£131k has been granted through the Catalyst: Evolve Fund, to help Trinity become more a more sustainable and resilient community arts and cultural organisation over the next three years. Funding will be used for capacity building and match funding for equipment and project activities.

£45k has been awarded from Grants for the Arts to launch our Ignite Programme; enabling us to develop and deliver a 12 month programme.

The aim of the Ignite Programme is to affect real and lasting change in diversification of arts in Bristol. We will provide:

- an affordable in-house programme of theatre, dance and music, that represents and engages diverse communities and user groups
- a targeted artist residency programme, supporting artists based within the Centre to develop new work
workshops, talks and social events, and activities, that help to build links between resident artists and other and community centre users.

We will be offering commissioning opportunities for local artists to enhance our existing programme as well as providing improved technical capabilities for community arts delivery, thanks to £15K already secured from the Garfield Weston Weston Foundation.

There will be a number of new part-time posts and contract opportunities created to help us deliver these exciting new projects. Please keep an eye on the Recruitment area of our website for more information.

Emma Harvey, Centre Manager said; "This is a fantastic opportunity for Trinity to realise some of our ambitions to become a more sustainable organisation and help support the development and delivery of arts at a grassroots level"

To register your interest in the Ignite Programme, contact rhiannon@3ca.org.uk to sign up to our mailing list.

Two Key Arts Providers for the City - Trinity Community Arts & Artspace Lifespace - launched the petition to Save SPACE! & Arts West Side, following a decision taken in June to lease the premises commercially.

The petition gained well over 1,000 signatures in the space of two weeks and the groups received testimonies of support from local residents, artists and community groups, as well as from major arts institutions in the city. One petition support commented; “The arts is important to people's lives and well-being as well as the local economy. I believe creative spaces and places that the local and artistic community can express themselves deserve to be supported.”

After a series of discussions with Deputy Mayor, Councillor Estella Tincknell an agreement was made to keep SPACE & Arts West Side as a community asset and a hub for community arts and events until the end of March 2018.

Dina Ntziora, Project Manager for Artspace Lifespace said; "We are so grateful to everyone who supported our petition and believed in the value of our project SPACE. We would also like to thank the Arts Development team of Bristol City Council for their support throughout this process. It is a victory for community arts and the importance of projects like SPACE in making Bristol the city it is today. We believe that temporary use and re-use of empty premises and buildings can help create dynamic and resilient places in and around our towns and cities.”

The partnership between Artspace Lifespace and Trinity Community Arts to maintain and promote Arts West Side & SPACE as an affordable, accessible community arts space began in April 2016. Standing for ‘sound, performance, art, community, engagement’, SPACE has hosted public events, art shows, artist residencies, community meetings, pop-up shops, as well as providing opportunities for volunteers.

Emma Harvey, Centre Manager for Trinity said; "The support we've received from the public has been amazing. Following consultation and knowing the depth of support from the community, Bristol City Council have generously decided to extend our lease. It's great to have a listening, responsive council that reacts quickly and effectively for the needs of the people. A big thanks to those involved who have helped us to achieve this fantastic outcome for Old Market. We look forward to developing an ongoing positive relationship with the Council."

Looking forward, SPACE has a vibrant programme of events lined-up, including taking part in the Doing Things Differently festival, organised by Diverse City and Bristol City Council’s Culture Team, which aims to support creativity across the city and help reflect diversity on stage and in performance.

Talking about what the future brings at SPACE, Dina explained; “The decision to keep SPACE and Arts West Side for community arts use shows us that partnership between two Key Arts Providers are important and hold great potential for our city, both economically and socially. Real ‘ownership’ comes from making a private space into a public space. SPACE is your space. SPACE is open to your ideas, proposals and projects. Let’s get inspired!”

To keep up to date about what’s on at SPACE visit the Island's website.

A big THANK YOU to all who supported and believed in us!

Artspace Lifespace - the community interest company behind The Island - have been working in partnership with Trinity Community Arts and developing SPACE (sound-performance-art-community-engagement) on the ground floor of Arts West Side since April 2016.

Artspace Lifespace CIC recycles vacant, under-used and problem properties into thriving creative resources.

They work in partnership with artists, building owners, property developers, local communities and organisations to secure and re-cycle interesting, unusual and often difficult buildings as vibrant multi-use art spaces.

Their work transforms neighbourhoods and also brings something fresh and diverse to commercial centres. Making space accessible to a wide variety of creative influences serves to enrich and develop the multi cultural identity of any community.

The opportunity to work in partnership has been an invaluable one and a perfect example of how two Key Art Providers (LAP - 2015-2018) in the city can come together and work in together to develop a new project.

The aim of KAP is to give Bristol people access to high quality arts in the city and at the same time support the council’s own specific criteria: to contribute to work with young people; to promote better neighbourhoods and to promote equality of opportunity.

Artspace Lifespace CIC The Island’s main vision when submitting our proposal for SPACE was to create a welcoming and open space for the local community and support creativity in Bristol with a new hub where they can showcase work and share ideas.

Since 8th April 2016 when we launched SPACE on the ground floor of Arts West Side, we've hosted 12 art show and 1 artist residency. We've worked with 6 local community groups, engaged 10 volunteers and hosted one 1 University placement. We've delivered workshops and facilitated community discussion groups, plus we have a full programme of events planned for the coming season.

