Canvas Yard Leeds: How an abandoned car park has been transformed into the city's largest open-air venue

A once abandoned car park in the heart of Leeds city centre will soon spring to life, a “blank canvas” for the city’s cultural sector.
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Measuring at more than 100,000 square feet, Canvas Yard is now the largest open-air events space in the city. After hosting electronic music festival Garden Party last year, the versatile venue will welcome some of the world’s most renowned DJs with a line-up of music events.

The Canvas Yard story began as events company New Citizens searched for a venue for its longstanding Leeds festival Garden Party in 2022. After an introduction by Leeds City Council, Moda Living offered its blank space near Holbeck Village and the site was brought to life with thousands of people attending the event.

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The event was such a hit that New Citizens and Moda Living decided to extend their collaboration with a four-year project, opening up the venue not just for music festivals, but for large sport, cultural, corporate and arts events too.

Matt Long (left) and Stu Butterworth, directors of New Citizens, with Moda Living brand manager Eleanor Trigwell at the Canvas Yard site (Photo: James Hardisty)Matt Long (left) and Stu Butterworth, directors of New Citizens, with Moda Living brand manager Eleanor Trigwell at the Canvas Yard site (Photo: James Hardisty)
Matt Long (left) and Stu Butterworth, directors of New Citizens, with Moda Living brand manager Eleanor Trigwell at the Canvas Yard site (Photo: James Hardisty)

New Citizens director Stu Butterworth told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Both parties were really happy with how the event went last year and we thought it could be the start of a more solid partnership in the future. We worked together to come up with the name Canvas Yard and invested in the site together to create this space for outdoor events.

“Moda have been great partners to work with, they’re very forward thinking and they understand our audiences. There’s a lot of shared demographics between our crowds and the potential and existing tenants for Moda Living. They really get our values.”

Moda Living opened its first Leeds neighbourhood, Moda New York Square, last year, bringing 515 state-of-the-art new homes to the city. Canvas Yard is the first development in its plans to create a new neighbourhood south of the city centre.

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Eleanor Trigwell, brand manager for Moda Living, said: “The space is a complete blank canvas. Although we have music festivals coming, the potential is incredible - it could be anything from food and drink festivals to sports festivals and everything in between.

The space was first brought to life for Garden Party 2022The space was first brought to life for Garden Party 2022
The space was first brought to life for Garden Party 2022

“We partnered with New Citizens because it was a brilliant cultural fit. We’re already embedded in the city’s culture scene. Our Leeds neighbourhood is Moda New York Square in the heart of the cultural quarter. We work with the likes of Leeds Playhouse and Leeds Conservatoire, so working with New Citizens to deliver these cultural events was an extension of that.”

Canvas Yard officially launches in April with an open-air event from the legendary club brand Hacienda on April 30, before Defected takes over the space on May 7. Garden Party will return on May 27 and 28, with a line-up of world-renowned DJs including Pawsa, Skream, Paul Woolford and LF System.

“The venue is really unique in Leeds city centre,” Stu said. “It can host multiple types of events, we’re dealing with corporate enquiries and we’re constantly exploring new options for future years.”

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Eleanor added: “Working with New Citizens on Garden Party last year was incredible, we saw this whole space brought to life with 4,000 plus festival goers enjoying the event. It made us so excited to do it all again this year.”

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