Moulsecoomb Place: A New Creative and Community Space for East Brighton
This autumn marks a new chapter for East Brighton, with the official opening of Moulsecoomb Place – a community-driven and creative space developed by East Brighton Trust in partnership with AudioActive.
Rooted in the heart of Moulsecoomb at the iconic Moulsecoomb Place on Lewes Road, this new hub has been designed to be a home for creativity, collaboration, and opportunity. It will bring together professional studio facilities, shared workspaces, mentoring, and community projects, creating a welcoming environment for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Why Moulsecoomb Place matters
For us at East Brighton Trust, this project is about responding to a real local need. East Brighton is full of talent, resilience, and community spirit, but opportunities to access creative, cultural and community spaces have historically been limited. By opening Moulsecoomb Place, we want to help change that – offering a space that not only nurtures creativity and community cohesion, but also creates long-term pathways into skills, training, and employment.
This vision is being brought to life through our partnership with AudioActive, a non-profit music organisation that has spent over 20 years supporting young people across Sussex. By combining their experience of building careers in the creative industries with our grassroots, community-led approach, we’re creating a model that is inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable.
A space that gives back
Moulsecoomb Place will be home to a cluster of creative tenants, organisations and collaborators. But this isn’t just about renting space – every partner commits to a community contract, which means giving something back to the local community through mentoring, workshops, skills-sharing or work with schools and youth groups.
The wider community will also have access to an open gathering space, where services such as food projects, housing advice, and employability support will run alongside creative workshops and activities.
As our CEO, Gary Pleece, puts it:
“Our vision is one of an inclusive local economy where everyone has the chance to shape their own future no matter their background. Moulsecoomb Place is a huge step towards that, creating real pathways into skills, creativity, and community connection, especially for young people and underrepresented groups in East and North Brighton. We’re proud to see this project come to life with AudioActive, and we’re excited about what it will mean for local people who haven’t had the same opportunities as those born just a short postcode away.”
Jordan Stephens, musician from Rizzle Kicks and patron of AudioActive, said:
“The importance of projects like this can’t be overstated. There’s a crisis going on for grass roots spaces. Spaces for human development, love and connection. Spaces that helped me in my formative years. With half of all youth centres gone, a quarter of music venues lost since 2020 and 2 out of 5 youth music organisations at risk of shutting down, AudioActive & East Brighton Trust are truly changing the game for young people in Brighton. RESCUE THE ROOTS! Please.”
Looking ahead
The opening of Moulsecoomb Place comes at a critical moment. Across the country, more than 1,200 council-run youth centres have closed since 2010, and research shows that two in five grassroots youth music projects are at risk of shutting down. At the same time, Brighton itself has seen a decline in creative and community spaces.
That’s why this launch is so important. Moulsecoomb Place represents not just a new building, but a blueprint for creative equity, showing how grassroots partnerships can open up new opportunities in neighbourhoods that are too often overlooked.
We can’t wait to open the doors this October and welcome local people inside. Events and workshops will be running throughout the autumn – stay tuned for updates on how you can get involved.