Public Services Management: City hits a century: Leeds is celebrating - with juggling, sculpture, opera, rap and more. Rachel Lipman reports on a happy birthday

ONE HUNDRED years ago this week - on 13 February 1893 - Queen Victoria granted Leeds the charter incorporating it as a city. Next Saturday the place is due to be transformed into one big street party, with musicians, fire-eaters, jugglers, stilt-walkers and magicians creating a carnival atmosphere in the city centre.

Celebrations to mark the centenary, however, are going on not just for a day but for the whole year, and the aim is to do more than just acknowledge an anniversary.

The Labour-run city council, in co-operation with local industry and commerce, is using the centenary to publicise the attractions of Leeds and hoping to persuade others to relocate, following the example of the Department of Social Security which has moved 2,500 jobs to the Yorkshire city.

Bernard Atha, chair of the Leeds Centenary Committee, says the year has two main aims. 'One is to promote Leeds as a major city in the North of England, the UK and Europe as part of the city council's campaign to attract development and employment. The other is to provide the citizens of Leeds with a year-long programme of celebratory activities to suit all ages and tastes.'

A report last year suggested the city had got off to a head start in the first of those aims. It predicted Leeds would be the fastest-growing employment centre in Britain in the 1990s, with a 10 per cent rise in the numbers in work. Bridget Rosewell, former senior economist at the Confederation of British Industry, said more than 25,000 jobs were likely to be created.

But what is so special about Leeds? It is not, in truth, the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of great European cities, but Mr Atha insists: 'It is, in reality, a major European city already.' He admits, however: 'What we lack is a perception of that truth. The economic, cultural, political and social wealth and vibrancy of Leeds are a well-kept secret. We think it's time they were known more widely.

'Leeds is a city of 217 square miles, the second largest in England, the third by population. It has a strong mixed economy of service industries and a significant manufacturing base involving 30,000 in engineering, 11,000 in printing and 8,000 in clothing. The slums have been cleared, smoke banished, and public open space extended. It is a good place to live and bring up families.

'It is in celebration of all this and much more that Leeds faces the future.'

Mr Atha's second objective - a year of 'fun, exciting and stimulating' celebratory activities - is off to an impressive start, particularly in the arts.

Last month alone featured a specially commissioned work, Dmitri Smirnov's A Song of Liberty, performed by the Leeds Festival Chorus, and a season of new productions by the Leeds- based Opera North; the varied musical programme also saw performances by the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the brilliant jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and the legendary Black Dyke Mills brass band. A pantomime, conferences, exhibitions, lectures and a Chinese New Year festival all appeared under the umbrella of the centenary celebrations. Last night Leeds Town Hall was the venue for the world premiere of Howard Blake's Violin Concerto, commissioned for the centenary.

One of the artistic highlights of the year will be the opening exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute, the city's new pounds 5m gallery and study centre funded by the Henry Moore Foundation, on 22 April. The centrepiece of Romanesque - Stone Sculpture from Medieval England will be a unique series of figure sculptures from York Minster, which have never been the focus of a public exhibition before; stored in the crypt since being removed from the Minster in the 1960s, they represent the largest existing group of English figure sculptures of the Romanesque period. Henry Moore was born in Yorkshire and was an art student in Leeds. Three Victorian wool merchants' houses adjoining the City Art Gallery have been adapted to provide a centre for the promotion, study and appreciation of sculpture.

April is also the month when a celebratory film is due to be released - and a new tulip will be dedicated to the city. June sees the formal opening of the Leeds Civic Trust Heritage and Design Centre.

Northern Ballet Theatre has been commissioned to produce two new ballets for the centenary. The American choreographer Donald Byrd has also been commissioned to provide a new work for the Leeds-based company Phoenix Dance; it will be premiered in the city later in the year, then go on tour.

Other events are as diverse as the European Juggling Convention, the Leeds International Film Festival (one of the top three in the country), the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition (and a competition to find the world's best pub pianist), and a Schools Rock 'n' Rap Festival. Schools, indeed, are fully involved in the centenary: pupils are being given special study packs, and there is an Artists in School programme, a Festival of Wind Music and the European Youth and Community Theatre Festival. The University of Leeds will host a number of important international conferences.

A range of big sporting events has also been brought under the ambit of the centenary, including the world's biggest triathlon, several international swimming competitions, and the cycling World Cup in August. Local people are, however, drawing a discreet veil over the prowess of Leeds United, knocked out of the FA Cup on Wednesday and struggling to recapture the form that made them Football League champions. Cynics say it may be 100 years before they reign again.

Some of the highlights

EXHIBITIONS

22 April to 19 July: Romanesque - Stone Sculpture from Medieval England, Henry Moore Institute

15 June to 6 July: Cross Borders - contemporary European art takes to the streets

25 Nov to Feb 1994: Herbert Read: A British Vision of World Art, City Art Gallery

MUSIC

Tonight: Igor Oistrakh and Natalia Zertsalova, West Yorkshire Playhouse

30 March to 1 April: Third Leeds Schools Rock 'n' Rap Festival, City Varieties

16 April to 22 May: Opera North season, Grand Theatre

27 June: Opera in the Park, Opera North, Temple Newsam

2 July: Festival of Wind Music gala concert

3-8 Sept: Leeds International Piano Competition

THEATRE

To 27 Feb (not 7, 14, 12): All God's Chillun Got Wings, West Yorkshire Playhouse

18 Feb to 20 March: Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, West Yorkshire Playhouse

8-21 March: Elvis - the Musical, Grand Theatre

1-26 June: Buddy, Grand Theatre

22-26 June: Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Leeds Art Centre, Civic Theatre

DANCE

27 Feb, 1 to 6 March: Northern Ballet Theatre, A Simple Man plus specially commissioned new works

Sept: Phoenix Dance Company centenary commission by Donald Byrd

SPORT

15 Aug: 7th round of cycling World Cup

OTHER EVENTS

To 13 Feb: Centenary in the City, celebration by schools throughout Leeds

12 June to 3 July: Summer Heritage Festival

29-30 Aug: West Indian Carnival and Reggae Concert

1-5 Sept: European Juggling Convention

15-30 Oct: Leeds International Film Festival

(Photograph omitted)