Fine Art students involved in this year’s degree show, ‘Shift’, took their first opportunity to show work at 6 Grosvenor Mount, Woodhouse, on March 22nd.
The choice of venue was important – Leeds Community Project are currently occupying an ex-University of Leeds Agriculture facility at 6 Grosvenor Mount, which the University are trying to sell to private housing developers for the sum of £600,000.
The space consists of a network of some seven purpose-built glasshouses, beautiful, functional structures that have been allowed to fall into disrepair by the University. A large garden sprawls out from the main buildings, host to several rare plant species, and now host to Leeds Community Project, an association of passionate locals and students keen to retain this unique property for use by the community. In a city that recorded 4,747 long-term empty homes in 2014, more private housing is not what Leeds needs.
LCP hosted an open day on Sunday the 22nd March, inviting the public to take part in screen-printing, gardening and bike repair workshops, and wellbeing exercises (yoga & capoeira). It was a day that exemplified how much this space offers for families and children, who were out in force and face-paint. ‘Shift’ artists were given a glasshouse to use as an exhibition space, which with the sun streaming in proved an excellent opportunity to test recent work and to play. Contributing artists were:
- Matilda Cracknell
- Caroline Denby
- James Randell
- Nele Sanders
- Emma Sheehy
- Joe Kiney Whitmore
Despite the occupation, the court has ruled against LCP, and will attempt to evict them on April 13th. We 36 artists at ‘Shift’ hope as an organization to support progressive local projects, and to align ourselves with a community-centered politics. Our ethos has developed so far in response to the regeneration being experienced in Leeds and other Northern cities, but we feel that this regeneration should not advance at the cost of the community and for the financial gain of a few opportunists. Resources like 6 Grosvenor Mount could be invaluable for the Woodhouse and Hyde Park areas, whose communities do not currently see the benefit of this kind of functional, public green space. What was previously the resource of a public university should remain a resource for the public at large.