The response and interest from the local community and the wider creative community in Bristol and beyond we had since we've launched the partnership project has been overwhelming.

The Island have so far invested a fair amount of capital and time to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for the public-facing space, on the ground floor of Arts West Side. Dina, Project Manager for SPACE said;

"We have enjoyed every minute of working with the local community and the way the local community has embraced the project allows me to believe that the feeling has been mutual.

An initiative such as SPACE created from the work of two community arts organisations with limited resources, shows that the city can grow in important ways without always relying on large capital expenditures or a major construction.

A strong community place-based project can encourage the emergence of a new space for participation, diversity, and experimentation in the arts and community engagement in Bristol and help build resilient communities where they are most needed."

Show your support via the Save SPACE campaign.

Click here to show your support!

Two Key Arts Providers for the City - Trinity Community Arts & Artspace Lifespace - have launched a petition Save Space & Arts West Side, located at 6 West Street. They are urging Bristol City Council to keep it as a space for community arts, Old Market.

The groups joining together and asking people to add their signature to the online petition to keep the building open for community use. If the petition receive 3,500 signatures, the Council have to discuss the decision at a full cabinet meeting.

The two groups recently applied to the Council to keep Arts West Side for community arts use, but the Council have decided to let the premises commercially; which they estimate will generate £15,000 rental value. While this will be a drop in the ocean of an estimated £60m budget deficit forecast for 2019/2020, this decision will have a huge impact on the grass-roots community art work taking place along the once troubled high street.

Emma Harvey, Centre Manager for Trinity said; “We’re surprised by this decision, given the lack of commercial value of the premises; also how it seems to conflict with the city’s vision of Bristol as an inclusive city of culture. We opened Arts West Side to support regeneration of the area. At a time when communities in Bristol are concerned that they are being left behind as other parts of the city prospers, it is sadly ironic that the Council themselves are acting as an agent of gentrification.”

Historically, there have been negative perceptions of the Old Market area. The area also has a diverse and complex identity, including a thriving night time economy and an established LGBT scene.

Trinity have been running the 6 West Street - known as ‘Arts West Side’ - since August 2011 through Bristol City Council’s Community Asset Transfer Policy, also known as ‘CAT’. The policy seeks to make publicly owned spaces across the city available for community use.

Trinity are also tenants of another well-known Bristol landmark - The Trinity Centre, a thriving community arts centre and live music venue, based in a converted former church at the top of Old Market high-street - also owned by Bristol City Council.

Emma continued; “Trinity and Artspace Lifespace have launched this petition in the hope that we can keep SPACE & Arts West Side. Together, we want to make sure that everyone in Bristol has an opportunity to shape arts and culture in our city.”

Artspace Lifespace - the community interest company behind ‘The Island’, based in the Old Bridewell Police Station - have been running a series of public and community arts activities and events at Arts West Side, under the title ‘SPACE’.

Standing for ‘sound, performance, art, community, engagement’, since April 2016 they have hosted public events, art shows, artist residencies, community meetings, as well as providing opportunities for volunteers.

Dina Ntziora, Project Manager for SPACE said; “Our work transforms neighbourhoods and also brings something fresh and diverse to commercial centres. Making SPACE accessible to a wide variety of creative influences helps to enrich and develop the multi-cultural identity of this diverse community. We’re really disappointed the Council do not wish us to continue this important work.”

Talking about the joint-venture, Dina explained; “The opportunity to work in partnership with Trinity Community Arts has been an invaluable experience for us as an organisation and has been a perfect example of how two Key Art Providers in the city can come together and work in partnership to develop a new project.”

A programme of events is already scheduled until the end of September, as part of PRIDE Festival, Open Doors Day as well as the ‘Doing Things Differently’ Festival about diversity and equality in the arts organised by Bristol City Council and Diverse City UK. The City’s art team were themselves unaware of the decision to change use and also took part in the recent selection panel to award Trinity a further five-year lease, alongside representatives from neighbourhoods and properties.

Paul Bradburn, Chair of the Old Market Community Association said; “Old Market has long suffered from a lack of community facilities and so when I was asked to support Trinity's proposal for the future of the building I was most happy to do so. As the chairman of the OMCA and as a local resident, I would implore the Council to consider their duty to the community and offer the lease to Trinity and the Island.”

The OMCA’s Neighbourhood Plan was recently adopted at a Full Council Meeting in March this year. Among other measures, the plan details a need for 'better local facilities to contribute to a balanced and independent economy' and that they will ‘seek to protect existing community facilities such as Trinity Arts...and encourage new facilities to service the needs of a diverse community’.

It goes on to explain the need for ‘creation of community facilities’, to balance the growing shift towards a night-time economy and unaffordable private housing emerging in the area.

The groups have until 31 July to show that the community are behind them and to continue with the current programme.

Click here to show your support!

The petition is currently hosted on Change.org however if you do not wish to use this platform, you can add your signature to the Council's e-petition by clicking here. Please only add your signature to one platform.

Images courtesy of Sidz Photography

Bristol City Council are also asking people to inform a new Vacant Buildings Plan; complete their online survey, here.

Utley, one third of 'Bristol Sound' founders Portishead will work with world-renowned musician and long-term collaborator of PJ Harvey, Parish, to create a new tract to help Trinity raise funds towards £0.5m essential repairs.

