It’s been a long old journey for us here at the hostel. The concept sparked years ago in the minds of our directors but only came to life physically in 2016. But, how did we get to where we are now? We’re throwing it back to our humble beginnings. **Takes deep breath**…here goes…
Our building
Two and a half years ago there was a sad little derelict three storey building standing empty on Leeds’ oldest street, Kirkgate. This building was in need of some love and we decided to adopt it. We took it into the East Street Arts fold and injected a little artistic magic, transforming it into a quirky, unique home for touring artists and visitors to the city.
We took our inspiration from our collective and respective experiences of Europe where the unique characteristics that artists and performers bring to a place are welcomed and celebrated. We’d not been able to find anything similar in Leeds…so, we created it! With a lot of much appreciated support from our friends – businesses, artists, friends and strangers – we turned our vision into reality!
Be our guest
East Street Arts is all about hospitality. What experience do people have in our spaces? How do we interact with them and make them feel welcome? It’s pretty much our lifeblood.
As such, we developed the Art Hostel with hospitality at its heart. Yes, our guests would enjoy a comfy bed for the night. Yes, they would get a good breakfast. But, the hostel needed to be about much more than this. It would provide an access point to unique cultural experiences, made possible by our relationships with the local artistic community. We wanted to give our visitors an experience which they would never be able to get anywhere else in the city…that’s something we’re absolutely certain we’ve achieved.
As well as bedrooms, we gave our hostel its own project space where we could host one-off events, exhibitions and opportunities for guests to participate and meet other artists and performers in a relaxed environment. Once you’ve crossed the threshold (or even if you haven’t made it inside) you are firmly part of our community…and our history.
Creating rooms fit for a king (and queen)
A bit of crowdfunding, some open calls and a lot of “hands on deck” later…we’d cleared the space and were ready to make it our own. It’s no secret that our rooms were designed and created by a variety of fantastic and talented artists. If you’ve ever stayed with us, we’re sure you’ll agree that we boast some of the most interesting accommodation in the city. You can read more about the artists here but in this post we’re “getting our fanfares on” for the sponsors who made the rooms possible.
We don’t mention or thank our sponsors enough but we were extremely lucky to receive support from Awesome Merchandise, Hammersons and Thompson Brand. Each of these kind organisations not only pledged financial support but came along with us on our journey too. Each supported the design of their own Art Hostel room, inputting ideas, blood, sweat and tears (figuratively, of course)!
As well as these organisations, we received incredible support from long-time arts supporters, Mick Ward and Gill Crawshaw. They provided a fantastic brief focusing on the history of the local area, particularly linked to Leeds as a working dock and the work of the Leeds Riverside Mission (you’ve probably guessed which room they commissioned). Mick also had a personal connection too; his mother lived and got married at the Leeds Mission! Mick and Gill found Hannah Stacey through an open call which resulted in our wonderful Riverside Mission room.
At East Street Arts, we are all about long lasting relationships. You’ll never find us inviting a brand to make donation in return for logo placement. If you hang with us, you’re in it for the long haul (we’re afraid). Awesome Merchandise brought the super talented Drew Millward to the project, Hammersons supported the experienced and established Silvia Liebig to create “And what planet are you from?”, while Thompson Brand Partners put pen to paper, and then paint to wall, to create the wonderful, Dazzleship.
Some of the other heroes who played a leading role in creating our hostel were Bauman Lyons architects and Tim Mileusnic from Darwin Construction. We cannot say thank you enough for the hard work and expertise they put into bringing our dream to life.
And we love collaborating. If you ever want to talk to us about our projects and how you can become part of the East Street Arts family, our door is always open. Your first port of call is hello@esamail.org.uk or a meeting with our external relations director, Nicola Greenan (nicola@esamail.org.uk).
So, how did it all turn out?
Well, you know the rest don’t you?! If not, you can find out more about our first two years in this funky infographic…how many guests have stayed with us, how many volunteers have helped us and how many cups of tea we’ve had too! Alternatively, you can come see for yourself…
Were you involved in the Art Hostel’s beginnings? What do you think of what we created?