With 200 days to go until the start of the Rugby World Cup tournament in September, Leeds is set to take its place as of the eleven host cities with an exciting partnership formed to deliver a truly unique culture experience alongside the event.

Dep Arts has joined forces with Leeds City Council to bring a number of interactive, innovative and city-wide experiences under the umbrella TRY. As a Leeds company, based at Munro House, this is the first time they have created a project of this size in their home city and are thrilled to be doing so.

Dep Arts are a team of dynamic, innovative producers, who continually deliver exciting and innovative Theatre and live arts performance, through both theatrical and site specific work to an ever growing audience. Most recently the joint production with Slung Low, Emergency Story Penguin has been receiving glowing reviews nationwide and featured a submarine installation with puppetry, video and music.

David Edmunds, Dep Arts.
“We're delighted to be working in partnership with Leeds City Council on TRY. It is the perfect way to celebrate Dep Arts' 10th birthday working in our own city on a project of this scale and ambition. We look forward to working in this new and dynamic way with the council and we're incredibly excited about the quality of the artistic work which we will be bringing to the project at a really exciting time for the city culturally.”
As the city debates the opportunity to bid for European Capital of Culture 2023, the city council is exploring new ways of working, partnerships and different funding models to deliver its high profile events programme.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Executive Member for Digital and Creative Technology, Culture and Skills:

“As we approach the milestone of 200 days to go until the Rugby World Cup matches in Leeds, Leeds City Council is looking forward to working with Dep Arts on the cultural programme for the Rugby Union World Cup. It’s really important to us to be able to work with local independent providers as part of the major national events that we host and indeed across all of our services, and to support the local economy by doing so. As local authorities across the country face challenging financial decisions, we are excited to be working with Dep Arts to trial a new partnership approach for major cultural events. It’s an approach which could see the city council become a minority funder and enable a more sustainable funding model for future events in the city without compromising on the quality and accessibility of the city’s events programme.”

Alongside the cultural programme which will be led by Dep Arts, the city will also host a Fan Zone at Millennium Square from 18th September – 10th October featuring activities and performances ranging from sports to culture, arts and education. In addition England Rugby 2015 have launched the ‘Festival of Rugby’ evoking the spirit of the Tour de France encouraging businesses and communities alike to host events from 10th June-31st October.

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