Speaking to Dave Thomas, Training Coordinator for Trinity’s youth music programme, John said; “Trinity’s been on the Bristol scene long as I’ve been living in Bristol...I remember from when I first went gigs around about the end of the 1970s, not long after it became a venue...now my daughters are coming to shows here.”

John continued; “It feels like it’s part of the fabric of the Bristol music scene...It’s also the the work you do, the community work, which is amazing.”

When asked why he was getting involved to support Trinity’s appeal, John said; “If I can help then I’d like to - a place like this is really worth hanging onto.

“You can see the way is city is being, as a lot of cities are, being redeveloped - sometimes for better...sometimes for worse...for instance, a studio where I’ve been doing a lot of work’s just been sold, being developed into apartments, which is happening to a lot of central city spaces.

“I feel it’s vital that we hang onto artistic and cultural spaces, because that’s what makes a city valuable...without those, the heart of the city will die.”

Adrian continued; “We really do need all our venues - whether they’re big ones like this or tiny clubs that people start in. In Bristol we tend to forge ahead in spite of what is happening to our studios and our spaces – which is a good thing; there’s a lot of energy for making music.

“I’ve been coming for years, seeing bands here. I’ve played here quite a few times.”

This is the first time the pair will work together on a musical project of this nature, and they are both looking forward to working together and supporting the Trinity Centre. Adrian said; “We’ve worked together but we’ve never actually written music together.”

The Trinity Anthem will be a unique piece of music to celebrate venue’s rich forty year musical heritage and will be the impetus to drive donations toward the charity’s Notes for Notes appeal.

Each £5 raised represents one virtual musical note. When the charity reaches 4,000 notes, Utley & Parish’s track will be released for download, under a ‘pay what you can’ music model; a model used by several artists including Radiohead, to give people the freedom to pay what they can afford towards the track, in support of Trinity’s ongoing capital works programme.

Talking about their favourite Trinity memories, Adrian spoke of when he performed at the converted church in the mid 1990s; “Playing here with Portishead, very early days...it was quite a different space...it was completely wicked and it was great to do it.”

John said; “I remember the first show I ever saw here, which was Magazine in 1980...astonishing gig. Astonishing atmosphere. Quite violent...but it was an amazing gig.”

If you would like to keep the Trinity Centre’s musical heritage alive, you can support with a donation to the Notes for Notes appeal via Just Giving.

Click here to read more about the Trinity Centre Conservation Project.

Images courtesy of Khali Photography

Increasingly, couples getting married are choosing charity and ethical gift lists as part of their special day.

Larger organisations have set up their own gift lists and more popular, go-to gift-stores now have an option to donate via a regular gift registry.

In Bristol, there are lots of fantastic, smaller charities who are often most in-need of financial support, yet don’t have the infrastructure to promote their work and raise vital funds.

So, if you're getting married at Trinity or elsewhere, we've helped by putting together a list of 10 local charities working to make Bristol a better place for everyone.

16-25 Independent People provide accommodation, support & advice for 16-25 year olds living in the city. With 80,000 young people facing homelessness every year, 1625IP are a vital Bristol service, offering support to young people so that they can lead independent lives. They also work to prevent young people who are in crisis from reaching tipping point within their family home, in order to prevent homelessness.

Awaz Utaoh translation meaning, 'Raise your voice'; helping women from South Asian communities to feel valued, uplifted and empowered. One user commented; “Until I joined Awaz Utoah I had no idea of the support available to me”. Awaz Utaoh hold drop-in advice and social groups, a youth forum and an over 50’s group, helping to reduce isolation and address other issues and concerns.

Borderlands Refugee Centre works especially with people seeking asylum in the UK or who are refugees on Mondays and Tuesdays. They provide ESOL English Lessons, food parcels, a hot meal, drinks and sandwiches, a warm and welcoming place to be, as well as running an arts and crafts table and advice sessions at the Tolentino Hall. They run information and advice courses for refugees on issues around housing, benefits, money management and employment. Through supporting volunteer opportunities, they help to give a voice to refugees, so that they can share their experiences.

Bristol Refugee Rights runs a drop in Welcome Centre 3 days/week for asylum seekers and refugees. They offer: a social space, 7 levels of English classes, advocacy and information, a pre-school crèche,  interpreter and public speaker training and volunteering opportunities for members, arts activities, including musical performances, trips, and public events to raise awareness of asylum issues. Their vision is that everybody coming to Bristol to seek sanctuary is welcomed and treated with dignity and respect.

Fare Share is a UK wide charity fighting hunger and food waste. They redistribute good food that would otherwise go to waste to frontline charities and community groups that support vulnerable people. By receiving food from FareShare, these organisations are better able to provide nutritious meals alongside life-changing support. FareShare reaches over 320 towns and cities, providing food for 18.3 million meals a year and supporting 211,565 people every week. By ensuring good food is not wasted we turn an environmental problem into a social solution; “A square meal helps you think clearly about your life" Cliff, formerly homeless.

Misfits Theatre theatre & social group led by & for people with learning difficulties who want to get creative! “The Misfits is an incredibly valuable theatre company providing important services to both people with learning difficulties, people who work with people with learning difficulties, and the general public. It is one of Bristol's top cultural and social organisations.”

