Welcome to our final blog of the week. We’ve loved looking back on the last two years and hope you’ve enjoyed reading our birthday blogs too. Today, we’re talking volunteers. Without this lovely lot, the hostel just wouldn’t function. Consider this a virtual round of applause for the people who give up their time to come and be part of our team.

We welcome help from Leeds locals and visiting travellers alike. Our volunteers range from 18 to 65 years old, from 18 different countries (Spain, France, Portugal, New Zealand to name a few)! Here’s an insight into hostel life from their perspective…

Our best bed

Did you know we have a dorm specifically for volunteers? Room 5 is a 10 bed dorm and it’s seen many sleepers over the past two years. There’s been much debate about which is the best bed in the room with position (corner/middle, top/bottom bunk) and storage seeming to be contentious criteria.

The “top bed”, also known as the “railway bed”, is a favourite among the volunteers, and you can consider yourself lucky if you manage to bag it. You can read more about this bed and East Street-er, Nathan Evan’s experience of staying with us here.

It is a sought after spot, often being passed on and agreed between our volunteers when people moved on.

Former volunteer, Bea says: “I was in the middle bed in the bunk that you see first when you enter the room for one month and then I moved to the ‘top bed’ and I was there for like four months.” She just didn’t want to give it up!

Whereas our Georgie was more bothered about getting into the highest bed in the room, the one that’s directly under the rooftop hatch which has bars which can be used to store things such as books, t-shirts and socks.

Sleep talking the talk

One of the joys of staying in a room with up to 10 other people is the funny things they say in their sleep; and we’ve had a great array of sleep talkers!

Gonzalo says he heard Bea “having conversations with herself in a mix of Spanish, English and bear sounds.”

Gemma said: “Well Kerstin often spoke in her sleep but I could never understand it because it was either German or Japanese! Someone did mention that I had once said ‘Andreea wins the tiger!!! Ssssssssssssssssss’ in my sleep too”.

One of our first volunteers Eliza said: “I heard John apologising twice during a dream, he was really worried about something. The next day we tried to figure out what would be but he had no idea what was about.”

Favourite place in Leeds (apart from the hostel)

Our volunteers love to get out and about in Leeds. How else could they recommend things to see and do to our guests? Our lovely Gonzalo recommends Roundhay Park and Martin loves Hyde Park – it’s student central so easy to make friends on a sunny day.

Gemma prefers a good night out at Key Club. Now she’s moved away from Leeds, she said: “Honestly I’m thinking of starting up my own one so I didn’t have to miss it so much”.

That’s a little glimpse into our volunteers. We’ll be profiling some of our volunteers over the coming months, so stay tuned to learn more about them. And if you’re passing by the hostel, pop in for a chat.

On Monday we reflected on some of our favourite hostel events from the last two years. Today, we’re continuing our birthday week with a look at some of the best events we’ve ever attended…outside the hostel’s four walls! So here goes…

5. What a Drag 2! (2016)

Imagine the scene…it’s the first day of July, the height of the British summer and the hostel is getting into the groove of its first season. Our friends at Live Art Bistro were preparing for the “after party of the year”, What a Drag 2, which was the place to be seen after Leeds’ Big Disco / Little Disco event.

Hosted in association with East Street Arts, What a Drag was the second event of its kind, with performances, flamboyant fancies and glitter galore!  A group of us donned our glad rags and headed off to the LAB pink door for a night of drag, devastatingly good looks and a little bit of debauchery. Some of the glitter is still embedded in the floor of room 3 too! It was certainly one of our highlights of hostel life so far.

4. Carnival (2017)

The colour. The joy. The feathers. The sequins. The dancing. Last year was the 50th anniversary of Leeds West Indian Carnival and it certainly celebrated in style. With exhibitions and events across the city throughout 2017, the carnival is an obvious addition to our list of events we’ve attended.

We loved the celebration at Union 105 which is prime position for carnival festivities. We had an awesome BBQ in the perfect sunny weather and our lovely volunteer, Gonzalo even played in a Samba band as part of the parade.

It’s a hostel memory we’re unlikely to forget any time soon.

