The Mohn Westlake Arts Engagement Fund 2023

The Mohn Westlake Arts Engagement Fund aims to nurture opportunities for young people to experience, engage with, create and enjoy art. Focusing on young people who may not easily access opportunities to engage with arts, the fund supports projects including visual, written, performance and combined arts. 

In spring 2023, the third round of the programme invested more than £125,000 into 17 Community Organisations in Leeds. 

The organisations that were awarded funding are: 

• • • • Canal Connections 
      • Chapel Allerton Festival 

• • • • Compass Live Art Ltd 
      • JazzLeeds 
      • Leeds Lieder 
      • Life Without Limits 
      • Made with Music 

• • • • Meetup Group CIC 
      • Northern Opera Group 
      • Pudsey Community Project 
      • Re:establish 
      • Seagulls Re-Use Ltd 

• • • • The Music Box Yorkshire CIC 
      • The Retreat to Rebirth Project 
      • The Zone 
      • Wrongsemble 
      • Yorkshire Association for Music and Special Educational Needs 

The funded activities include: 

• • • • Weekly dance, music, and visual art sessions, enabling young people aged 7-19 to understand themselves and the world around them, connect with and process their emotions and discover the beauty of creativity. 
      • Teaching young people graffiti, mosaic and traditional mural techniques to create various pieces of art, including a large-scale piece of street art to bring colour and creativity to the streets of Leeds. 
      • Supporting young people with learning disabilities and complex needs to create original music, in the form of soundscapes and sensory-based experiences. 

• • • • Touring a production of ‘The Not So Big Bad Wolf’ for audiences aged 4+ in hyper-local communities across Leeds where cultural activity may not usually take place. 

We’re proud to have partnered with The Mohn Westlake Foundation for three rounds of the Arts Engagement Fund. In total, over £380,000 has been invested through 32 grants, and so far more than 12,000 people have benefited. 

For more information on grants awarded, visit the What We’ve Funded page.