Off the Record provide free, confidential mental health support & information to young people aged 11-25 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Each year they help over 5,000 young people providing free 1-1 counselling, training and specialist youth work.

One 25 One25 reaches out to women trapped in, or vulnerable to, street sex work; "Tonight, women will wait on Bristol’s dark streets for a car to stop. They’ll get in, not knowing if they’ll come out alive. They are trapped in addictions and this is how they survive. But there’s hope. Your donations to One25 will help women escape street sex-work and find freedom."

Talking Money dedicated to helping people out of financial hardship; providing free, independent debt advice, energy advice & financial education. 60% of children in our local area live in poverty; in the last year Talking Money have helped 278 families increase their income and reduce their costs, raising £244,862 for vulnerable clients.

Trinity Community Arts - yes, that's us! We work to ensure everyone has the opportunity to shape arts & culture in Bristol. We provide free and subsidised space for community activities, deliver projects that develop people's skills and well-being and programme events that help ensure Bristol's culture is reflective of our diverse city.

So why not say 'I do!' to a charity gift list!

Click here for more information about weddings at Trinity.

Adrian Utley is best known for being one third of the 'Bristol Sound' founders Portishead.

A guitarist and producer, Utley has also recorded under various names and participated in several recorded and live collectives, such as the occasional This I Dig, Stonephace, Adrian Utley & Mount Vernon Arts Lab, and Adrian Utley's Guitar Orchestra, which performed for Trinity's relaunch in 2014.

John Parish is a world-renowned musician, songwriter, composer and record producer and long-term collaborator with PJ Harvey.

He has also worked with many other bands including Eels, Tracy Chapman, Giant Sand, and Sparklehorse.

The pair are collaborating to create the Trinity Anthem to support Trinity's Notes for Notes fundraising appeal, to raise vital funds towards the £500,000 cost of essential conservation repairs.

Trinity is a late Georgian building, so repairs to the north side roof, windows and stonework will help to ensure Trinity can remain 'a centre for the people' for future generations.

This is the first time that Utley and Parish will collaborate on a musical project of this nature and they are both looking forward to working together to support the Trinity Centre, which is in critical need of repair.

"The Trinity Centre has a fantastic history as a music venue, stretching back over forty years, with some great acts having played there, and we're supporting its future by creating the Trinity Anthem to encourage people to donate to the Appeal. The building is great, but its the work that goes on inside by the Trinity Community Arts charity that's important, so we want to keep a roof over their heads and see the charity doing what they do best for another forty years at least!" (John Parish)

Notes for Notes

The Notes for Notes appeal aims to raise £20,000 towards the £500,000 Conservation Project to carry out essential repairs to the much-loved Trinity Centre.

For every every £5 raised for the Notes for Notes campaign, Trinity will exchange one musical note.

When we reach 4,000 musical-notes we will launch 'the Trinity Anthem' - a unique piece of music, created by Adrian Utley & John Parish, to celebrate the diverse musical heritage of the centre and city of Bristol.

We hope that people who hold Trinity close to their hearts will support the Conservation Project and help us raise vital funds to help secure the centre's future.

Click here to pledge your support today and help make the Trinity Anthem happen.

Click here to read more about the Trinity Centre Conservation Project.

Images credits

Adrian Utley (right) courtesy of Benoit Peverelli

John Parish (left) courtesy of Matias Corral

SOLO LAB
When: 5th - 8th September 2016
Where: Trinity Centre, Bristol

Trinity Centre have offered us the use of their beautiful Fyfe hall for two SOLO labs. The SOLO labs will be for 4 artists to work over 4 days on their own solo projects, within each others company and support. SOLO labs are to explore emergent ideas or develop work already in progress, including opportunities for workshopping the material, showing and getting practitioner-centred feedback. The format and structure for the lab can be designed by the group, and may include working solo in the mornings and sharing in the afternoons, collective warm-ups, as well as evening conversations, over food.

These labs are unfunded so will be best suited to Bristol based artists. Artists based in other locations are welcome, we could support in finding you a place to stay but we unfortunately cannot cover travel expenses.

To express your interest in participating in a SOLO lab please email soloperformanceforum@gmail.com, with the following;
- A brief description of your practice
- What you would like to work on during the lab
- Which lab you would like to attend (June or September)

Deadlines: 26th May for June lab/13th June for September lab

Sales of two ales - One Love Pale Ale and Derek Ale - both launched in the memory of the renowned DJ, will help to support Trinity’s work with young people, helping them re-engage with learning through making music.

Sweet Memory Sounds

This support is part of the wider work of Sweet Memory Sounds - set up by Derek’s family and friends to keep Derek’s musical legacy going. The group are donating funds raised to Trinity to help with young people get into music, who commented; “we feel this is perfect and what Derek would of wanted.”

One Love Pale Ale

Festival organisers of Positive Vibration: Festival of Reggae - taking place in Liverpool this weekend, 10 and 11 June - have collaborated with Black Lodge Brewery, to commemorate Derek and the wonderful life he led.

‘One Love Pale Ale’ will be sold throughout the festival, with proceeds donated to the Trinity Community Arts - a charity running the Trinity Centre, Lawrence Hill - in support of our youth music programme.

The family-friendly reggae festival will feature Mad Professor, Trojan Soundsystem, Don Letts, DJ Vadim and much more.

