Applications are now open for artist projects as part of Compass Festival 2026.
Deadline: Monday 30 June 2025, 10am
Compass Festival is accepting applications for artist projects for the eighth edition of our biennial festival, happening in November 2026 in Leeds.
Compass Festival invites audiences to discover unexpected experiences in familiar places, bringing art to the everyday. In our 14-year history, we’ve seen the festival take place all over the city: in markets, on menus, on the water and in the street.
We work with national and international artists who challenge conventions of where art can be found, what forms art can take and how art can be experienced.
For our eighth iteration, we’re inviting artists and artist-led projects working in any medium to animate the city and its neighbourhoods with playful, provocative and boundary-pushing art which fulfils Compass’s mission of bringing strangers together to participate in artistic experiences in non-traditional art spaces.
Programmes from past festivals are available to view here.
Examples of projects that came through similar call outs include:
What we’re looking for: Project Brief
We’re looking for original projects which focus on or creatively engage with ideas around People, Place & Participation.
PEOPLE
It’s important to us that our festival projects connect and collaborate with different communities in Leeds and celebrate the people who live here. We’re interested in projects which:
- Celebrate communality and foster community building
- Clearly identify a specific community the project will engage with and how you intend to reach them
- Create opportunities for under-represented community members to tell their own stories
PLACE
A sensitivity to and responsiveness to place is important to us and how we programme. We recognise that changing the context of where an artwork is experienced significantly changes its meaning. As such, we’re looking for works which:
- Take place within, or tell engaging stories about, the places where people live, work and play.
- Explore place-making.
- Unlock ‘hidden spaces’ normally inaccessible to the public, or invite people to dwell in overlooked in-between spaces.
- Offer alternative perspectives of Leeds which invite the people who live here to rediscover their own city.
- Understand the context of a regional city and urban environment, and acknowledge its possibilities, complexities and histories.
- In an effort to decentralise arts and culture from the city, we’re always on the lookout for projects which extend the festival map to more suburban environments and neighbourhoods.
PARTICIPATION
Compass Festival is curated around our commitment to diverse forms of participation, and the power of participatory and interactive artworks as tools for change-making. We will favour projects which:
- Offer meaningful opportunities for local people to get involved or to experience the work. This may be through co-creative collaboration in the development stage of your project, or as participants, listeners and audience members.
- Embed access in both the development and delivery stages of the project – this extends to the people you’ll collaborate with in the making of your project, the location of your project, the story you’re telling, and who this story is being told for.
Please note we’re not looking for works that can only happen in theatres and/or galleries. However, if your work is typically presented in these settings and you can make a strong case for how it would work beyond these spaces, you can still apply.
PROJECT PROMPTS
In addition to our above guidance, we’re interested in applications that respond to these particular prompts. However, we’re in no way limiting the call out to these suggestions, they’re just themes or locations we’re keen to explore.
- Identity and heritage: Compass Festival’s most recent editions featured projects that explored the identity, heritage and experiences of people who face different and intersecting types of marginalisation; from Ling Tan’s Low Carbon Chinatown that through food, explored the heritage and traditions of East and South East Asian people living in Leeds; to Amy Lawrence’s Sharing Platter, a communal eating club for women and non binary people of colour; to Melanie Whitehead Smith’s Here Marks the Spot, which mapped sites of queer joy across Leeds. We’re interested in programming work that explores themes of identity and heritage and directly engages with Leeds’ diverse communities.
- Intimate experiences: As well as larger scale public events, Compass Festival is keen to host smaller-scale, intimate experiences for smaller groups or individuals.
- Headingley Bear Pit: In March 2025, Leeds Civic Trust opened the restored Headingley Bear Pit, a historic Victorian site on Cardigan Lane in Headingley. We’re interested in projects which invite members of the public to experience this new cultural site, which already has been animated with a series of art projects such as Matthew Bellwood’s A Garden Through Time (2020).
Eligibility / Who can apply
- Applicants must be aged 18+
- We actively encourage applications from artists who feel their voices are currently under-represented in the arts.
The support we can offer
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We expect to provide budgets of £5-10k in financial support to each project selected. Depending on the project’s scale, this will cover all project costs, including: artist fees, collaborator fees, per diems, travel & accommodation, research, and materials. Alternatively, financial support provided by Compass can be used as leverage for further match funding. The whole Compass 2026 programme is still subject to funding and Compass will discuss and explain the timeline for confirmation of funding with selected artists at the outset.
Please note: You will be asked to outline a draft budget as part of your proposal. We encourage applications working towards the lower end of the £5-10k financial support scale.
PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Compass’ producing team will support you throughout the planning and delivery of your project. We will manage your project budget and timeline, carry out on-the-ground work to connect you with local communities and creative collaborators, promote your project locally, scout for your venue, and source materials.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT
Compass’ Marketing & Communications Manager will support you in the marketing of your project, and you’ll benefit from the wider Compass Festival marketing and communications campaign. We’ll also provide documentation.
Key dates / Timeline
Application deadline: Monday 30 June 2025, 10am
We are currently a small, part time team who are also working on delivering our 2025 Artist Residencies. If you have questions about making a proposal, please contact producing@compassliveart.org.uk and we will try to respond to you within 7 days.
Date we’ll let you know if you’ve been successful by: Thursday 10 July
At this stage, we will either let you know if we’re unable to progress your proposal or if shortlisted, will invite you for a video meeting to discuss your proposal in more detail.
Final outcomes for shortlisted projects will be communicated by Thursday 24 July.
How to apply
Please fill in the form by 10am on Monday 30 June 2025.
There are three main ways that you can apply to be part of our 2026 festival:
- Written application submitted using our Google Form.
- Record your answers to the application questions as a video or audio file (max. 7 minutes) and submit using our Google Form.
- Request a Zoom application session, where your application will be transcribed to our Google Form by a member of the Compass Team. Please be aware that as the Compass team work part-time, a limited number of Zoom sessions will be available. Please email producing@compassliveart.org.uk to request and schedule a session.
All proposals will be treated equally and no favour will be given to production quality or how you apply.
If your particular circumstances or access needs mean that the processes above are inaccessible to you, please let us know by contacting producing@compassliveart.org.uk and we will do our best to help and facilitate your proposal in another format.
