The Tetley rebrands as Yorkshire Contemporary - South Leeds Life

Source: South Leeds Life
Author: Jeremy Morton

Yorkshire Contemporary (YC) are an arts charity based in Leeds, working across Yorkshire and beyond to make contemporary art happen.

You may know them from their time as The Tetley (2013-2023), a contemporary art gallery based in Hunslet. Before this, they were known as Project Space Leeds (2006-2012), an artist-led gallery with a space on the River Aire.

Director Briony Bond explained:

"After leaving our previous home, we needed to forge a new identity with a clear message about our ambition to continue the organisation's work and mission.

"Broadening our remit from an organisation rooted in a single location, the name Yorkshire Contemporary reflects the different locations we'll be working in across the region and beyond, to continue to make contemporary art happen.

"As the search for a new, permanent home continues, the name also matches our ambition for the scale of gallery we want to open upon securing a space."

As well as creating opportunites to see visual art for free and supporting new artists, YC will continue to work with communities, with a focus on children and play, particularly in the Beeston Hill area.

YC currently work with the Hamara Centre, running a pre-school art and play session called Splat Mat. It runs every Thursday in term time 10am-1pm.

The project at Rowland Road Social Club continues to create an outdoor play space. Together with a steering group of club members and parents from the local area, YC will appoint an artist to imagine and design a permanent play area on a patch of currently disused land at the back of the club.

They will also be at Beeston Festival on 22 June where Emily Binks will be helping 5-11 year olds to create cityscapes with soft sculptures.

Photo: Working with the community in Beeston Hill. Credit: Jules Lister

South Leeds Life is published by a not-for-profit social enterprise. We keep our costs as low as possible but we've been hit by increases in the print costs for our monthly newspaper which have doubled in the last two years.