‘Derek’ Wetherspoons Ale

In honour of the late Bristol legend DJ Derek, Wetherspoons have also released a Bristol-brewed ale called ‘Derek’, with 5p for each pint sold being donated to the Trinity charity.

Wetherspoons was Derek’s favourite pub chain and he was also known for enjoying dark ales. So GWB Brewery have paid tribute to the local DJ by releasing an ale to celebrate his life.

Derek ale was released in April this year, to coincide with the date of Derek’s public funeral - and pays honour to his lifelong ambition of visiting every Wetherspoons in the country.

DJ Derek loved playing in Wetherspoons pubs up and down the country, including the Commercial Rooms in Bristol, where the idea to launch a tribute ale in his memory first came about.

The ale has been going very well and can be found in may Bristol pubs. GWB Brewery have decided to produce the ale in 500ml bottles which will hopefully be available at the beginning of July 2016.

Read more about how Sweet Memory Sounds are supporting Trinity here.

Please support Trinity through purchasing these ales and please drink responsibly.

Sweet Memory Sounds - set up by the family and friends of Derek Serpell-Morris in memory of Bristol’s legendary reggae DJ - have generously supported Trinity Community Arts, Old Market, with a donation of £2,000 towards the charity’s youth music programme.

Following a fundraising event hosted at The Farm, St Werburghs, there was an amazing response as people pledged their support in DJ Derek’s memory.

As part of the recent BBC 6 Music Festival, the event featured exclusive screening extracts of Ring The Alarm: The DJ Derek Story, which saw Derek being honoured by Massive Attack's Daddy G and BBC presenter Don Letts.

As a prominent feature of Bristol’s music scene for over 50 years, Derek’s family were keen to ensure that, as part of his legacy, they could help to realise the musical aspirations of young people in the city.

Derek’s great-niece, Jennifer Griffiths - who was pivotal in leading the eight-month search for the missing DJ - said; “We are so happy to be part of the Trinity and to carry Derek’s legacy on, this is what he would of wanted so it's great to be able to get involved and help out a great cause.”

A friend of Derek’s family, local artist Mat Kauhanen, helped set up Sweet Memory Sounds to support fundraising efforts to create a huge mural of the local legend on a wall in Montpelier, near The Star & Garter, where Derek cut his teeth as a DJ. The mural - planned to help raise the profile of the search for him - will now be as a commemorative work and will be created in July this year to mark one year on from when Derek initially went missing.

The additional funds raised through the tireless efforts of Sweet Memory Sounds will help to support Trinity’s work with disengaged young people, including young offenders and those with other health and behavioural issues.

The donation is part of a wider programme of support from the memorial charity, which will also see an ale being sold in his honour, with a proportion of the proceeds going towards the local arts charity to continue their work with young people.

Trinity has been working with young people from challenging circumstances to help them to make music since 2005. They work with over 60 young people each year, helping them to find positive ways to express themselves, gain confidence and develop their musical ability.

Recently, this has seen the charity provide a successful series of exclusive ‘Industry Insights’ sessions with artists including Devin Townsend, Jack Garratt and Nitin Sawnhney.

Emma Harvey, Centre Manager from Trinity said; “To receive a donation like this is just amazing, not least because it’s connected with Derek’s memory. Derek was a favourite at Trinity back in the day and everyone has a memory of seeing him perform. We’re glad to work with his family to realise a lasting legacy in the city that he would be proud of.”

There will be a press event held at the Trinity Centre, 10am Friday 10 June to find out more about the the planned DJ Derek mural, Sweet Memory Sounds and their work with the Trinity youth music programme. To pledge your support for DJ Derek mural visit GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/ndfqcqek

Click here to read more about Trinity's youth music programme, the work supported by Sweet Memory Sounds and the stories of the young people who benefit. Read more about how Sweet Memory Sounds are supporting Trinity here.

Trinity are setting up a memorial page here on our website. Please get in touch with edson@3ca.org.uk if you have any stories or images you would like to share with us.

M&S stores across Bristol are calling on local people to roll up their sleeves and Spark Something Good by joining over 100 M&S employees in a week of volunteering that will positively impact 24 projects at the heart of local communities.

Spark Something Good will take place across 24 cities in the UK and Ireland over the course of 24 months and will see 24 projects benefit in each location. Bristol has been selected as the next city to host the event as part of the retailer’s commitment to Big Green Week...and the Trinity Community Garden is one of their selected projects!

From Saturday 11^th to Friday 17^th June 2016, Spark Something Good will form a focal point of Big Green Week Bristol with M&S employees and customers coming together to donate their time to improving local community spaces.

Different volunteering projects will take place each day. Trinity will be welcoming volunteers on Thursday 16th June to help us improve the outdoor kitchen in the garden. Activities will involve clearing the site, sawing wood, levelling ground and compacting with gravel to create a clean and smooth floor surface where we can cook and eat safely. This will help make the space more accessible and inviting for participants of all ages and abilities. We'd love your help to make it happen!

If you would like to sign-up to take part in our project or find out more, visit the dedicated website, www.neighbourly.com/mandsvolunteer, developed by Neighbourly (the social network for social good) and look for our project. Sign up for a full day or half day of volunteering here.

