Conference
Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
The Leeds School of Arts is delighted to host the 2024 VASTA Leeds Symposium. Integral Voice: A pragmatic discourse for the future of voice; bringing the future to today.
After 10 years VASTA is back in the UK, this time we move the focus to the North of England as The Leeds Symposium will be VASTA's third time meeting in the United Kingdom with participation welcome from across Europe and around the World.
As we move further into the 21st century as voice practitioners and users, we’ve been surfing in a time where many voice communities have been continually asking where will voice take us next? What will the next generation of voice practitioners offer? And how will they contribute to the field of voice? Do we discard away any older methods and techniques? Do we create new forms? And as we are all living in an age of growing concern for not only our profession and livelihoods, but our humanity. There is something we all share, a Voice. Collaboration and integration are concepts and terms that have been frequently floated in recent years, but what does this really mean in practice? And how are we to ensure a future for the field of Voice? What are we missing?
Important information
Dr Oliver Bray is the Dean of Leeds School of Arts at Leeds Beckett University, one of the largest art schools in the north of the UK. LSA is a creative hub to 3,000 students, studying over 40 courses, and 200 members of staff across four departments; Art, Design & Fashion, Leeds School of Architecture, The Northern Film School & Creative Technologies, and Music, Sound & Performing Arts.
.Oliver’s research interests stem from his professional practice in contemporary performance and live art but are inherently interdisciplinary in nature. As a theatre maker and practice-led researcher, his interests include durational public reading, speech-making, the art of rhetoric and the performance potential of political post-truth in the 21st century. Oliver’s well-respected performance and live art practice has toured nationally and internationally to venues and festivals including the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania; In between Time, Bristol; and the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow.
Barbara Houseman has worked in theatre for over 45 years as a Voice, Text and Acting coach and a Director. She spent six years in the Voice Department at the Royal Shakespeare Company, working alongside Cicely Berry and Andrew Wade and then became Associate Director at the Young Vic, in London. For the last 26 years she has been working freelance. Among other clients she coaches Cush Jumbo, Jude Law and Daniel Radcliffe.
She was Voice and Text Coach at Regent's Park, from 2009 to 2011 and Season Associate Director from 2014 to 2022 when she left to focus more on Directing. She has worked on numerous shows in the West End includingEndgameandRosencrantz and Guildenstern are deadat the Old Vic; Macbeth, Richard iii andDr Faustusfor the Jamie Lloyd company;Macbeth, The Human Body, All Female Trilogy, Coriolanus, Les Liaisons DangerousandSt Joan at the Donmar;The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night timeandThe Ferrymanat the Gielgud,Comedy of Errors, More Grimm’s Tales; The Government InspectorandHamletat the Young Vic. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Connecticut, the author ofFinding Your VoiceandTackling Text [and Subtext]and of Actor Food Masterclasses“Developing Your Voice”and “Bringing the Text to Life”She also trained as a Healing Shiatsu Practitioner, is a qualified NLP Master Practitioner, Clean Language Coach and SOLignment Breath and Embodiment Facilitator.
Hotels
A wide range of hotels are available within Leeds City Centre at a variety of price ranges. For budget-friendly hotels, the Travelodge have set up a search link for nearby hotels close to Leeds Beckett University.
All refreshments will be included, including:
- Hot and Cold refreshments throughout
- 3 course dinner on the Friday evening (Smart casual)
- Lunch on Saturday
Leeds is a fantastic city small enough to get around easily on foot but also well connected by public transport.
Our City Campus is very central and spread over several buildings around Woodhouse Lane. We are just a few minutes walk from the main shopping centres, the First Direct Arena and heading out of town, Hyde Park.
Leeds School of Arts Address: Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University, City Campus, Portland Way, Leeds, England, LS1 3PB
Arriving by car
Leeds has good motorway links from the M1, M62 and M621 making it easy for your to reach.
Parking
Short stay parking is available at Rose Bowl (for sat nav use LS1 3HB), the car park is split into two sections; directly outside the Rose Bowl there is an open-air car park (pay and display) and there is an underground car park (pay on exit) below the Rose Bowl. Both are accessible via Portland Crescent.
There are a number of city centre pay and display car parks located near to our campus buildings. These can get busy during events and we would advise that you use Leeds Travel Info to check available car parking spaces on the day and that you leave plenty of time to find a parking space and walk to the campus. Postcodes for the closest city centre car parks are as follows:Woodhouse Lane Multi-storey: LS2 3AX
- Merrion Centre: LS2 8BT
- St. Johns Centre (NCP): LS2 8LQ
- The Light: LS1 8TL
Please also note that park-and-ride facilities are available at Elland Road and Stourton. They are easily accessible from the motorway and will allow you to avoid driving into the city centre altogether. Please the Metro website for more information.
Arriving on public transport
The City Campus is just a 15-minute walk from the Leeds train station.
Arriving by plane
The official taxi company at Leeds Bradford Airport is Arrow Cars, they operate an easy to book taxi drop off and pick up service right on the terminal front at Leeds Bradford Airport. Arrow Cars can transport you to and from Leeds Bradford Airport and fares can be checked before booking.
There are three easy ways to book your taxi:
Online - simply enter your journey details into our search tool on this page
Phone - 0113 258 5888
In person - at the Arrow Cars airport office on the terminal front or using the touchscreen kiosk in International Arrivals.
From Current President of VASTA, Antonio Ocampo-Guzman:
Welcome to VASTA – the Voice and Speech Trainers Association.
We are a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization whose mission is to cultivate the voice and speech profession and its multidisciplinary impact with passion, respect, and definitive leadership. We aspire to be an international community that advocates for and serves voice and speech professionals across industries, areas, and sectors of the field.
We are dedicated to promoting both the art and the science of the human voice through networking, conferences, research, and interest groups. We foster and expand the exchange of collective knowledge of voice and speech through a more inclusive, all-encompassing range of cultures, methodologies, backgrounds, and professional perspectives.
VASTA was established in 1986 in the USA; our desire is to serve colleagues across the world. We currently have over 700 members representing 31 different countries and our board members reflect our international growth.
Our brand-new state-of-the-art £80million Leeds School of Arts building features a wealth of outstanding specialist facilities across Creative Technologies, Film, Music & Sound, and Performing Arts. These include a 180-seat performance theatre; a 220-seat cinema; industry standard film and green screen studios; a black box theatre; Foley studios; dubbing and music recording studios; acoustic labs and numerous post-production suites. There are also a host of flexible teaching and study spaces, a café, and event spaces including two large roof terraces with stunning views across the city centre.
As well as a centre for creative exploration and growth, Leeds School of Arts is a focus for the cultural life of the city itself. Leeds is undergoing a renaissance, driven by a booming creative sector and galvanised by the arrival of major players such as Channel 4. The Leeds School of Arts building ensures our creative practitioners and students are uniquely placed, not just to benefit from Leeds' flourishing creative landscape, but to add their own creative energy to the transformation of the city.
