22 January, 18:00-21:00, Yorkshire Museum and then on to York Art Gallery
This edition marks the launch of the York Culture Strategy, setting out the city’s vision for arts, heritage, and cultural development. The strategy focuses on strengthening community engagement, supporting the creative workforce, enhancing York’s cultural assets, and fostering innovative cross-sector partnerships.
The “Future of Culture” panel will examine how galleries and museums are evolving amid shifting cultural, technological, and social landscapes. Panellists, including Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool, and the Head of Partnerships and Engagement at Manchester Museum, Ciaron Wilkinson, will discuss creativity, sustainability, audience engagement, exhibition models, digital innovation, and practical strategies for thriving in a rapidly changing world.
The evening concludes with networking, drinks, and a DJ while exploring the Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense exhibitions. Reignite connects culture, business, education, and placemaking to celebrate and grow York’s cultural sector.
A landmark gathering that united all 14 of the UK’s UNESCO Creative Cities. Together they represent literature, film, music, design and media arts – from Edinburgh, Manchester, Norwich and Exeter as Cities of Literature; to Bradford and Bristol as Cities of Film; Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool as Cities of Music; Dundee as a City of Design; Perth as a city of Craft; and York as the UK’s only City of Media Arts. This rich spectrum of creativity showcases the breadth of talent that the UK contributes to the global UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
At the heart of the event was collaboration – how cities can learn from one another’s successes, challenges and ambitions. By sharing approaches across disciplines, from York’s pioneering work in Media Arts and digital storytelling to Dundee’s leadership in design-led regeneration, or Bradford’s journey towards becoming the UK’s City of Culture, the event demonstrated how creativity sparks meaningful change. Each city brings a unique perspective on how culture drives inclusion, sustainability, resilience, and international dialogue, but it is through collaboration that their collective impact can grow.
Reignite XI took place during the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival, bringing together city representatives, creatives, and industry leaders for talks and discussions. After the sessions, delegates explored the UNESCO City of Media Arts Expo, where 40 innovative businesses working across the creative industries were exhibiting.
Over ten editions, Reignite has become a space where industries meet. With more than 2,300 attendees from culture, business, education, technology, and place‑making, it has shown how deeply the creative industries connect to every part of our economy. This milestone edition focused on one crucial theme: exporting ideas and how creativity developed here reaches national and international audiences, and what that means for growth, collaboration, and opportunity across every sector. This event showcased how cultural ambition drives impact far beyond the arts.
Delma Tomlin, Director of the National Centre for Early Music, shared how their recent festival attracted over 1 million BBC Radio 3 listeners. Tim Leigh of Stage One explored their global work, from installing the annual iconic Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington Gardens, to first-of-its-kind stage engineering for Ed Sheeran and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Paul Crewes of York Theatre Royal reflected on their 35‑night sell‑out Gary Oldman production and its international press acclaim.
Plus, Marie-Anne McQuay, Curator, Liverpool Biennale, discussed their 2025 edition, BEDROCK, and its transformative impact. Reignite X revealed how exporting culture fuels economic growth, global reputation, and how we can operate on national and international levels from outside a capital city.
Reignite IX: The Next Generation
Reignite IX celebrated York’s emerging talent and reinforced the city’s commitment to shaping the future of the creative industries. The strength of a city’s future rests on how it nurtures and sustains talent. As York’s creative industries grow, developing a strong and sustainable pipeline is essential. The Next Generation embody the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that will drive York’s future prosperity.
We heard from a panel including Viridian and Aesthetica. Our keynote speaker, Joanne Coates, is a visual artist and photographer whose work explores rural life, hidden histories and inequality. She has exhibited at BALTIC and Jerwood, won the Jerwood/Photoworks Award, and in 2024 was long-listed for the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. The event welcomed 150 artists and designers, and showcased new work. Reignite IX was an opportunity to celebrate the next generation of talent.
Reignite VIIIcelebrated the art of placemaking and cultural transformation. We welcomed key voices leading the charge: Creative Director Shanaz Gulzar, from Bradford City of Culture, brought inspiring first-hand insights into how cities can harness creativity to craft new narratives.
From Bradford’s ambitious vision for 2025, as well as York’s designation as a UNESCO City of Media Arts, these discussions explored the role of culture in reimagining place – moving beyond preservation to invention.
We hosted a lively panel discussion with representatives from different sectors to share good practice and asked key questions such as: How do we make space for new identities within historic cities? How can cultural programming bridge generational and socio-economic divides? What does it mean for education, technology, and urban development?
The event was supported by Aesthetica, York BID, York Museums Trust, and the City of York Council, and is Funded UK Government.
Reignite VII: Intersection of Art & Technology
Reignite VII celebrated innovation and collaboration. The event brought together pioneers from across disciplines, each pushing boundaries and reimagining what creativity could achieve in the digital age. Speakers included York Minster’s new Centre for Excellence, Viridian Labs and Peel X.
