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We Chat to Sophie Gargett, the Nottingham-Based Editor of Creative Culture Magazine The Dilettante

Artists, agony aunts and adorable cats - ‘creative culture’ magazine The Dilettante really has it all. We hear from its Nottingham-based editor, Sophie Gargett, about what people can expect from this peculiar publication…

The Nottingham Culture Review of 2021

A year that started badly, but ended with something of a return to normality. Long may it continue...

Domestic Abuse Charity Equation Launch Young People's Film Club in Nottingham

The new club will kick off with a showing of Misbehaviour on Tuesday 19 October...

Catching up with Mayhem Film Festival as the Cult Cinema Weekend Returns To Broadway

Mayhem Film Festival returns from beyond the grave this month with a gloriously gory line-up of contemporary cult cinema – Screen co-Editor Jamie Morris speaks to programmers Steven Sheil, Chris Cooke and Melissa Gueneau about what they’re most looking forward to...

Inspiring the Next Generation: Shekayla Maragh on Running Workshops to Help Musicians Create Lasting Jobs in the Industry

Tenacious, driven, yet always humble, Shekayla Maragh is a cultural producer making moves for musicians in the Midlands. Supporting minority musical talent on a regional level, encouraging people to have ownership, equality and build careers with integrity and longevity is important to Shekayla. She turned down a traditional industry A&R role in London to carve out her own organic career path; staying curious and being empowered by her work is also key. Led by her passion, she launched musical development agency, CUBE, in 2019...

Notts-based Franchise Ohannes Burgers Are After UK-Wide Domination

Amidst the general misery within the food and drink sector during the past twelve months, one chain has managed to not only survive, but thrive. Ohannes Burgers, with their four – and soon to be six – Nottingham branches, pride themselves on putting the freshest ingredients and commitment to quality above all else. And with their West Bridgford and Mansfield locations set to open soon, joining their branches in the City Centre, Arnold, Hucknall and Sherwood (as well as a further store planned for Beeston), we thought it was high time to catch up with owners Deniz & Mehmet Yaziciolgu and Murat Yer to find out the secret of Ohannes’ success...

LeftLion Receives Vital Funding From Government Culture Recovery Fund

We have received a grant from the second round of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help our organisation recover and continue.

The Nottingham Culture Review of 2020

Let’s face it: 2020 has been the crappest year since we dropped the ‘S’ from the beginning of Nottingham. Here’s our rundown of what’s happened in our local culture scene over the last twelve months...

Nottingham Arts and Culture Venues Given Government Funding Lifeline with Culture Recovery Fund

Seventeen organisations have received combined funding totalling over £4.5 million to help with post-COVID recovery...

The Nottingham Project's Greg Nugent: "We’re a creative city where culture thrives, but when other cities were upping their game, we stood still"

With a ten-year vision of turning Nottingham into a globally-recognised cultural heavyweight, and a board including the likes of Shane Meadows and Vicky McClure, last month saw the ambitious launch of The Nottingham Project. Spearheaded by the new Nottingham Board for Culture and Creativity, the project will seek to rejuvenate the city in the wake of a pandemic that has decimated much of the creative industry. As the director of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee, Project chairman Greg Nugent knows what it takes to deliver on the biggest scale. We caught up with the man at the helm to find out more about what the city’s creative community has to look forward to...

Exploring the LGBTQ+ Community and Nottingham’s Night-time Culture

As part of his studies in Notts, promoter and DJ Rory Evans spent time exploring the link between the gay community and disco music. For Leftlion he turns this interest local, speaking with Nottingham’s key LGBTQ+ figures to understand this side of our city’s clubland further, and in light of recent club closures, show why these empty dancefloors are just so significant…

The Nottingham Project Launches to Rejuvenate the City’s Cultural Scene

The major new project, which includes Vicky McClure, Shane Meadows and Director of the London 2012 Organising Committee Greg Nugent, will aim to breathe new life into the city post-COVID.