Rob Bailey, Store Manager at Marks & Spencer Bristol Broadmead, said: “M&S is really proud to be the Community Champion for Big Green Week and this year promises to be extra special with the addition of Spark Something Good. It was difficult to choose just 24 projects but we have some really worthy causes on board. With M&S employees and the Bristol community working together to volunteer with organisations that really matter, we know we can achieve something great. Getting stuck in and helping others can make a profound difference to the services so many people across the city rely on, and we can’t wait to get started on June 11^th.”

Spark Something Good is part of Plan A, M&S’s ground-breaking eco and ethical programme. It was developed following extensive research and dialogue which revealed that getting involved in community projects enhanced people’s lives. M&S aims to spark Bristol residents into action by showing just what can be achieved when people come together united by a common goal.

Volunteers can also sign up for Spark Something Good Bristol by calling 0117 915 1279.

Control and Calculation : Inheriting Liberation : Improvised Publics

Emergenc(i)es is two week series of free workshops, performances, talks, films and exhibits from some of the most exciting thinkers and creatives.

Emergenc(i)es challenges how we learn? How we are (mis) informed. Does our online, algorithm driven world teach us detachment. What if we could learn, share and transform our lives in another way.

Writer, activist curator Deborah Withers wants to provoke us. She wants to take nothing for granted. Together, speakers, artists and participants will learn how we can radically transform our lives.

Inspiring live performances:

Anushiye Yarnell performs Nest a performance which has accumulated over a period of 4 years since the early stages of her pregnancy.

Cellist Bela Emerson invites the audience to become live co-creators in her piece in this innovative and inclusive work.

Abher behn presents a solo performance that uses sound and video improvisation, performance, composition and collage in a response to our experience of The City.

Ben Owen’s Goldf” will gather range performers in clusters across the floor of Fyfe Hall producing a sprawling live soundtrack to accompany his expanded film work.

Workshops and thought provoking discussions:

Shannon Woodcock presents a gentle and provocative engagement with how history can affect and inform us today as we time travel to meet colonial Australia’s first cook book writer, Cooking the Books of Genocide in Australia.

Madhu Krishnan examines how a radical politics might intersect with notions of resilience in the context of oppression under late capitalism in the twenty-first century.

Celebrated improv vocalist Maggie Nicols uses creative exercises to facilitate an inspiring group dynamic which reassure the nervous and challenge complacency to enable you to release your inner voice.

Should we be demanding Wages for Digital Labour? How do we, as everyday users of digital technologies, help to create wealth for large multinational companies?

Corey Mwamba looks types of silence as a palpable musical event within totally improvised music.

Bristol's favourite poet, playright, historian and general all rounder Edson Burton will respond to ‘Concerning the Poem’s Information’ from Édouard Glissant’s Poetics of Relation.

Martin Crowley’s presentation explores theory of participation in relation to culture, what it means to be truly involved and how what happens if we are not.

Charlotte Cooper, author of Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement, will challenge you to generate your own ideas for research and publishing tactics that demolish unethical and unequal power systems.

Per-forming Pharmacy - considering the emergency of the current historical moment through the collecting, categorising, collaging and sharing of words.

Transgender: Cultural and historical developments and the “case” of James Miranda Barry - Anne Heilmann explore how have perceptions and understandings of gender, sex and sexuality developed through history.

If you would like to learn more about repairing how we are portrayed in our public spaces, and if you’d like to take collective action to repair how we are portrayed in our public spaces, then join Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias and Isabelle Cox as they Dismantle the Master's Museum.

The week will culminate with one last final performance to end on - watch this space for details.

Thanks to everyone who came along to this year's EPIC garden party!

We celebrated 40yrs of music in style, with a fantastic array artists performing live. Alongside theatre, workshops, stalls and great food including Rana's Dhaba Junction, offering a choice of delicious vegetarian and non-vegetarian Indian dishes and Roger Moore’s, serving up authentic tastes of the Caribbean.

This year’s event had an exciting backdrop of visual arts; East Bristol Contemporary exhibited in our upstairs Graffiti Room, as part of a wider residency. Jimmy Cauty’s critically-acclaimed ADP installation - seen last at Banksy's Dismaland - re-housed in a specially converted shipping container, chose Trinity its first stop as part of The ADP Riot Tour, which will be visiting sites of historic riots across the country throughout the year.

As well as visual arts, our upstairs Fyfe Hall hosted performances for children and families; Arnold's Big Adventure had everyone singing along to their original music set to a backdrop of shadow puppetry. Cinco Coisas solo-show of dance, play, clowning and improvisation also appealed to the younger Trinity crowd.

Downstairs in the Main Hall, Drumming Workshops provided a positive, enthusiastic drumming session teaching children and adults alike about drumming culture. Pixel Whipped’s amazing array of consoles kept those who wanted a break from the scorching sun entertained with retro-gaming.

Outside, compères Edson Burton and Alice Taylor-Matthews worked wonders together on the Main Stage, making sure the music and entertainment ran smoothly. They also helped to kick-off our Notes for Notes fundraising appeal, aiming to raise essential funds for some much needed capital repair work – you can donate online here.

Trinity music students Omar and Sam kicked off proceedings with some great performances, alongside students from Temple Records. As the day heated up, there were sets from Bristol's Bodywork djs and art rapper Luui, plus psychedelic pop summer sounds from Yama Warashi, to entertain the growing crowd.

