In January this year, Moda Living and creative events organiser New Citizens unveiled plans to launch a dedicated new 103,000 sq ft event space in Leeds called Canvas Yard. The open-air venue will host, music, sports, cultural and arts events, and will be located at the City One development site a short walk from Leeds train station, which is owned by Caddick Group. BE News caught up with Eleanor Trigwell, brand Manager at Moda Living, and Stu Butterworth, director at New Citizens, to find out more about their plans for the site.
How did the relationship between the two parties come about?
Trigwell: We were introduced to New Citizens through our mutual contacts at Leeds City Council. New Citizens were looking for the right space to host their events and the council knew from working with Moda for several years now, that it was the sort of project – transforming a space into something amazing with community benefits – that we’d love to get behind.
Butterworth: It quickly became clear that we shared a lot of values, aims and objectives with Moda, which then led to our continued partnership.
Can you tell us a bit about New Citizens and the sort of projects you work on?
Butterworth: The company behind New Citizens was founded in 2012 as a music promoter and venue operator. The New Citizens name was adopted in 2017 as the company moved into operations outside of the music space. The business is now divided into three distinct units: music, food and agency/consulting. As a company, we’re passionate about delivering unforgettable experiences to people from a variety of backgrounds.
Has Moda done anything like this before?
Trigwell: We’ve always been keen to deploy meanwhile uses wherever we can for our sites. For us, it’s a really effective way to build community ties while adding some social value to the area. A really good example of another project was the Grove Community Garden on the site of Moda, The McEwan in Edinburgh. The organisation, which allows local people in the area to grow their own food and teaches them about cultivating different foods, needed somewhere to put down some roots – pun intended. They used the site for no charge in the two years before building started, then we helped find them somewhere new to set up when the time came to make sure they could keep doing their great work.
This was on a different scale to what we’re doing with New Citizens at Canvas Yard, but the core values are exactly the same: working with the local community to add value and create functional space on land that would otherwise be sitting empty.
Where did the idea for Canvas Yard come from?
Trigwell: The idea came about after we collaborated with New Citizens on music festival The Garden Party (pictured) last year. They needed a new venue, we had the space, and the weekend was a huge hit with more than 4,000 people coming down to the site to enjoy the event. We said at the time we wanted to do it all over again, and then we just thought, “well why don’t we”? Long-term, this brownfield site is going to become a thriving new neighbourhood in central Leeds. With a mix of uses from commercial space to new homes, the neighbourhood will be tied together by new landscaped spaces, a linear park and public realm, so the community can continue to enjoy it and the legacy of Canvas Yard for years and years to come.
What are the mutual benefits of this sort of arrangement?
Butterworth: The collaboration allows New Citizens to deliver a brand-new hub for music, sport, arts and cultural events within Leeds city centre, offering rich experiences to people who live in the local area and beyond as well as bolstering the Leeds music and arts scene. Utilising this space during its journey to becoming a vibrant new neighbourhood helps create a buzz around the area as well as boosting local employment figures, supporting local traders and increasing spend throughout the city.
Trigwell: We’re very focused on building long-term relationships with a range of partners, spanning a whole range of industries and specialities. Long-term arrangements like Canvas Yard allow us to work with a local business like New Citizens, which is delivering these incredible experiences that we can then offer to our communities. They also share our commitment to embedding ourselves within the immediate and wider communities we’re active in. Events like Hacienda and The Garden Party are a big part of Leeds’s amazing music and arts scene, and it’s a win for us as a brand to be able to offer these events and others in that space, a place where they can thrive.
What’s the secret to making meanwhile space worthwhile?
Trigwell: I think the secret is taking the time to get to know your community and tapping into what would drive real value and, ultimately, enjoyment from a space. There’s no point just deciding you want to do something on a site because it suits your business, because you’re going to end up pouring time and resource into something that no one asked for or gets any use out of. Canvas Yard taps into our core values of wellbeing and outstanding experience, but it’s also delivering an amazing space for events that needed a home and are already selling out, with thousands of people from Leeds and beyond set to enjoy Canvas Yard over the coming years. What’s not to love?
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