Annual report 2023–24

Our cultural collections are internationally significant, connecting researchers worldwide who collaborate to advance knowledge. Our work is focused on finding innovative and inclusive ways to increase access to our cultural treasures for the benefit of all.

Our collaborations with local communities create meaningful, authentic impact, through engagement events and exhibitions. The stories within our collections are told and interpreted with diverse voices, as we seek to incorporate different perspectives and experiences within our archives and records.

Welcoming students, staff and communities (strategic priorities 16 and 20)

Being physically present with art and artefacts is inspiring and creates memorable moments of wonder. We welcomed public and university visitors to our Galleries:

• 16,664 visits to The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery
• 11,802 visits to The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery.

The Brotherton Research Centre welcomes visitors to engage with our research collections. Recent work has widened student access to unique artefacts, providing more opportunities for student research projects and work experience:

• 8,275 items consulted
• 1,283 visits
• 122 teaching sessions facilitated
• 43 engagement events.

Welcoming Migrants (strategic priorities 6 and 20)

Welcoming Migrants is an innovative community engagement project dedicated to building meaningful relationships with refugees, migrants and asylum seeker groups. It supports the University’s aim to become a University of Sanctuary as part of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Created in consultation with community organisations, such as LASSN (Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network) the programme uses cultural collections in our Galleries. A co-curated exhibition on Welcoming Migrants is planned in 2025.

We also created the Academic Asylum Seekers and Refugee Access Membership, granting a year-long reference access to our libraries at no cost for refugees and asylum seekers.

Student case study: Asylum seekers Cook-up Recipe Book (strategic priority 17)

Galleries Student Ambassador Saba Saddiqui worked with the Galleries Learning and Engagement Team on a deliciously engaging project.

Saba’s academic interest in decolonising practices led to partnering with LASSN (Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network) to share our Cookery Collection, which is designated as internationally significant.

Food is a critical part of everyone’s daily life, and I think it is such an important way to form and maintain a sense of community between people. I know it is of cultural significance to many, so I thought it would be a great focus for the group to look at historical and contemporary recipe books and have a go at making a collaborative one.

Saba invited the LASSN Tea & Talk Group to explore books including The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook by Zoe Coulson, Classic Palestinian Cookery by Christiane Dabdoub Nasser, and Eating and Cooking Around the World, Fingers Before Forks by Erick Berry. The
group went on to write down, decorate and share recipes from their own homes to be included in a community cookbook.

We have formed a fantastic partnership […] which has empowered so many asylum seekers and refugees with the opportunity to access routes into education, art, culture and enjoy the gallery collections and campus. The projects, workshops and tours have brought together individuals through sharing food, lived experiences and a love for art.

Charles Fowler, a first year BA Design student, was commissioned to bring the recipes together in a book for publication. It was titled ‘Cook-Up Recipe Book’, and each member of the Tea & Talk Group was gifted a copy.

We were also delighted that ‘Cook-Up Recipe Book’ was included in the exhibition at Sunny Bank Mills Gallery Don’t Play With Your Food. Copies of the book were on sale at the exhibition, with all proceeds going to LASSN.

It's so lovely to be involved in these activities, it has taken my mind off all my worries

New audio trail augments our public art (strategic priority 20)

New webpages and an audio trail make our 21 works of public art on campus more engaging and accessible. Each piece of art is linked to recorded interviews with the artists, family members, or experts on their work.

• audio descriptions of each work
• braille text on all labels
• new trail map optimised for screen readers
• 376% increase in webpage views compared to previous year.

Contested Bodies exhibition (strategic priority 16)

‘Contested Bodies’ was an innovative art exhibition in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, which exhibited the work of over 40 contemporary artists from across the gender spectrum. The display explored gender stereotypes, self-representation and shapeshifting through fashion in artworks made in the last 10 years. This inclusive show diversified our audience base and provided a welcome space for reflection:

• 6,542 visitors
• 97% rated the exhibition Very Good or Good
• 61% first-time visitors
• 30% visitors identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

I am thrilled to lend the works in this exhibition to the ever-dynamic Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, especially given Leeds’ rich history of feminist and queer activism.

Student intern (Abi Taylor) reinterpreted a number of artworks through a queer and feminist lens, presented on lavender labels throughout the galleries, encouraging different perspectives and provoking conversation.

The gender-queer coding of many of the pieces here creates a safe space for diverse and minority peoples which is much needed.

Glad we’re seeing culturally and socially relevant exhibitions at Leeds.

Say cheese! (strategic priority 16)

We raised the profile of our collections and exhibitions with national media coverage, securing 131 news and feature pieces.

The Guardian and the BBC led on coverage of Cultural Collections’ acquisition of the earliest known book in English about cheese. It was spotted by researchers from BBC One’s Bargain Hunt, who came to film an item on the ‘Pamflyt compiled of Cheese’ over the summer. Cheesemakers from the Tudor Dairy at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk have prepared a full transcription of the 16th century manuscript.

Mohammad Barrangi was interviewed by The Guardian and BBC Radio 4’s Front Row ahead of the opening of his exhibition in May 2024.

Our Northern Ballet Romeo & Juliet archive exhibition ‘Preserving the Passion’ was a cover story in The Yorkshire Post’s Saturday Magazine.

Specialist coverage of the ‘Part of the Furniture’ exhibition in Treasures of the Brotherton including House & Garden, World of Interiors and Antique Collecting brought the riches of The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History to international audiences.