Leys became in 1852 member of the "Kunstverbond" or "Cercle Artistique, Litéraire et Scientifique d’Anvers" ('Art Association'), a mainly French-speaking society of intellectuals and artists. Its honorary chairman was the liberal mayor of Antwerp Jan Frans Loos. In the same year a heated discussion had started about the reform of the Antwerp Academy after its director Gustaf Wappers had resigned from his post following political pressure. The Kunstverbond championed profound changes to the organisation of the Antwerp Academy. Leys' friend and fellow member of the Kunstverbond Joseph Lies authored a plan that called for the separation of the artistic and administrative functions in the Academy and for ending the practice of appointing the director for life. Leys, who was also member of the city council, defended the plan in the city council, but it was defeated.