We’re proud to share that we have been awarded the Silver Investors in Diversity Award following our latest review in summer 2025.
This recognition reflects the progress we have made in embedding fairness, respect, equality, diversity, inclusion and engagement (FREDIE) across our culture.
The assessment involved staff focus groups and external review. We were measured in four key areas:
Strategy and Communication
Behaviours and Data Gathering
Visibility of Senior Leaders
Recruitment
Our refreshed approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) received praise across all areas. With a new EDI Charter, committee, toolkits and policies, we have strengthened how we live our values and support our communities. Investors in Diversity highlighted:
“Luminate’s interconnected strategies embody the shared values of kindness, inclusion and collaboration to ensure all EDI work contributes directly to transforming lives through education, training and support.”
Feedback from our staff reflected this too. One participant said:
“Visibility of EDI has skyrocketed in the last 12 months.”
We are also delighted that Keighley College, Leeds Conservatoire and University Centre Leeds each received positive recognition for the increased visibility of EDI this past year.
This Silver Award is an important step in our journey. With upcoming initiatives such as our Global Majority Empowerment Programme and Women in Leadership programme, we are determined to continue building a culture where everyone can thrive.
Across our campuses, creativity is celebrated, nurtured, and shared with the wider community. We champion early-career creatives and students through exhibitions, performances, and cross-disciplinary competitions, providing platforms for fresh voices to be seen and heard.
At the heart of this is BLANK Gallery, run by the School of Creative Arts. The gallery, alongside its accompanying publication, showcases new contemporary creative practice in Leeds. It offers emerging artists the opportunity to exhibit their work, while the publication invites other creatives to respond – sparking a living dialogue between artists, audiences, and ideas. The gallery hosts four annual exhibitions at our Quarry Hill campus, each highlighting the talent and ambition of rising creatives.
Creativity also took centre stage in the “Let’s Hear It Then” competition, delivered in collaboration with Leeds 2023: Year of Culture. Staff and students submitted original poetry, song lyrics, and rap, with over 100 entries reviewed. Twelve finalists – representing both students and staff – were selected to perform and exhibit their work at the Leeds 2023 Hub, alongside student-created exhibitions displayed in public venues and online. The competition celebrated the diversity of voices across disciplines and demonstrated the creative energy thriving across the group.
Our commitment to emerging talent extended into the public realm during Leeds Light Night 2023, where the Quarry Hill campus hosted a series of striking installations created by staff, students, and professional artists. Among them, lighting, design, and production students built the Leeds Litter Letter installation – a large-scale interactive piece encouraging audience participation. Visitors brought pieces of colourful litter to add to the artwork, transforming waste into a collaborative creative statement and showcasing how art can engage communities while exploring important themes.
Through these initiatives, we continue to elevate new voices, celebrate emerging talent, and connect creative work with audiences across Leeds, ensuring the next generation of artists has the opportunity, visibility, and confidence to flourish.
Across our group, learners and staff are making a meaningful impact through social action projects that build skills, confidence, and a strong sense of civic responsibility.
At North Street, beginner English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students transformed an unused outdoor space into the Garden of Sanctuary, working with local professionals to create planters, benches, murals, and bird boxes. The project strengthened science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills along with language, and teamwork skills.
Environmental action has also been a major focus. Through Planet Earth Games, around 280 students took part in sustainability projects, helping the group place 5th nationally. Highlights included upcycling waste into wildlife homes at Quarry Hill campus, pollution awareness campaigns by Creative Media students, and a winning recycling initiative by turning crisp packets into blankets for the homeless.
Creative Arts students contributed to community safety by producing the Ask for Angela training video in partnership with Women Friendly Leeds – now being shared with more than 600 venues across the city. At Leeds Sixth Form College, learners supported Friends of the Earth campaigns, raised funds for the Junior Sports Hub, and petitioned for improved prayer spaces, strengthening leadership and advocacy skills.