Nusic New Music Podcast #224 with Babe Punch, Juga-Naut, Bone Cult, Cinema Gold and More...

Love Your Locals: How to Support Your Independents in Their Time of Need

We’re a city with a long and proud history of independence, and currently boast one of the most diverse, active and eclectic independent business communities in the country. Unfortunately, the ongoing health crisis has resulted in many of them being among the hardest hit, and the majority of Nottingham’s independents have had to either close their doors or find creative ways to stay afloat until things return to normal. While these are obviously times of financial uncertainty for many of us, there are still ways that you can support your local independent businesses without leaving the house…

Electronic Duo Bone Cult on Masks, World Tours and Their Debut Album

Formed in 2013, Bone Cult began after two members of a rock band decided they’d had enough. Time spent experimenting with productions in the studio – using synths, drum machines and more – led to the electronic duo, consisting of No.1 and Day2, finding that unique, fresh sound they were in search of, and settling on a new musical identity.  Never showing their faces publicly, their only distinguishing feature comes in the form of artful tattoos covering their torsos. Even their tracked vocals are distorted beyond recognition. With an impressive cult following that has seen them perform across the globe and a debut album set for release this month, we talked to the Notts-based duo to uncover more about the minds that lie beneath the masks...

The Nottingham Culture Review of 2019

A year can go by pretty quick and, to paraphrase Ferris Bueller, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. With that in mind, our Editor-in-Chief Jared Wilson looked back on the last 365 days of life in Hoodtown...

We're Helping to Bring Back Nottingham's Lost Culture Mag from the 90s

Nottingham's 1990's culture magazine Overall is being brought back to life over two decades after it folded, thanks to a regeneration project by LeftLion, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund...

12 Nottingham Organisations To Support You Through a Tough Time

Life can be flipping hard sometimes. Living in a city like Nottingham, we’re lucky to have a community that can get us back on our feet when things get tough. This place is home to a multitude of support groups and organisations whose sole purpose is to help people through hard times, no matter what they may be… 

Notts to Host Festival of Skate Culture

Skateboarding will become an Olympic sport for the first time in Tokyo next summer.  Nottingham is one of the sport’s original homes in the UK, with a vibrant community and culture going back more than fifty years, including internationally known professionals such as Carl Shipman in the 1990s and now Alex Hallford, who is one of just five skaters nationwide to be supported to compete in global Olympic qualification events in the run-up to Tokyo.

ArtSpeak are Working to Engage Older People in Cultural and Art Activities in Nottingham to Combat Social Isolation

ArtSpeak is a funded outreach programme from Radford Care Group which opens to get people aged sixty plus to get involved in arts and culture in Nottingham. Through the development of community hubs and a diverse programme of events and workshops, they hope to decrease social isolation among the older generation in our city. We spoke to Sharon Scaniglia and Hannah Stoddart to find out more… 

Live Music Review: Dom Pipkin’s Smokin’ Boogie at Peggy’s Skylight

If you like blues piano then you will almost certainly have liked Dom Pipkin's Smokin' Boogie piano show at new Nottingham Jazz Bar Peggy's Skylight on Sunday 16 December…

Christmas Without Abuse and Violence: A Campaign for Midland Women’s Aid

Midland Women’s Aid are running a campaign to raise funds for Christmas presents that'll go to 26 children escaping domestic abuse…

Nusic Podcast 188 with Silver Wilson, Jetlines, Bone Cult, Roe Green and more...

Protests in Nottingham

From the machine-wrecking Luddites of the early nineteenth century to the anti-Trump and anti-EDL marches of today, Notts folk have never been shy to take to the streets to speak out against perceived injustices. We chart the history of protest in the city, through organisations such as the Co-operative Women’s Guild, Five Leaves Bookshop, the Sumac Centre and more…

Nottingham Dialect and Mining Culture Documentary to be Broadcast on BBC Radio 4

James Walker blathers on about dialect and mining culture for a BBC Radio 4 series called Talk and Tongue.