The Centre presented its work on digital preservation and immersive storytelling, from 3D scanning to augmented reality overlays, which transforms how we engage with history. Viridian Labs showcased the potential of the Apple Vision Pro, whilst Peel X showed us groundbreaking wearable tech and installations that reimagine how we experience performance and interactivity. For artists, technologists, and anyone with a passion for the creative, this was an evening not to be missed.
Reignite VI: Culture Makes Places was the sixth part of the hugely popular event series. Representatives from three UNESCO Cities of Media Arts – Braga (Portugal), Linz (Austria), and Oulu (Finland) – shared how they leverage culture to drive transformative change in their cities. Attendees discovered how culture enhances economic development, creates jobs, and offers skills and opportunities for young people, fostering growth and innovation across the entire urban ecosystem. Reignite VI: Culture Makes Places ran during the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival.
The event was opened by Mayor David Skaith, followed by an address from Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica. Presentations from each city explored their unique approaches, followed by a dynamic panel discussion led by Heather Niven (University of York). The evening concluded with a drinks reception and a visit to the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO at the Guildhall. The EXPO celebrated a decade of York’s designation. This was an opportunity to learn how culture is shaping the future of cities globally.
On 4 September 2024, we explored unexpected collaborations. Surprising and innovative results occur when different organisations come together, breaking traditional boundaries and fostering creativity. Held at Yorkshire Museum, Reignite V showcased partnerships that have led to new innovations across the city. Attendees listened to speakers from: Pilot Theatre, who shared their work with new technologies; City Cruises, who worked with Netflix on Bodies; the National Railway Museum, who commissioned artworks for WonderLab; and Castle Howard, who have recently organised an ambitious Tony Cragg programme.
The focus of Reignite V was to shine a light on innovative collaborations and ask questions about how, as a city, we can work together across sectors. Talks were followed by a LATE event at York Art Gallery, which offered access to the collections and a last chance to see the gallery’s hugely successful Monet show.
On 30 May 2024, we invited you to York St John University's Creative Centre to see the work of 60 new exhibiting artists across Fine Art, Photography and Illustration, as well as network with businesses in York. You heard from a panel of young entrepreneurs that have based themselves in the city and are working with clients such as HarperCollins, Ravensburger, Lottie Shaw, Guinness, Adidas, Puma and Pepsi. You also heard more about York’s new Creative Business Skills Academy, which has been set up to support entrepreneurialism in the Creative Industries in York. The focus of Reignite IV was to shine a light on York’s Next Generation of talent and how they will contribute to the future ecosystem of the city. This was followed up by the Reignite Party, which included Art Tours, a DJ, drinks, and networking with a range of businesses from all sectors in the city.
Reignite III:
Global Stages
On 11 April, Reignite III brought leading figures from York’s business and cultural sectors together to explore the city’s rise as a global creative hub. The event at Yorkshire Museum highlighted our thriving creative exports and how the city could further position itself on the international stage. As we approach the 10th year of this designation, we explored how York could better leverage this to boost creative industries, fostering opportunities, economic growth and careers. Following the presentations, York Art Gallery came alive with a dynamic after-hours programme. Guests enjoyed a live DJ and drinks whilst exploring the gallery’s exhibitions after dark. A dedicated drawing studio provided a space for artistic expression, whilst a bespoke Audio Visual experience created by Viridian FX (House of the Dragon, Netflix, HBO, Amazon) showed how sound and light can interact with the body.
The purpose of this event was to demonstrate the economic impact of large-scale cultural programming on our city, inclusive of an uplift in the city's centre both through economic and social inclusion. Reignite II took place on 9 November across two venues, City Screen York and Pitcher & Piano, as part of the BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival. The purpose of this occasion was to unite businesses from across all sectors into the city centre in order to see and experience large-scale cultural media arts programme through film. This event looks at the impact that culture can have on place through its economic uplift but also its unique way of uniting communities and driving social cohesion. In York, the Aesthetica Film Festival is the only large-scale Media Arts event, which attracts thousands to the city across an entire week to engage with film, games, XR masterclasses, workshops and wider screen culture. How can other sectors benefit from this large-scale event?
Elsewhere (2011), dir. Mathy Tremewan and Fran Broadhurst.
Screened at Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2011.
Reignite I:
The Economic
Impact of Media Arts
Reignite started on 14 September at Raddisson Hotel. Here we discussed the economic impact of the sector in York and how to leverage the city’s UNESCO status to attract inward investment and develop new career paths. York is undergoing a transformation, and the Creative Industries play a key role in developing a knowledge-based economy. We need to reinvent ourselves as a regional city that thinks nationally and internationally. We looked at the value of the sector to all businesses in York and encouraged attendees to hear more about how the Creative Industries impact different organisations. Businesses heard our intentions to create clear education pathways from primary through to higher education as well as support the next generation of women to develop their entrepreneurialism and build creative, digital and tech businesses.
