A celebration of West Yorkshire’s nature will be the first of several “Seasons of Culture” – although there are still questions over how it will be financed.
Following the success of Bradford’s year as City of Culture, West Yorkshire announced it will be holding an ongoing “Seasons of Culture” event, which will include performances and cultural activities across the region.
At a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority last month a report to members gave more detail about the planned cultural event – which will start with the theme of Nature later this year.
Subsequent seasons will include ‘Outdoor Art and Sculpture’ (2027) and ‘Heritage’ (2028).
The report said: “The pilot ‘Nature’ Season aims to deliver a region-wide programme of cultural activity that explicitly engages with themes of nature, sustainability, and climate resilience.
“Activities will include nature-themed performances, exhibitions, and participatory events in green and blue spaces across West Yorkshire, such as parks, riversides, and nature reserves.
“Cultural organisations will be supported to develop projects that explore biodiversity, environmental storytelling, and the relationship between communities and their natural surroundings.
“It is aimed to continue growing the culture-led visitor economy, which rose 7.8 per cent in 2024 to £6.26 billion and supports 54,000 jobs.
“All funded projects will be required to demonstrate thematic relevance to nature through their content, location, or intended outcomes. This includes promoting active travel, engaging audiences in nature recovery, and supporting low-carbon delivery methods.”
The report details some of the goals of the scheme, including increasing visitor numbers, a rise in overnight stays across West Yorkshire, and the “creation of revenue for visitor economy businesses.”
It will also aim to stress the importance of active travel and the push towards Net Zero.
Detailing how the Seasons of Culture will be funded, the report says: “The total scheme costs for ‘Nature’ the first pilot season are £3,510,000.
“The Combined Authority’s contribution is £1,350,000 from Integrated Settlement.
“The remaining funding is a target of £950,000 in match funding from the five West Yorkshire partner councils (unconfirmed) which represents their investment into their local culture programmes, a target of £1,000,000 from Arm’s length bodies (Arts Council England and the National Heritage Lottery Fund) to be secured by delivery organisations on a project-by-project basis, and £210,000 from sponsorship.
The Combined Authority will enter into a funding agreement with each of the five West Yorkshire partner councils for expenditure of up to £1,350,000 in total from Integrated Settlement, with £1,000,000 of this funding being for Nature Season cultural activities, and £350,000 allocated to region-wide marketing and communications, programme management, carbon reduction consultancy and evaluation.
“The allocation of the £1,000,000, is as follows:
- Bradford Council up to £216,192
- Calderdale Council up to £143,668
- Kirklees Council up to £192,003
- Leeds City Council up to £272,925
- Wakefield Council up to £175,212
“There is an appreciation that this scheme is a pilot and that there is a level of inherent risk which will provide positive learning to inform future iterations of the ‘Seasons’ programme.
“Match funding remains unconfirmed for the scheme, as partner councils have not confirmed their cultural investment in 2026 and there is no commitment yet from Arm’s length bodies. This is a significant financial risk as the scheme is heavily dependent on this match funding. The sponsorship money is also an estimate and is, to date, unsecured.”
