The story of Coney Street has been more than a thousand years in the making. The StreetLife project explored possible futures for York’s ancient high street and the people who live, work and play in the heart of York.
StreetLife explored new ways to revitalise and diversify York’s Coney Street, drawing inspiration from the city’s rich history and vibrant creative communities. From 2022 to 2023, the Hub at 29-31 Coney Street was open six days a week as StreetLife’s central venue.
StreetLife began as a UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF) project led by the University of York in partnership with the City of York Council, York Civic Trust, and York Music Venues Network. The project hosted over 160 free events and exhibitions; offered skills and training opportunities inspired by research; interacted with 137 businesses and 51 voluntary sector organisations; and welcomed visitors each day from York and beyond. Innovative, immersive experiences combined digital and physical engagement from wide-ranging musical performance workshops and audio-visual experiences, a fully functioning historic printing press, and collaborative workshops using the histories of York’s ancient high street to think differently about its future.
The Hub opened up the past to new audiences through community-led research to give a new shape and a new future to York’s long and varied history of printing and design, its musical heritage, and the vibrancy of its streetscape.
In 2023, the Hub provided incubator space for the StreetLife legacy projects funded by the University of York: The Common Room, working to put the local community at the heart of regeneration projects; York Centre for Print, securing the future of traditional print techniques and celebrating York’s history of print and design; Jewish Neighbourhoods, dispelling myths and challenging preconceptions of York’s mediaeval Jewish community; and York's Historic Music Venues and Willow Community Archive Project, working to reconnect and record communities that have built up around music venues.
Read more about our current work on our projects page. Visit our events page to view an archive of our workshops, talks, and performances. For more information about StreetLife, see our discover page.
The independent evaluation of our project by KADA found the total net economic and social benefits of the StreetLife project amounted to £1.39m with £1.26m attributed to preserving heritage, and generating £2.20 for every £1 of public funding spent. Download the full evaluation report, below.
- DocumentStreetLife_Full_Evaluation_Report.pdf (1.26 MB)
