The Hepworth Wakefield is one of ten finalists for the Art Fund’s ‘Museum of the Year 2013’ prize, the largest UK arts prize, which celebrates the UK’s best museums and galleries.

As part of this, the Art Fund Prize has organised a nationwide competition to find the best photograph inspired by the finalists and The Hepworth is inviting visitors to submit their Hepworth-inspired photographs for a chance to win.

The winning picture will capture the spirit of the museum. It could be the building, the works of art or the people. It could be serious or humorous, a snap or a carefully considered composition – it’s up to you.

The Art Fund will choose its favourite image from each of the ten museum finalists, then ask the public to choose the overall winner.

The winner will receivean iPad mini; aNational Art Pass (free & discounted entry to UK museums and art galleries for a year);an image published in Art Quarterly, the Art Fund’s magazine; and two tickets to the Museum of the Year ceremony on 4^th June at the V&A, London.

To enter, submit your photos online at www.artfund.org/prize, email photo@artfund.org or twitpic @artfund. Remember to include your name and title of your photograph and read the terms and conditions at www.artfund.org/prize.  The deadline for entries is Wednesday 15 May.

Get inspired with The Hepworth Wakefield’s Photography Weekender at May Bank Holiday (Saturday 4 May – Monday 6 May). Visitors of all ages can take part in free workshops and photography demonstrations to help capture what The Hepworth Wakefield means to you.

MPs and e-skills UK recently launched the seventh Make IT Happy competition, a UK-wide technology challenge for primary school students aged 9 to 11.

This year’s competition has been specially designed to help children use the internet safely and creatively. Staying safe online is an important skill even for primary age children, and the competition helps them learn how to make the most of the internet without putting themselves at risk.

Children will be asked to create an infographic – a digital poster – that tells other people what they’ve learned and how they too can be safe on the web. This reinforces the learning and helps spread the word about using the internet securely.

£1,200 will be awarded to each of the regional competition finalists, with the overall winning school taking home an additional cash prize of £4,000. Winners will also be invited to attend an awards ceremony to be held at the Houses of Parliament in London in June 2013.

“I encourage all of the local primary schools to get involved with Make IT Happy this year”, said Greg Mulholland MP for Leeds North West. “I’m confident that pupils will enjoy the chance to work together on such an exciting and relevant project, as well as having the opportunity to win cash prizes for their school.”

The closing date for entries is April 6, 2013.

For further information and details of how to enter, visit the website at http://makeithappy.cc4g.net/

The competition is run by the Parliamentary Internet Communications and Technology Forum (PICTFOR) and e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology. It is backed by almost 100 MPs from across the UK.

Vagabond Crew

The Ninth International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre comes to West Yorkshire Playhouse on Saturday 2^nd June. This is the first time the convention has comes to Leeds and promises to be a fabulous event.

Hosted and curated by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Jonzi D, Breakin’ Convention presents a dazzling array of the very best in hip hop dance, with local crews opening the show and featuring stunning performances from France’s Vagabond Crew, who won both Battle of the Year and the UK Bboy Championship in 2011, and Clash 66 (France & Korea). As well as breaking and popping, audiences can see different hip hop dance forms, including locking and b-boying, plus newer styles.

The actual show starts at 7.30pm, but the fun starts at 3pm in the foyer with all kinds of hip hop events – there will be rap battles, breaking and street dance battles, workshops and DJs and other family activities – and this part is absolutely free. The theatre will be open right through to 12.30am and there’ll be an after party at Sedgwick Avenue.

Keep an eye on www.breakinconvention.com for the latest details.

We have four pairs of tickets to give away – For your chance to win two tickets just answer the following question:

Who is the host of Breakin’ Convention?

a)    Jonzi B

b)    Jonzi D

c)     Jonzi Z

Send your answer to amanda.trickett@wyp.org.uk 

Closing date: Saturday 19^th May 2012

Photo: Robert Workman

March is a month for mischief and Opera North is creating mayhem by offering readers of North Leeds Life’s website five family tickets to Cautionary Tales!, musical moral tales with a twist.