Social responsibility was also championed at Printworks campus, where students upcycled tents from Leeds Festival with TOM-O, who transforms pre-loved materials into unique, handmade fashion for all sizes and genders. Students also delivered Kindness Week, raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, supporting food banks, and creating kindness walls across campus.
And through our Shape Up 4 Surgery project – delivered with the NHS – Nutrition students designed digital recipe cards to help patients prepare for surgery, contributing to better wellbeing across Leeds Teaching Hospitals.
Together, these projects highlight how our learners are not only developing their own potential, but also making a positive and lasting difference in the communities we serve.
West Yorkshire’s Mayor, Tracy Brabin, has praised new TV show Dreamers for shining a light on Leeds’ – and the region’s – vibrant performing arts scene.
The six part coming-of-age dance drama, which was filmed in and around the city, is being aired now on Channel 4.
The show follows the ups and downs of a group of dancers who are part of the ‘Chapeltown Collective’, with most of the cast coming from Leeds City College or Leeds Conservatoire.
Ms Brabin, who during her acting career starred in hit TV dramas including Eastenders and Coronation Street, said: “I’m thrilled to see these inspirational dance students starring in this new hit series from Leeds-based production company Duck Soup.
“They are the living proof that if you want to make it as a creative you can make it in West Yorkshire.”
For cast members like Mika Rowe-Bailey and Tyler Pickles, their involvement represents an exciting step into television – and their first brush with fame.
Tyler, a 23 year old Acting graduate from Leeds Conservatoire, plays Liam while Mika, who works and studies at Leeds City College, plays Zaki. They are joined on the show by Leeds City College students Princess Neila Mubaiwa, Demarkus Marks, Lewis Aird, Morgan Reynolds, Keldon Copeland and Luke Tyson.
Mika, 25, said: “Dreamers is a powerful representation of Leeds, particularly the vibrant dance scene in the North.
“It shines a light on the importance of community dance spaces, especially in areas like Chapeltown, and emphasises the strength of community and friendship. The show captures the raw energy and talent that thrives here.
“There’s a wealth of talent here, and Dreamers has also provided opportunities for local people to develop their skills in the film and TV industry. We’re often told to relocate to London or Manchester, but Leeds is a thriving hub for dance and the creative arts.”
Like many of the cast, Mika – who has a performance background in Bradford and Leeds – first got involved after spotting an audition poster, and was cast in 2023.
Tyler, meanwhile, from Pudsey, is a skilled actor, dancer and choreographer. He landed his role after being encouraged by friends and staff at the conservatoire to apply, eventually securing the part of Liam, who he sums up as ‘a bit of a rogue’.
Describing Dreamersas ‘This is England meets Fame’, Tyler said: “It’s something that we all definitely enjoyed being a part of.
“We’ve all kind of developed as a family, not a term I use lightly, because this was our first time doing this. So we were all in it together and went through the entire process together.
“We formed it through improvisation so it’s very much ours as much as it is the director’s.”
The Dreamers’ storylines are inspired by the real story of dance in Leeds – and specifically the example of RJC Dance, in Chapeltown.
As such, the show features lots of intricate dance routines based around the contemporary Afrobeat fusion style – arranged, in large part, by former professional dancer and choreographer Dawn Holgate.
Dawn, a Course Leader in HE Creative Arts at University Centre Leeds, said: “I had a wonderful experience working with the cast and crew. Part of my role was to bring together eleven cast members, most of whom were unfamiliar with each other, and create a sense of unity and camaraderie.
“Their on-screen presence needed to feel like a cohesive collective. It was exciting to experiment, workshop ideas, and play around.
“I’m so excited Dreamers is finally on our screens. It was an honour to be involved and to have played such a key role. Hopefully friends and colleagues will enjoy it.”
Ms Brabin, meanwhile, says West Yorkshire Combined Authority is taking steps to help others break into the performing arts. She said: “I want every creative to have the same opportunities that I had, which is why we’re stepping up with tangible support for freelancers and microbusinesses, and investing over £60 million to provide training opportunities to everyone who needs them.”
Leeds City College, Leeds Conservatoire and University Centre Leeds are all members of Luminate Education Group.
