We’re aware that here at Arts Diary we keep heaping praise on Yorkshire’s newest museum, The Hepworth Wakefield, but the venue just keeps on impressing. Latest news from the spectacular new gallery is that 250,000 visitors in the first four months since opening, 5,000 visitors from schools and colleges and 20,000 people signed up for the family summer programme. But the most impressive figure, in these times when the arts are having to argue their financial worth to the economy? The Hepworth has attracted £5m for the local economy from visitors. A sound financial argument for the arts, surely? A Serbian Opera in Bradford. Need we say any more? Uber producer Milan Govedarcia continues to bring new and interesting work to West Yorkshire, his latest an opera Narcissus and Echo composed by Anja Djordjevic. Presented at Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill, the opera is at the venue Oct 13-15. Tickets are on 01274 233200 – and don’t worry if your Serbian isn’t up to scratch, we’re assured it’s sung in English. The UK’s best surfers gather at Scarborough’s North Bay this weekend to battle it out with each other and the waves. If you’re not a surfer dude, you might want to get along to the seaside town anyway as the surf contest is just one of a number of attractions at this year’s Coastival, an arts festival with music, live performances and most exciting of all, a drive in movie in the indoor swimming pool car park, with Riding Giants on Saturday and the 1933 version of King Kong being screened on Sunday. Full details of all events at www.coastival.com We’re excited about an exhibition by York-based artist Mike Barfield, coming to the City Screen Picturehouse on October 5 for a month. Barfield, a writer, poet and cartoonist is probably best known for the cartoon strip “Apparently...”, which he has drawn for Private Eye since 1996. Why so exicted? Well, York’s getting the illustrator’s work before it heads to a major exhibition in London at the V&A gallery to celebrate Private Eye’s 50th anniversary. Where Yorkshire leads, the rest follow... ONE of the themes of this year’s Ilkley Literature festival is Words, Land & Landscape and under this banner Yvette Huddleston and Walter Swan will be talking about their book A Day in a Dale about days out in the Yorkshire Dales. The authors will appear at Ilkley Playhouse in the Wildman Studio on Saturday, October 15 at 6pm. Details of all events at www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk