Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Produced by Sable Radio
Compass Podcast
We have made sure that you can still enjoy this year’s Compass Festival from the comfort of your own home with Compass Podcast.
Join us for a series of four podcasts, hosted by Pam Johnson and led by the artists we work with, delving into the themes and concerns of Compass Festival projects.
Available from 26th March on Sable Radio and major streaming sites. Sign up to our mailing-list to be the first to know.
Produced by Sable Radio
Compass Podcast
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Photo: Lizzie CoombesZU-UK
Pick Me Up (& hold me tight)
Pick Me Up (& hold me tight) is an invitation for collective listening, experienced through all public pay-phones in Leeds.
Created by ZU-UK in response to rising suicide rates across the country, Pick Me Up (& hold me tight) is a gentle but thought-provoking audio experience that explores contemporary loneliness and exposes the edges of our humanness.
Photo: Lizzie Coombes ZU-UK
Pick Me Up (& hold me tight)
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Pick Me Up (& hold me tight) by ZU UK. Commissioned by Compass Festival.
Many thanks to Mind in Camden for their support in the creation of the pilot of this project, the crowdfunders who made the research and development possible and to our team of volunteers who helped audit all the telephone boxes in Leeds.
Your local phone box needs you! We’re gathering information about the public phones of Leeds and we need your help. Nominate your local phone box to be a part of the project by paying it a visit and following this link:
Closed Forum
Anxiety Arcade
What if there is a game you can’t win? Anxiety Arcade is a full-sized arcade machine exploring themes of anxiety and isolation.
Developed by Closed Forum as a love letter to 80s pop culture and classic video games, Anxiety Arcade is a digital space to get people talking about mental health, rather than trying to solve it
Stop. Breathe. Press A to start.
Closed Forum
Anxiety Arcade
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Created by Closed Forum, commissioned by Compass Festival. With thanks to the Trinity Centre, Leeds.
Lucy Hayhoe
One in, One out:
Leeds's Smallest Gay Bar
A playful installation for an audience of one.
Exploring nostalgia for lost LGBTQIA+ scenes, the consumption of queer space as novelty and what it means to be queer and alone, the exclusive club-for-one features all the camp, glitz and dodgy disco lighting you’ve been missing.
Lucy Hayhoe
One in, One out:
Leeds's Smallest Gay Bar
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Originally commissioned by Compass Live Art for Compass Festival 2021, made possible by Wades Charity, and Leeds Inspired. Developed with support from Broccoli and Arts Council England Lottery funding.
Amy Sharrocks
The Ballad of Crown Point Bridge
The Ballad of Crown Point Bridge is a sonic intervention sounding out relationships between wildlife and the city.
Situated under the bridge and activated by movement sensors, recordings of people’s voices join with the sounds of the city’s water to make a new ballad for Leeds.
Amy Sharrocks
The Ballad of Crown Point Bridge
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
The Ballad of Crown Point Bridge by artist Amy Sharrocks with sound designer Tom Hackley, part of Museum of Water, produced by Artsadmin.
A Compass Festival commission. Supported by Leeds Waterfront Enhancement Fund and IVE. With thanks to The Geraldine Connor Foundation.
Photo: Lizzie CoombesJoshua Sofaer
Museums in People’s Homes
Would you like a visit from Joshua Sofaer and Museums in People’s Homes in your home during 2021?
Joshua Sofaer has created a mobile museum comprising 14 artworks, each representing a collector in Leeds, telling the fascinating stories of the museums people keep in their homes.
Book a tour to see objects from our portable museum – and you can even visit a fun size café and tiny gift shop.
Photo: Lizzie Coombes Joshua Sofaer
Museums in People’s Homes
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Museums in People’s Homes by Joshua Sofaer, 2021. Cabinet designed and built with Plaey.
Featuring stories from the collections of Clare Bentley-Smith, John Boulton, Victoria Boyden, Gill Crawshaw, John Daniel, Tracey Dixon, Kathleen Henwood, Laura Hilton-Smith, Alan H, Ian, Jane Kettle, Christine Osborne, Alison Pidgeon, and Ralph Thoresby. Commissioned and produced by Compass Festival.
Register your early interest now for a performance of Museums in People’s Homes, in your own home, for yourself and guests in 2021. Perhaps you will be inspired to start your own museum too.
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Photos: Lizzie Coombes, Simon Persighetti - Graphic: Tim JukesEtheridge & Persighetti (Small Acts)
Public House: The Yorkshire Square
Public House: The Yorkshire Square is a 12ft x 12ft pop-up pub bringing a ferment of connections, conversations and experiences, to the heart of Leeds iconic Kirkgate Market.
Explore the enduring role of pubs as places of community, intergenerational exchange, entertainment and activism – or simply have a pint.
Photos: Lizzie Coombes, Simon Persighetti - Graphic: Tim Jukes Etheridge & Persighetti (Small Acts)
Public House: The Yorkshire Square
Welcome
Every two years, Compass Festival animates the city of Leeds with interactive live art projects in public spaces like shopping centres, markets, museums and the city streets.
This year we’re back, but we’re doing things a little bit differently.
After an unpredictable year, we decided to move Compass Festival from its original November 2020 date, and spread our activities over the whole of 2021.
Join us for six thought provoking, moving and playful projects, starting in March 2021, and throughout the year.
We’re going to take you to your local phone box, play video games, visit Leeds’s smallest gay bar and get a round in at Kirkgate Market.
Taking you on a journey around Leeds, the festival largely takes place outside and can be explored alone, in small groups or from home.
We want everyone who attends to have an engaging, fun and most importantly, safe experience enjoying this year of #CompassFestival.
Public House: The Yorkshire Square by Etheridge & Persighetti (Small Acts). Commissioned and produced by Compass Festival. Made possible by the Heritage Lottery Fund with support from Leeds Civic Trust. Many thanks to Leeds Kirkgate Market and Nomadic Beers.