Festival Supporting Compassion and Wellbeing in Leeds

Kinder Leeds/ Compassion and Wellbeing are a group of volunteers from all backgrounds who are passionate about helping Leeds to become a kinder and more compassionate city. The Leeds Fund enabled them to develop the Leeds Festival of Kindness.

Could you tell us what your Leeds Community Foundation funded project involves? Could you give us a brief description of your project funded and its main aim?

Foundation funding enabled us to create a city wide Festival of Kindness, Compassion & Wellbeing in Leeds in 2020, with the aim to create neighbourhoods and public spaces where all may flourish.

In Sept 6^th -12^th 2020 we co-created and delivered the first Leeds Festival of Kindness, Compassion and Wellbeing. Our online festival broadcasts and events are available to view here.

What has this kind of support allowed you to do? Who have you been able to support?

The Leeds Fund supported us to undertake some development and planning work for our week-long Festival. It partly funded our Project Leader who formed and supported our team of volunteers and helped to build relationships with partners and other organisations which together contributed to the success of the Festival. It also contributed towards venue costs for our Launch event in Sept 2019, which received press coverage, and helped fund our website development. We had 589 participants who participated live on the wide variety of events during the festival and many others who watched afterwards.

What’s the need and what might be the situation if the support you offer didn’t exist?

Leeds is already a city which leads in the fields of kindness, compassion and wellbeing, with many organisations sharing our values and mission. We felt that starting a Kindness Revolution would help unite and strengthen this amazing work. Providing opportunities for everyone to participate in different ways, sharing learning across organisations and communities and also celebrating this work is crucial for the evolution of kinder communities and a kinder city.  Only together as a city with a purposeful social movement can we co-create the conditions required to support the flourishing and wellbeing of everyone.

Could you share a rewarding moment you’ve had during this period?

We were amazed by the interest, ideas and passion generated as we worked towards co-creating the vision for the festival over this period with a range of individuals and organisations attending and contributing to regular meetings and our Sept 2019 Launch event.

“I find the meetings and events of the Leeds Kindness Revolution project both nourishing and interesting. I enjoy sharing my perspectives and lived experience of kindness and wellbeing in the caring for more disadvantaged groups e.g. learning difficulties, mental health and dementia.”