Bad boys and girls including lying Matilda, runaway Jim and daredevil George will entertain you with their disobedient ways and dreadful ends. Full of colourful tunes and stories, this is a lively short piece of musical theatre for all the family based on Hilaire Belloc’s original tales and is an ideal introduction to opera.

Suitable for children aged 5+ and their families. Duration: approx 60 mins.

photo: Robert Workman

Enter now to win one of five family tickets to see Cautionary Tales! between 2^nd – 6^th March at the Howard Assembly Room.

To enter the competition answer the following question:

Who wrote the original Cautionary Tales for Children?

Spike Milligan

Hilaire Belloc

C.S Lewis

Please email your answer to press@operanorth.co.uk along with your name and contact telephone number.

Terms and Conditions

Subject to availability, the family ticket is based on two adults and two children and cannot be exchanged for a cash alternative. The winners will be picked at random on Wednesday 29^th February and will be contacted via telephone.

www.operanorth.co.uk/productions/performance-cautionary-tales

The 25th Leeds International Film Festival opens tomorrow (Thursday 3^rd November) with a gala screening of Andrea Arnold’s award winning adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

The much-anticipated new version of the classic novel set in Yorkshire and filmed on the North Yorkshire Moors has overtaken ‘The King’s Speech’ as the fastest-selling film in the history of the festival which runs from 3^rd – 20^th November. The Festival – the largest outside London – will feature over 300 films from around the world.

Andrea Arnold will be joined by Leeds actor James Howson, who plays Heathcliff, Shannon Beer (young Cathy) and Solomon Glave (young Heathcliff) for this special screening at Leeds Town Hall.

The festival has also secured a late addition to its programme, with an exclusive screening of Oscar-tipped comedy ‘The Artist’ set in 1920s Hollywood starring Malcolm McDowell and John Goodman as the finale to the event at Hyde Park Picture House on Sunday 20^th November.

Other highlights include the popular horror-themed Fanomenon Night of the Dead XI which returns on Saturday 5^th November at Hyde Park Picture House; and Fanomenon Day of the Dead 5 at City Varieties on Saturday 12^th November, with the directors of three of the four films to be shown making guest appearances. It will also feature the UK premiere of ‘Juan of the Dead’, Cuba’s first independently-produced film to be shown outside the country in 50 years.

Comicbooks, graphic novels, gaming and storyboarding are also celebrated with the return of the fifth Thought Bubble Festival at Saviles Hall and Royal Armouries Hall on Saturday 19^th and Sunday 20^th November.

The festival will also feature an appearance by comedian, writer and television star Paul Merton who will present a night devoted entirely to silent film comedy genius at Leeds Town Hall on Wednesday 9^th November.

Tickets for the Leeds International Film Festival including the offer of six tickets for the price of five on all screenings, are available from the City Centre Box Office at The Carriageworks, by phone from 0113 224 3801, or from www.leedsfilm.com

Festival programmes are available at: Leeds Town Hall, The Carriageworks Theatre, Hyde Park Picture House, Tourist Information Centre – Leeds Station, Leeds Art Gallery, Jumbo Records, ICS Reception – University of Leeds, Travelling Man, Waterstones, Leeds Central Library, Dock Street Market

For more information on the Leeds International Film Festival please visit www.leedsfilm.com

Two days left to enter our competition to win tickets to a film of your choice (depending on availability) enter here

As you may have spotted in the October edition of the magazines, we had a word with The West Yorkshire Playhouse and they have agreed to run a competition giving our readers the opportunity to win a Family Ticket (two adults and two children), plus dinner at The Playhouse (two courses and a glass of wine/juice), for either Annie or Jack and The Beanstalk.