3. Transform Festival (2016)

Transform calls itself “a festival of bold local and international theatre”. It seemed only fitting, therefore, for our volunteers, who come to us from across the world, to be a part of it.

It was around the time of the referendum in 2016 and with many volunteers coming from across Europe, it was a hot topic in the reception of the hostel for weeks. Brexit was still a very new term, but many of the people here had views to share.

What better way to do that than through a piece of theatre? We filled in our application forms, answering questions about family history and our views on Europe. What resulted was Guerrilla, young artists talking about Europe. We went to rehearsals and organised costumes, overcame nerves and then it was show time.

We’ve seen our volunteers boogie in reception and it’s a very different thing to see them in a theatre with professional lighting. It was fantastic to be part of the performance at West Yorkshire Playhouse; it really gave us a buzz!

2. Compass Festival – Personal Shopper: Cornucopia and WARMTH (2016)

Another throwback to 2016, Compass Festival was a major highlight for us. Personal Shopper: Cornucopia was a culmination of a three year project from Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti, who stayed at the hostel with us during the festival.

We love Leeds Kirkgate Market. It’s just up the road and we always get our ingredients for Tuesday Teas from there. We direct guests there to have a wander around too. We recommend that markets should be top of any traveller’s list – they’re such vibrant places, full of independent traders.

Personal Shopper explored and celebrated the relationships between shoppers, traders and goods in the market. They had great tote bags too (who doesn’t love a tote bag).

A special mention to Bethany Wells who hosted the WARMTH sauna at the hostel during the festival too!

1. Come Find Us (always!)

We love art…you may have guessed this from our name…but we make it our mission to champion the Leeds art scene. Come Find Us is a fantastic event which East Street Arts has been involved with from the start. Run by our friend, Emma, it should be in your diary every single month!

The Come Find Us tour snakes around Mabgate, highlighting some of the creative (often hidden) activities taking place in the neighbourhood. From Lady Beck to Patrick Studios, there’s so much to see and get involved with.

It’s hard to pick one Come Find Us that was better than the rest so we’re toasting to them all. From the time we ventured out in the snow and happened upon a dance hall moves taster from Koby Dance to the open mic performance art night at LAB. We’ll see you there in June, yeh?

Breaking from our ‘top five’ theme, here’s a run-down of some of our gorgeous rooms and the artists who created them. We couldn’t possibly play favourites, now, could we?

If you’ve paid us a visit, you’ll know that we boast beautiful art in all of our rooms, down the hallways and even in the bathrooms! We think we’re one of the best art hostels out there (if not the best!) and we wouldn’t be anywhere without the amazing artists who agreed to work with us. Here’s what makes our hostel unique.

Stranger In Pink – Precious Art Collective

Stranger In Pink, or what is more commonly referred to as ‘the pink room’, is a favourite with our guests. The pink room is surreal. It’s fun. It’s fluffy and wacky and just so pink! Thirteen different shades of pink to be precise.

The pink room is generally a winner with guests because of its amazing brightness. We love the contrast of the immense pink with accents of green from what we fondly refer to as the ‘mirror monster’, as well as the painterly abstract design on the window.

We’ve had some mixed responses though, as you might expect from a room almost entirely comprised of such a politicised colour. A particular hilarious occasion was a conversation between two burley builders over the pros and cons of a pink room with a shower or a Victorian style room with a shared bathroom and twin beds that could potentially be pushed together.

You can find out more about the Precious Art Collective, here. They’re a group of six artists who advocate ‘community and freedom from elitism in art’. Their pink bedroom here at the hostel showcases the collective’s cheeky side – and our guests just love it!

The Fred Dibnah Suite – Drew Millward

Most of our guests choose this room because they want to be in an affordable, small dorm room; still great value but a less chance of being disturbed by snoring! But from the name, some questions arise, namely: ‘Who is Fred Dibnah?’

With guests from all over the world, it is often a difficult question to answer, with few cultural points of reference for guidance. Over the past two years there have been many attempts at explaining who Fred Dibnah is, including some very bad impressions and often leading to a quick internet search and a show and tell of one of the many ‘How to…’ videos that come up.

Drew Millward’s work is so captivating because of its instant connection to heritage, to the industrial landscape and colloquial references, which are then matched by an otherworldly quality. So it’s no wonder that his client list boasts many of our favourite places in Leeds: Bundobust, Brudenell and Northern Monk, as well as big names like Nike, Arctic Monkeys and Kapitol Skateboards.

When putting the room together it was a given that Drew would include his awesome prints, but we’re most impressed with the curtains and wallpaper, with have a different repeating pattern on each.

Our little hostel was the first time that Drew had worked in this way and we love the result. We also love the fact that Drew has continued to explore surface patterns and has even designed the curtains for his baby son’s room! Check it out on his instagram here.

Art Hostel lights – Alison M Smith

They say the devil is in the details, and here at the hostel we have to agree! We’ve put care and attention into every little last part of the hostel, including the light fittings in the dorm rooms that were made by the amazing Alison M Smith. Alison is a local artist who predominantly uses recycled materials to create delicate, ethereal pieces.

Our ceiling lights are part of Alison’s series of Frost Blossoms, which is the perfect name for the spiky fluffy bombs of white. For our first three months of being open, we had an outward display of Alison’s work in our front windows too.

Her Frost Blossoms have travelled far and wide, at various festivals, in bars and restaurants and are currently decorating the space at 34 Boar Lane for our good friend, Helen Russell Brown’s sold out Real Junk Food Emporium fine dining experience. You can find out more about East Street Arts’ involvement in 34 Boar Lane here too.

Matthew Collins – Reception Light Installation

Behind our reception desk is a square of playful colour, with digital patterns dancing and evolving, rolling through a series of different ‘hacks’. It is sound responsive and digitally translates the noises in the room into flickering and rolling pops of colour. It is mesmerising.

So much so, that it quickly became our policy to turn light installation or ‘hackspace’ off after 11pm to stop passers by staring in, hypnotised by the colours.

Our beautiful ‘hackspace’ was built by maker and mender, Matthew Collins who is a director at Leeds Hackspace, a not-for-profit collective of makers and hackers who are concerned with all types of technology, both old and new.

A Toilet Less Grey – George Addy

One of our more recent additions, was a mural in the ground floor toilet. It has gone through stages of hosting guests’ artwork, posters for local events or just being plain and white, which just wouldn’t do! So we had an open call for ideas to make the toilet less white!*

George’s submission, entitled ‘Majorelle Sunset’, was colourful, travel-inspired and just the right style to bridge the gap between the beautiful floral mural by Wanderlust in reception and the aforementioned Stranger in Pink room. It was just the kind of wonder we wanted!

The mural takes inspiration from a trip to Marrakesh, with an amazing colour pallet of purples, aqua, yellow and blush tones. It depicts fountains and vistas that you want to walk right into!

Take a look at these and the the other hostel artwork here or better yet, book a stay with us. If you’ve already visited, let us know which hostel art was your favourite in the comments below!

Looking back on some of the best events we’ve hosted!

It’s our birthday! It’s officially two years since we opened our doors on Leeds’ oldest street and to celebrate, we’re reflecting on our journey so far. This week, we’ll be sharing a series of birthday blog posts…so fasten your seatbelts…things may get a little emotional!

We love sharing our little hostel space with creatives, as well as our great guests! Over the past two years we’ve had an amazing array of events, exhibitions and workshops. It’s been very difficult to choose, and you could say that we’ve cheated by combining some, but here’s a run-down of the top five events we’ve hosted here at the hostel!

5. Yoga
Yoga Weekender from Lucyyoga
Weekly classes hosted by Beth from Aarna Yoga and Kate at Calm Collective Yoga

We feel so blessed to have had some #zen in our hectic hostel life! Our yogi story started with a Yoga Weekender from LucyYoga back in October 2016. The group from London were introduced to lots of our favourite things about Leeds, including a great exhibition at The Tetley and dinner at Bundobust. For some relaxing and rejuvenating yoga, they took over a space at Duke Studio’s and headed to the Middle Floor at Wharf Chambers.

