The University of Leeds is calling again on all artists, students, schools and community groups to submit designs for our Hyde Park Community Mural Project. Our project aims to celebrate the spirit of diversity of the community through the creation of six artistic murals around Hyde Park in Leeds. This is a development opportunity for an individual or group who are interested in murals and street art, the winners will be given the opportunity and resources to paint a mural in a prominent location in Hyde Park.

We are looking for mural designs that reflect the Hyde Park community and why it’s a great place to live, work and study. We welcome designs from individuals or community groups; such as voluntary and residents’ groups, schools and religious centres.

The winning designs will be chosen by our judging panel, built from representatives across the community. Successful applicants will receive: 

• £100 voucher for Fred Aldous as payment for your time
• Materials budget to create the mural
• A prominent wall located in Hyde Park
• Promotion of their artwork, creative brief and their background in a mural map leaflet and University communications campaigns and events.

Creative Brief

The design must be a positive and inspiring piece of artwork. We have a few creative themes below to base your design upon.

• The people and diversity of Hyde Park
• Hyde Park’s cultural identity
• The history of Hyde Park
• A reflection of the natural beauty of Woodhouse Moor (Aka Hyde Park)
• Well known landmarks and businesses (Hyde Park Picture House, Makkah Mosque)
• Show what makes Hyde Park the best place to live!

Examples form Colour Hyde Park phase I can be found on the following  link: https://sustainability.leeds.ac.uk/being-a-positive-partner-in-society/colour-hyde-park-community-mural-project/

Also, we have included some photo examples from Colour Hyde Park phase I, for inspiration. Please note your mural needs to be around 3m by 10m so much smaller than some of these examples. Please submit your designs as smaller files!

Creative Process

 The winning artists are responsible for the preparation and creation of their artwork, including the recruitment of any friends/family required to support the painting process in timescales stipulated. Your design should not take more than 5 days to be painted.

We are working with Seagulls Paint as our paint supplier.  You will need to work with Seagulls to find the paint appropriate for your work, we suggest masonry. (Spray-paint is prohibited) Seagulls do bespoke colour mixing if they don't have the colours your desire already in stock. You will be given up to £100 to cover your paint and materials costs.

The University of Leeds will protect the murals with a coating of anti-graffiti varnish once completed. 

Entry specifications

• Must meet at least one of the creative themes (above)
• Designs must be appropriate for a diverse community within a residential area 
• Designs must be full color and must be scalable to the dimensions. Dimensions (roughly) 3m by 10m landscape.
• Paint must be applied with a brush or roller 
• Designs must be flexible and workable as the locations vary in shape and size. Winning designs will be allocated a location and given time to fit their design to the location.
• Designs must not promote a single religious belief nor political views.
• The design must allow for an area 50cmx50cm in the bottom right-hand corner for the University of Leeds logo. You are encouraged to incorporate your own name/social media handle into the design.
• We will discuss with successful applicants when is an appropriate time to complete the mural.

*Please note that the University will require the permission from winner entries to reproduce their artwork for the purposes of promoting the Colour Hyde Park Project.

If you are successful a member of our team will be in touch.