Annie

This is the first new UK production of Annie (suitable for age 7+) for a decade and, with the same team behind it as last year’s critically acclaimed A Christmas Carol, it promises to be a fantastic show. You can look forward to all the classic songs like It’s A Hard Knock Life, Tomorrow, Little Girls and Fully Dressed.

Annie and her band of orphans take charge of the Quarry stage from Monday 21^st November – Saturday 21st January 2012, eternally optimistic that the sun will come out tomorrow.

Award-winning playwright Mike Kenny, Gail McIntryre and Barney George add more than a little magic to Christmas for the Playhouse’s smallest, but most discerning, audience members (age 4+) with their version of Jack and The Beanstalk.

Jack and The Beanstalk

With a twist in its tale, you can bet that this will be no ordinary Jack, no ordinary beanstalk, no ordinary farm and certainly no ordinary animals! Beautiful, harp-playing Pearl, owner of some music-loving chickens, is taken by a giant to live in the clouds and they have to get her back….then the fun begins! This fun show runs from Friday 9^th December – Saturday 21^st January.

To win a Family Ticket for Annie:
All you have to do is complete the following line: The Sun Will Come Out………

To win a Family Ticket and dinner for Jack and The Beanstalk:
Just name the harp-playing girl.

Email your answers to wypcomp@wyp.org.uk by Monday 31^st October, including your contact details and stating clearly which show you would like a Family Ticket to. Good luck!

Finisterrae

LIFF25 features a superb programme of over 300 films, including breathtaking British cinema, outstanding world cinema, cult archive presentations, spine-tingling live music events, thought provoking documentaries, ‘wondermental’ experimental cinema and a selection of special events.

Tickets for LIFF25 are available in person from the City Centre Box Office at The Carriageworks Millennium Square, by phone on 0113 224 3801, and at www.leedsfilm.com, where you can also browse the full programme… Or you could just enter our fantastic competition!

North Leeds Life has 12 pairs of Film Festival tickets to give away!

For your chance to win, just answer the following question:

Which anniversary is the Leeds International Film Festival celebrating this year?

Email your answer to competition@northleedslife.co.uk  Winners can select a film of their choice from the programme and will be notified by email along with full details of how to claim your tickets. Tickets are subject to availability, if a screening is sold out, you will be given the opportunity to select an alternative.

The competition closes at midnight on Friday 4^th November. Successful entrants will be informed on Monday 7^th November.

The Carriageworks, in association with Leeds City Museum, is running a competition to win a family ticket for Beauty and the Beast and other goodies from the Museum.

The pantomime stars Denise Nolan as the evil ‘Witch Hazel’ alongside CBBC favourite Jez Edwards who will play ‘Pierre’, the pantomime comic who brings chaos and calamities to proceedings. ‘Beauty’ will be played by Abigail Welford, with Ben Palmer as the ‘Count of Christi Monto’ hoping to be rescued from the curse which turned him into ‘the Beast’, and Paul Leno adding to the fun as the eccentric ‘Madam Fifi’.

Beauty and the Beast at The Carriageworks

Use the animals in the Museum as inspiration and design your very own Beast! The entries should use a different creature for each part of the body i.e. the head of a fish, the body of a tiger and the legs of a parrot.

The designs will be judged by the Beast himself.

Entry forms can be downloaded from the Carriageworks website, under the Family Fun section. Click here for link.

The winning picture will go on display in Leeds City Museum. Competition entries will be accepted until 30 October 2011. Drop your entry at Leeds City Museum or at The Carriageworks Box Office.

T&C
A family ticket consists of either two adults & two children OR one adult and three children. Tickets will be available for collection on the day of the performance. The prize is only valid for the 6pm performance on Thursday 5 January 2012 – no substitution available.

Beauty and the Beast opens on Friday 2nd December and runs until Saturday 7th January 2012.

