Header

Project overview

“If we see that the impact [of tourism] on our lives, our culture and our economy is growing, it becomes urgent that we understand how things will evolve, which variables determine this development and where we should intervene” Journal of Tourism Future.

The Otley Run Complaints Choir forms part of  a three-year programme looking at new ways for communities to have a say in local planning and deal with tensions caused by tourism. It focuses on the Otley Run pub crawl in Headingley, which has grown rapidly since Covid and now brings large crowds, noise, anti-social behaviour and disruption, creating conflict between residents, visitors, businesses, and authorities.

The project uses a creative approach: people turn their complaints and experiences into songs, performed together as a one-day-only ‘Complaints Choir’ singing alongside the Otley Runners. The idea is that singing helps people express their views, listen to others, and better understand different perspectives.

Working with local groups, community organisations, local businesses, the pubs, and students, the project aims to bring people together, influence decision-making, and develop fairer, more inclusive ways to plan and manage neighbourhoods.

Project team

• Dr Anna Frances Douglas, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, (FAHACS), [email protected].
• Sue Jennings, Director, Left Bank, Leeds.

What inspired you to develop this project?

I live in Headingley and since Covid have seen the Otley Run turn into something quite ugly to live around. As an academic and socially engaged artist, I feel strongly that there that has to be a creative and participatory way to address this growing problem that is now causing entrenched divisions between long-term residents and struggling small scale independent businesses and the many licenced premises along the A660 route from Far Headingley down into the city centre.  The ‘Complaints Choir’ has become a world-wide creative phenomenon since it was created nearly 20yrs ago by two Norwegian artists. However,  it has never been used in a situation where there are such entrenched and diverse opinions about a community situation, as we have in Headingley and Hyde Park with the Otley Run.

So it’s a real opportunity to experiment with a creatively restorative process.

What are you hoping to achieve with your project?

The Otley Run isn’t going to change overnight. But tackling this growing problem with creativity is something that I think needs to happen in order to innovate a solution to a complex situation. The project doesn’t aim to stop the run, but it will hopefully contribute to its de-escalation and management over the next year, working alongside a team of partners including Leeds City Council officer, local councillors, West Yorkshire police and the local MP. That is the aim of the project. But it is also to see how creativity can be engaged restoratively, to find a  kind of ‘sweet spot’ where people of different opinion can listen to each other and collaborate to find a way forward as a mixed community.

What are you most looking forward to in this project?

I think its going to be a challenge getting so many people with differing views together. But there is real satisfaction as a socially engaged artist in working in complex social situation and  trying to achieve this.  And of course I am looking forward to wearing fancy dress and singing as a one-day-only choir when we perform alongside the Otley Runners  in July!