The University of Leeds is calling on all budding artists, students, schools and community groups to submit designs for our Hyde Park Community Mural Project. Our project aims to improve the visual appearance of the area and celebrate the spirit and diversity of the community through the creation of multiple 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 to paint a Mural in a prominent location in Hyde Park with the help and support from Leeds University and a professional Artist.

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 centers.

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

- £100 voucher for Fred Aldous as payment for your time

- Support and mentoring from a professional artist

- Materials budget to create the mural

- A prominant wall location in Hyde Park

- Assistance and support from volunteers

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

- 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!

We have included some photo examples from East Street Arts, Modes of Expression and Leeds City Council 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 wall location will be cleaned and a base coat painted by our wonderful volunteers.

- Mentoring from a professional artist will be available throughout the process and installation

- Volunteers (mostly art students) will be available to assist you with painting on the day

- Your design should not take more than three days to be painted.

- We are working with Seagulls Paint as our provider. 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 a £100 voucher to cover your materials costs.

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 colour and must be scalable to the dimensions. Dimensions (roughly) 3m by 10m landscape.

- Paint must be applied with a brush or roller – no spray paint.

- 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 a sign box. This box will include: name of artwork, date, name of artist and “This mural was created with the support of the University of Leeds, Leeds City Council and the Hyde Park Community”.

- You must be available between 1st and 30th June to create your design. 

Winners will be announced after 18th March. If you are successful a member of our team will be in touch.