Tickets are available from The Carriageworks’ Box Office on 0113 224 3801 or online at www.carriageworkstheatre.org.uk

Audience waiting in anticipation for Leeds Film Festival

2011 marks the 25^th anniversary of Leeds International Film Festival. Once again it is ready to present a packed programme of screenings and exclusive events across a dozen venues in the city.  Last year’s festival was a roaring success, attracting thousands of film fans from across the UK to previews of acclaimed new releases, alongside outstanding world cinema, fantastic shorts and brand new music documentaries.

The Film Festival will launch its full programme from 6pm on Friday 7^th October at Leeds Town Hall as part of Light Night – the event is free and open to all. The Festival’s giant cinema screen, unveiled last year, will present a selection of clips and trailers from the new Festival Programme, alongside free screenings of FW Murnau’s silent classic Nosferatu, John Betjeman’s A Poet Goes North and a celebration of the works of extraordinary animators, The Quay Brothers. Full programme information will also be revealed online.

Details have already been announced for some of the Film Festival’s major events which include Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns and annual horror marathons: Fanomenon Night of the Dead XI at the Hyde Park Picture House and Day of the Dead 5, which returns to iconic City Varieties following its recent refurbishment.

Paul Merton is appearing exclusively at Leeds Town Hall to host Silent Clowns, celebrating the icons of the silent cinema Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy in hilarious extracts, accompanied by world renowned pianist Neil Brand with the Prima Vista Social Club band. Silent Clowns will be a laughter filled, family friendly highlight of the year for fans of film, music and comedy.

Film Festival passes are now available, as well as tickets for special events.
Tickets can be bought online at www.leedsfilm.com or from City Centre Box Office, Millennium Square, Tel: 0113 2243801. Single screening tickets (including discounted tickets for LeedsCard holders) will be available from Friday 7^th October.

Win Tickets to Leeds International Film Festival!

North Leeds Life has 12 pairs of Film Festival tickets to give away. For your chance to win, just answer the following question: Which anniversary is the Leeds International Film Festival celebrating this year?

Email your answer to competition@northleedslife.co.uk  Winners can select a film of their choice from the programme and will be notified by email along with full details of how to claim your tickets. Tickets are subject to availability, if a screening is sold out, you will be given the opportunity to select an alternative.

The competition closes at midnight on Friday 4^th November. Successful entrants will be informed on Monday 7^th November.

Hyde Park Picture House (Leeds’ premier art-house cinema) in association with Fanomenon at Leeds International Film Festival presents TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL (15), this Friday 23rd September at 9:00pm.

There are quite simply so many great films out there that from time to time one slips through the net. This little American comedy horror gem came so close to being one of these titles it hurts! Thankfully our friends at the Leeds International Film Festival pointed out it was so funny it made them pee their pants a tiny bit (my words not theirs) and we were able to squeeze it in. It’s a one time only affair though so cancel your plans, the Picture House is the place to be this Friday! If you are quick about it, you could even win a pair of tickets (see details below).

Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are two good natured, best friends on holiday at their dilapidated mountain cabin. While there, they are mistaken for murderous backwoods rednecks by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids who are camping in the same woods. When Tucker and Dale save the life of gorgeous student Allison (Katrina Bowden) her friends believe she has been kidnapped and set out to rescue her. As the chain of hilarious misunderstandings grows, so does the body count.

Online Competition

North Leeds Life has two pairs of tickets to give away to TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL at Hyde Park Cinema this Friday 23^rd September.

This is a terrific piece of modern horror set in one of the greatest traditional horror locations of all, the cabin in the woods. Another great horror film to feature this oh so wonderfully scary of locations is the excellent EVIL DEAD.

For a chance to win one of two free pairs of tickets for this one-off screening this Friday just answer the following question…

Q. In THE EVIL DEAD which famous American TV show host provided the voice for of the professor in the tape recording?

Email your answer to competition@northleedslife.co.uk by 3pm on Thursday 22^nd September.

Good luck!