For the past year we’ve had a regular yoga class in our project space. The wonderful Beth from Aarna Yoga was our first host, a kind teacher who provides accessible classes focused on traditional sequences. We felt a real bittersweet sadness in January when we discovered that Beth would be continuing her yogi journey on a series of restorative retreats across India. Though we were truly excited to hear that, due our influence, she’d decided to add in a few nights at a hostel between her retreats! You can read more about her adventures at aarnayoga.com

The delightful Kate from Calm Collective Yoga soon filled the yogi gap in our lives. Kate has taken on Beth’s Monday night spot and even added two more sessions on a Wednesday! You can find out more about how to book your space at one of Kate’s classes over on our social channels.

4. InDeriva exhibitions

We’ve hosted many exhibitions at the hostel, from groups and individual artists, but there’s something special about the care and attention our lovely former duty supervisor, Andreea, gave to the InDeriva series.

Her intention was to give local emerging artists an opportunity to have their first solo exhibition. The is a key stage in any artists’ career and development, and often a daunting one. Through her support and guidance, Andreea eased the process with some amazing results, both on the night and with the artist’s wider development.

A highlight would have to be Danny Marsh’s Double Vision photography exhibition along with workshops over the weekend, where our guests and visitors were able to try out some double exposure photography for themselves, with many of our volunteers becoming excellent models!

And we must mention Marla Cruz’s About Freedom and Flowers exhibition: a celebration of what it means to be a woman through beautiful illustrations and an open-mic musical jam session.

3. Community Bakery – Ben Mills

This was our first ever event and it has certainly had a lasting impression! Immersive artist and baker, Ben Mills set himself up in our reception space from every day for a week throughout Leeds Indie Food 2016, sharing his knowledge of bread with anyone who dropped in wanting to learn. The ‘Community Bakery’ was based on an alternative method of labour exchange: for the length of time spent at the bakery, people were given a quantifiable equivalent in fresh, delicious bread.

2. Sofar Sounds

There’s nothing more unifying than experiencing music! It’s a key element of hostel life and can absolutely make or break a shift! So, we were delighted to be the surprise venue for a Sofar Sounds gigs back in November 2016.

One of our lovely volunteers, Thea, was a member of the Sofar Sounds Leeds organising group and saw the potential for our project space to be transformed into a cute little venue.

We welcomed music fans from across the city to enjoy the sweet sounds of Jess Thristan, Morning Bear and Little Brother Eli. The intimate show even included a colouring corner provided by Morning Bear, where audience members could colour in their own little bear!

1. Arctic Bazaar (I and II) (+WARMTH sauna)

Our most amazing and ambitious event has to be Arctic Bazaar. During the month of December 2016, our project space was transformed into a Scandi sanctuary by Helen Russell Brown and &/or Emporium. With a great selection of gifts from local, independent makers, boozy hot drinks and a wonderful series of workshops, it proved itself to be the perfect pre-Christmas treat.

In 2017, Arctic Bazaar returned, bigger and better, including more workshops, suitable for the whole family, a beautiful environment of commissioned artworks, and they took over the yard with an ethereal icy scene, a fire pit and storytelling. The yard was also occupied by the amazing WARMTH mobile sauna by artist Bethany Wells, commissioned by Compass for Compass Live Art Festival 2016.

What is the best event you’ve been to at the Art Hostel? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Back between Monday 23rd and Friday 27th May 2016, when we were still fresh from the oven ourselves, our reception and kitchen area was taken over by Artist / Baker Ben Mills.

During Leeds Indie Food 2016, a celebration of some of what makes Leeds great: good food and an independent spirit, Ben taught our lovely guests and foodie-fest goers how to bake fresh bread for themselves. As a baker at Leeds Bread Co-op Ben is a skilled and knowledgeable artisan bread maker, easily answering questions about soggy bottoms and cavernous cracks. The project fostered a temporary community, with many visitors returning day after day, eager to learn, exchange and pick up their delicious glutenous goodies. The project was based on an alternative monetary exchange with participants being paid for their time, in the equivalent weight of bread they have helped to bake, proving to many that there’s more to value than just money.

Find out more about Ben Mills, his art and his bread here:
Ben Mills – Community Bakery