festival returns this September with an equally impressive line-up of expert authors, literary agents and publishing professionals, for a day of inspiration, craft, and community at Leeds Trinity University.

A rare two-volume hand-coloured book is to go on display as part of Thackray Museum of Medicine’s brand-new exhibition opening on 18 July.