Leading experts and campaigners from across Yorkshire will come together this week to discuss the future of public service broadcasting, libraries and the arts in the age of austerity.
Judith Stamper, former BBC Look North anchor and current Deputy Head of the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, will chair a high profile panel which includes the Director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, Sheena Wrigley. Award winning playwright, screenwriter and producer Garry Lyons will also feature on the panel, along with Sylvia Harvey, visiting Professor in Broadcasting Policy at the University of Leeds.The panellists will examine whether familiar public forums for debate and understanding - such as libraries, theatres and television - are at risk from the Government's cuts to public spending.
Windows on the World: Keeping Them Open is a free-to-all event and will take place at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on Saturday the 16th July. It will start at 2pm, with refreshments available from 1.45pm, and is being organised by Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV) with the support of the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds.
Full panel:
- Chair: Judith Stamper, Deputy Head, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, BBC Journalist and former Presenter BBC Look North;
- Lauren Smith, Founding member of the national libraries advocacy group Voices for the Library and co-ordinator of the Save Doncaster Libraries campaign;
- Sheena Wrigley, General Director and Joint Chief Executive, West Yorkshire Playhouse;
- Garry Lyons has written extensively for theatre as well as for radio and television, with his BBC2 drama-documentary Britain's first suicide bombers attracting a Prix Europa nomination in 2007. He is also a lecturer at the University of Leeds' School of Performance and Cultural Industries;
- Sylvia Harvey, Visiting Professor in Broadcasting Policy, University of Leeds, Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics, Trustee, Voice of the Listener.
For further information please contact: Sylvia Harvey (Mob): 07881554126 or Bob Usherwood 0114-236-8356.
Windows on the World: Keeping Them Open. The prospects for public service broadcasting, libraries and arts
- Saturday 16 July, 2011 at 2pm at The Congreve Room, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UP
- Public meeting, all welcome, admission free
- Refreshments from 1.45pm
- Windows on the World: Keeping Them Open. The prospects for public service broadcasting, libraries and arts
Notes to editor
- Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV) is an independent, not-for-profit association working for quality, diversity and editorial independence in broadcasting. It has no political, commercial or sectarian affiliations, and is the only national organization speaking for listeners, viewers and new media users on the full range of broadcasting issues. It is not connected with Mediawatch the organization founded by the late Mrs. Mary Whitehouse and formerly known as the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. Further information on the VLV is at: http://www.vlv.org.uk/
For further information:
Please contact the University of Leeds Press Office on +44 (0)113 343 4031 or email pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk