Public art for our new dance centre
The search is on for an artist to create an artwork especially for our new building.
An exciting part of the plans for NBT’s capital project is the commissioning of a piece or pieces of Public Art to be incorporated within the building. The commission forms part of Leeds City Councils ambitious Public Art plans and, along with the exhibition space, extends even further what the new building will have to offer the communities of Leeds and the north of England.
There is a broad brief for the Public Art commission, it could be anything and use any medium, other than water. There are three potential locations identified by the design team for the public art: the entrance area, the glazing to the south façade, and the projecting balconies to the south façade.
Leeds City Council has started the procurement process and an artist should be appointed in October. For artists wishing to enter the procurement process the deadline for expressions of interest is 5pm on Monday 11 August, visit:
http://scms.alito.co.uk to sign up.
Enquiries about the tender website/process to Julie Brennen, Procurement Unit, email julie.brennen@leeds.gov.uk tel: 0113 24 74088
For more information on the planned building, and to find out how to help us realise it visit
Next step in giant leap of faith
Read an article about our new building from the Yorkshire Post magazine, published on Saturday 7 June …
Development in our campaign for a new building
Our campaign for a new building in central Leeds with Phoenix Dance Theatre took an important step forward last week when Leeds City Council announced that it will be working with Wates Construction as the preferred participating contractor.
As the project moves through the design process, Wates will work with the architects to develop the design proposals, solve any potential logistical problems and cost the building construction.
Our fundraising campaign, momentum, the campaign to raise the final £1.5 million required to complete the £12million project, continues to gather pace. For further information and to make your donation visit www.building-momentum.co.uk
More Momentum Launch Images
More photographs of the Momentum Launch event last month can now be found on the new Momentum website.
The events gallery can be found here: http://www.building-momentum.co.uk/events.aspx
Momentum Launch
Northern Ballet Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre revealed a stunning new vision for a centre of excellence for dance in Leeds last night at the launch of momentum, the campaign to raise the remaining funds required for the new buidling. HRH The Earl of Wessex attended the launch where new designs by the Strategic Design Alliance, a partnership of Jacobs and Leeds City Council’s in-house architects, were unveiled. In addition, Leeds Metropolitan University announced that it is investing in the new dance centre in an exciting partnership with NBT and Phoenix.
Read the full press release.
A new fundraising website was also launched yesterday to help raise funds for the momentum project.
Click here to visit the new site
Photographs of the launch:
Building Project gains ‘Momentum’
NBT’s new building project gains ‘Momentum’
Good progress is being made on the development of our new home on Quarry Hill in central Leeds with Phoenix Dance Theatre. The internal layouts for the building are taking shape and our Architects, Jacobs, are currently working on the external look of the building. Early discussions with Leeds City Council Planning department have been positive and an informal presentation of the design and layout is scheduled to take place on 30 January with the Chief Planning Officer to gauge further support.
The formal OJEU Notice (basically an advertisement asking for expressions of interest to become the building Contractor) has been posted with a deadline of 13 February for expressions of interest.
At this stage we are reasonably happy that the design is within budget but our Quantity Surveyor will carry out a cost check in mid-February just to be sure.
Building work is currently scheduled to start on site in February 2009 for completion in May 2010.
The building is costing £12million and the good news is that we’ve raised £10.5million of that. We still need to raise £1.5million by the end of 2009 and to make sure we do that we are launching Momentum, our capital fundraising campaign. The fundraising launch will take place on 21 February at an event which will be attended by NBT’s Royal Patron - HRH The Earl of Wessex KG, KCVO. There will be many ways in which our supporters can contribute to the campaign including naming rights to the building, naming of the studio theatre, rehearsal studios or even seats within the theatre.
Watch this space for further updates about the new building and Momentum.
Yorkshire school pupils dance for joy at new partnership
As part of NBT’s new partnership with the Halifax, pupils from Withinfields Primary School attended a matinee performance of The Nutcracker at Leeds Grand Theatre. NBT Dancers Christopher Hinton-Lewis and Martha Leebolt were on hand to welcome the pupils to the theatre and talk to them about their dance experiences. Also on hand was Alex Barnett, from the Halifax who said, “We are delighted to be embarking on this new partnership with the North’s premier ballet company. We are committed to investing in the local community, and this partnership will help us support the delivery of high quality and accessible arts activities for young people in Yorkshire.” For more information about our new project supported by the Halifax click here.
The Sugar Plum Fairy goes Christmas Shopping!
The Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker kicked-off her Christmas shopping last week at Fenwick department store in York. NBT Dancer Julie Charlet delighted staff, shoppers and a group of aspiring young ballet dancers from Isobel Dunn dance school in York when she made a surprise in-store appearance. Julie was promoting the Leeds performances of The Nutcracker (Leeds Grand Theatre, 27 Nov-8 Dec).
Fenwick is a valued sponsor of NBT and is running an in-store colouring competition to win tickets to see The Nutcracker in Leeds. Nicola Johnson, Managing Director at Fenwick, was delighted to see Julie surprising her customers, “We’ve always tried to support the arts in Yorkshire - I’m a keen ballet fan myself - and to have the Sugar Plum Fairy here at Fenwick York today is the cherry on the cake”. Photo credit: Lisa Stonehouse
Building Project Statement - 03/08/07
New Building Project:
We were very disappointed that for various reasons it became impossible for us to continue working with Rushbond to develop a new purpose-built home for NBT and Phoenix Dance Theatre in the centre of Leeds.
We are extremely grateful to Leeds City Council who have reviewed the delivery options and agreed to take responsibility for the development. This includes an additional injection of £3M of funding and Project Management provided by the Council. This increases the Council’s contribution to more than £7M.
£3.5M will come from Arts Council England through Lottery funding and the balance of the £11.675M estimated cost will come from NBT and PDT fundraising. A major appeal will be launched shortly.
The City Council’s strategic design alliance has started work on the design of the new building which will be located on Quarry Hill.
Further details will be added to the website as the project develops in the coming months… Update available here.
