Building Confidence. Building Support. How do we increase our audiences?

Compass Festival is an established and much-loved feature of Leeds’ cultural calendar, bringing high quality, unique arts experiences onto the streets of Leeds, reaching thousands – young and old – who do not otherwise have the chance to participate in and enjoy the arts. Annie will describe the growth of the ambition from a small weekender to a ten day city wide festival and then take us through her current journey of creating and managing a crowdfunding campaign to raise money and to build support. How has Compass increased this growth in audience numbers? What lessons can business take from how Compass uses place, people, history and stories to engage people?

Annie Lloyd has lived and worked in Leeds since 1979 and managed the Gallery and Studio Theatre at Leeds Metropolitan University for 19 years. Since 2011 she and Peter Reed have been making the biennial Compass Festival in Leeds, which places extraordinary live art works in public places enjoyed by thousands of people for free.