The site was bursting at the seams with our capacity reached by 3pm, while Many Monika brought us some punk-rock. Jazz-punk-rockers The Evil Usses took to the stage, ‘gaining one hell of a reputation for their fierce and uncompromising live performances’. With the sun blazing, the garden itself reached capacity, with everyone kicking back to enjoy the hottest day of the year so far.

Trinity residents Bristol Samba’s Bloco Carnavalesco got everyone moving, with the site full and a queue right down Trinity Road. Many could not face the one-in one-out wait, so took to celebrating on the street and setting up on surrounding grassy areas to enjoy the festivities remotely.

The Most Trio featured Mr.Woodnote & Lil Rhys, ‘two of the most notorious buskers Bristol has ever produced’, plus the sumptuous voice of Eva Lazarus. Their funky, fat base-beats and instrumental artistry set the audience in motion once more.

Lionpulse, who came onto the sound-system scene a few years back with their packed-out launch party at Trinity, gave us some great roots, revival reggae and dub sounds.

What better way to end the celebration of 40 years of Music at Trinity then with a feel-good set from pioneering DJ RSD - Rob Smith from Bristol Sound legends Smith and Mighty - who played us out with positive hip-hop, dub, reggae vibes.

We raised £1,400 in donations on the door and, overall we raised a total of £4,500 from the day after costs, which is such an amazing achievement for a free event! This means we can keep developing our in-house community arts event programme.

If you missed it, or you just want to revel in the good-times, check out some images taken throughout the day:

• courtesy of Khali Ackford Photography, see below and here on Facebook.
• courtesy of Jon James (Trustee) here on Flickr.

Thanks to everyone who came along to join us for the Trinity Centre's 40th birthday bash - it couldn’t have been better!

Left to right: Alice Taylor-Matthews & Edson Burton; The Most Trio; some garden revellers; Lionpulse Official. Images courtesy of Khali Ackford Photography.

BAFTA Award winning Thespians are not necessarily what first comes to mind when one thinks of Trinity. But national treasure Miriam Margolyes - our charity Patron since 2014 - kindly agreed to support our fundraising effort by contributing her time, spirit and humour for one night only, December 2015.

The audience arrived promptly at 7pm, to be greeted by the scent of mince pies, mulled wine. The aromas set the tone for an evening of festive mischief.

We considered carefully which performers would compliment an evening with Mirriam Two of Bristol' s finest Opheila Biltz and Tom Marshman immediately came to mind.

The delectable queen of double entendre, cabaret-compère Ophelia Blitz, charmed, teased and enthralled the audience in a sequinned costume that sparkled almost as much as her wit.

Chameleon, performer and theatre maker Tom Marshman served up a warm dish of surreal character sketches borrowed from his show ‘A Place in the Sun’ - exploring the pleasures, pains, highs and lows and sunburn, of package holidays. The audience of 80, somewhat new to Trinity, may have wondered what they had wandered into as his characters challenged them with churlish quips and dry rebuffs.

Pianist Jack Calloway - of Old Duke stalwarts the trad-jazz aficionados, Prohibition Jazz - filled the space before Miriam's entry. Miriam cut short what was to be a roll call of her achievements by staff member Edson Burton with a playful ' none-of-that-nonsense' approach, before launching into her performance.

With decades at the top of her game, Miriam has a treasure-trove of memories from which to draw. But far from reeling off her achievements, she drew us into her confidence as if we were old friends. Throughout the hour, Miriam took us on an enthralling journey through her life, punctuated with songs, poems and readings from Dickens.

Miriam is a consummate raconteur and a fantastic entertainer but, for many, it was her candid reflections that were most engaging. With surprising frankness she named and shamed those now famous bullies who ridiculed her commitment to theatre during her university years spent at Cambridge. Miriam has, of course, had the last laugh. She is a national treasure. At a time when many celebrities have fallen from grace she is untarnished indeed she glows brighter. Her eyes sparkled with tenderness as she spoke movingly of her long term relationship. A relationship which begun at a time when attitudes to same sex relationships were less enlightened.

Behind her cut glass accent - acquired through elocution classes - is a survivor who has learnt to thrive as a woman in theatre. It is fitting then that the night raised a total of £2,200 towards our youth music provision, which caters for young people experiencing emotional and family stresses.

Miriam brought a new audience to the Trinity. Towards the end of the evening, as we all sang the Daisy Bell song by Henry Dacre, aka Daisy Daisy, we all felt just that little bit closer.

Trinity would like to give a big thanks to Miriam for hosting such a wonderful evening.

Big thanks also to Alice, Tom and Jack for performing alongside Miriam in-kind, to raise vital funds for our youth training programme.

Left to right: Ophelia Blitz; Tom Marshman; Miriam Margolyes & Jack Calloway; Miriam Margolyes. Images by Jessica Bartolini.

In our ongoing efforts to build archive content for the Trinity Centre, we're looking for people with images, film and stories to share about their time at Trinity during the 1990s.

For many this was Bristol's musical heyday, with Managers Derrick Sterling and Andy McGrath hosting some huge names - local and international.

Trinity was pivotal in the Bristol Sound movement, with many of Bristol's legendary artists cutting their teeth in the Trinity Hall. Jungle and DnB also built up a strong following, for example Ruff Neck Ting featuring Full Cycle (Roni Size). This was against the backdrop of national and international touring performers, most notably Public Enemy.

