Leeds Festival of Design Activism – Update
27 May 2009

As the stock markets continue to fall, sea levels rise and UK members of
parliament dig themselves deeper into trouble, the Leeds Festival of Design
Activism surges onwards to its inauguration. We have a fantastic line-up of
events that are taking shape.

Postgraduate Research Student Colloquium – Thursday 2 July
School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, Leeds Metropolitan University
This is all ready to go. We have 7 PhD students from around the UK
presenting:  Katie Hill (Leeds Metropolitan University), Ben Singleton
(Northumbria University), Lauren Tan (Northumbria University/Design
Council), Ann Thorpe (Open University), Anzir Boodoo (Leeds University),
Lizzie Harrison (University of the Arts), Sarah Copeland (Leeds Metropolitan
University). Joyce Yee (Northumbria University) will be among the  respondents.

Exhibition:  Engage – Opening, Thursday 2 July
Broadcasting House, Leeds Metropolitan University
This is an exhibition like no other (although we wish there were many more).
It will feature the work of design students – including some from
Barcelona’s Elisava design school – who engage with social, environmental
and political issues. Thus it will provide an alternative to the endless and
often vacuous stream of ‘cool’ design that launches careers at events such
as New Designers and Undu in London. If you are a graduate student or teach
students who might want to exhibit, let us know. Exhibition continues to
Saturday 4 July.

Practitioner Conference – Friday 3 July
School of Architecture, Landscape and Design, Leeds Metropolitan University
DEADLINE EXTENDED
Proposals for presentations at this powerpoint- and keynote speaker- free
conference are coming in thick and fast. But we want more! The deadline for
proposals has been extended to Friday 5 June. So don’t be shy. Come and
share a design activist project you have undertaken, your experiences,
successes, failures, lessons learnt, battles to be won etc. The event will
also include a screening of a film by a group of Istanbul activists working
in its Sukulele district. A roundtable discussion with Alastair Fuad-Luke
(Slow Lab), Sarah Butler (Urban Words), Jody Boehnert (Eco-Labs), Teresa
Dillon (Pop-up Landscapes) and graphic designer Andy Edwards will provide a
plenary focus for the day.

Design Activism Gala Event – Friday 3 July
LS6, Hyde Park
We’ve moved the earth for this. It was initially billed to take place at The
Library, but we decided that a chain-owned bar didn’t need to profit from
us. So it’s now going to be at the fantastic LS6 venue (formerly known as
the Clock Café), an independently owned establishment just out of town.
It’ll be a great opportunity for attendees to get to know each other.
Activities will include a design activist pub quiz, acoustic bands
(including Hearts of Romaine), great food, a craft table and a design
activism awards ceremony. Tickets will be on sale at the festival events.

Climate for Change Event – Saturday 4 July
Climate for Change is a group of creative practitioners who meet to discuss
future scenarios for Leeds and cultural sector that recognise the likely
paucity of public funding and the changing context for cultural production
from now on, whilst acknowledging that fresh approaches and new
collaborations within and outside the creative sector will enhance our
practices and theory. Topics under discussion include:  social and community
processes and development; innovation and experimentation within technology
to support open source learning and sharing; the development of a non-cash
economy and social contract for the group, to formalise skills sharing, and
a timebank to activate and R&D new projects; ideas for use of dormant spaces
and places including growing food related to local supply and exchange;
working with engineers, permaculture and other disciplines outside the
cultural sector to animate discourse and practice.

Guerrilla Gardening Action – Saturday 4 July
Bring plants and tools for turning Leeds back into a more productive
landscape. Start point and time to be announced. All very hush, hush.


‘Activist’ Film Screenings
Rosebowl, Leeds Metropolitan University
Linking up with the 11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film,
there are a number of screenings of ‘activist’ films made around the world
throughout the duration of the festival.