MLA

Yorkshire and Humber is home to over five million people and includes a third of National Park land, two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and miles of Heritage Coast. The region which has the third largest Asian population outside London and supports around 70 community languages has culture at the heart of its economy, with over 100,000 people in the region working in tourism and the creative industries.

The three cities, Leeds, Hull and Sheffield, boost the region’s economy with Sheffield now producing a higher proportion of the UK’s steel than it did in the sixties and seventies. More worldwide exports go through Hull and Humber ports than any other UK ports complex and Leeds is the UK’s leading centre for financial and business services outside London.

Museums, libraries and archives are among the most well used cultural assets in the region:

• Yorkshire and Humber has the third largest number of major attractions with paid admission in England. Its 163 museums, including four national museums, generate over two million visits per year.
• Over 50 per cent of the population in Yorkshire and Humber are members of a public library. There were over 25 million visits to libraries across Yorkshire, an increase of nearly half a million on 2006. The British Library, based at Boston Spa, provides access to over 100 million research articles for over 10,000 business customers in the region and beyond.
• Over 200 sites in the region hold public archive collections and the Yorkshire and Humber local authority archives process nearly 60,000 enquiries a year.

MLA works closely with the Arts Council, Sport England, English Heritage and Government Office Yorkshire and The Humber to provide support for local government improvement, sustainable communities and place shaping, and the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.