The BBC Radio 1 Sound City in 1995 was an epic event seeing the likes of Orbital, Prodigy and Skunk Anansie performing live under the same church roof.

Alongside this, the psy-trance and house movement was gaining traction amongst an emerging local audience, with nights such as Tribe of Frog, Sundissential and Tokyo Sex Whale making Trinity their home.

If you have a story of this time you would like to share - however long, short, bitter or sweet - get in touch with edson@3ca.org.uk or tweet @TrinityBristol.

View our archive here.

For every donation over £5 towards the Notes for Notes appeal, Trinity will exchange a musical note.

When we reach 4,000 musical-notes we will launch 'the Trinity Anthem' - a unique piece of music, created by Adrian Utley & John Parish, to celebrate the diverse musical heritage of the centre and city of Bristol.

We hope that people who hold Trinity close to their hears will support the Conservation Project and help us raise vital funds to help secure the centre's future

You can support Trinity's Notes for Notes fundraising in a number of ways:

• by donating on our Just Giving webpage

• text ROOF31 £5 to 70070 to donate to Trinity's Notes for Notes appeal and make a difference today. JustTextGiving by Vodafone.

• And fundraising for Notes for Notes with your friends, neighbours, family or work colleagues – you can get some inspiration by downloading our Fundraising Guide here or create your own fundraising idea and  raise money to repair the much-loved Trinity building: let us know what you have planned and we'll  promote your fundraising to help you raise more

You can learn more about the essential repair work needed to the Trinity building here.

You can learn more about the essential work Trinity Community Arts provides in the local community here.

The Aftermath Dislocation Principle (ADP); a stand-out exhibition in Banksy's apocalyptic theme park Dismaland, will be coming to the Trinity Centre, rehoused in a specially converted shipping container.

Far from inciting another riot the exhibition creator, Jimmy Cauty, hopes the experience will be peaceful and thought-provoking , with the only real disturbance being the constant chatter of miniature police radios, dotted all over the exhibit.

The exhibition runs from Friday 29 April - to Sunday 8 May.

We are looking for a great team of volunteers to act as stewards during the opening night, (6pm - 10pm, Friday 29th April) and between 10am - 7pm daily until Saturday 7th May.

Trinity's annual Garden Party; taking place on Sunday 8th May, this year celebrates 40 years of Music.

We are looking for volunteers to steward and help out on the day assisting with crowd management, sign-posting, set up and pack down as well as helping out with workshops and the final day of the ADP Exhibition.

Running between 12pm - 9pm, this year's Garden Party line up includes live music from RSD (Smith & Mighty), The Most Trio ft Lil Rhys & Eva Lazarus, Lionpulse, Rattle, The Evil Usses, Bodywork DJ's, Yama Warashi, Luui, Many Monika as well as theatre performances from Tessa Bide and Bianca  Bartalot and more.

All volunteers will be be given an induction to the site and the role before starting. They will also receive refreshments and a free Trinity T-Shirt! Those assisting at the Garden Party will be provided with lunch.

To sign up or find out more please fill in our online volunteer application form or contact Ripley@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200.

Trinity Community Arts supports findings that when people leave prison, they are much less likely to re-offend if they have a home and a job.

We have a long-standing partnership with Leyhill HMP - a CAT D, open prison - and provide long-term work placements to individual life-prisoners for between 6-18 months, in order to help improve their chances of successful release.

Many prisoners come into prison unemployed and 73.5% return to unemployment on release*

If an ex-offender is able to come out and find work, somewhere to live and develop a support network, this greatly reduce the chances of them re-offending.

Many prisoners are released with nowhere to go and support from friends or family is not always available. Therefore, in our commitment to providing services for the whole community, it is vital that organisations such as Trinity provide support in the form of work experience placements for ex-offenders.

“I am currently serving a prison sentence at Leyhill prison. As part of my resettlement I go to Trinity Centre where I help out with all aspects of keeping this community centre up and running for all the people in the area. This has given me a lot of confidence to help me move forward in my rehabilitation, meeting new people and giving me a new view on how to be more open and to give me more options for when I do get released from prison.” Statement from an individual on placement from Leyhill HMP, who has been successfully released, 2013

The Trinity Centre is a large, converted, Georgian, grade II* listed former-church building, so ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the building and grounds is a constant challenge.

Our Leyhill volunteers bring with them skills including plastering, painting, carpentry, brick-laying, gardening and cleaning, including COSHH. The placements allow individuals to gain practical work experience, whilst also helping us to carry out essential repairs and maintenance that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford.

Providing ex-offenders with the opportunity to apply their training within a real setting provides individuals with valuable experience to enable them to secure employment on their release.

“Thank you for making me feel part of the team and treating me like a human being again.” Statement from an individual on placement from Leyhill HMP, who has been successfully released, 2016

Want to read more? See: In memoriam: Phil, a story of change.

Our placements are provided on a case-by-case basis, where individuals are not shown to be on the Child Protection Register or Protection of Vulnerable Adults Register. A full disclosure is undertaken, where individuals are assessed to ensure that offering a placement will not pose a threat to either Centre users or other staff and volunteers. We also have an Ex-offenders Policy that we use to train staff and volunteers in working with ex-offenders. Lehyill HMP regularly monitor placements as part of their “Through The Gate” scheme.

___

*HoC Work and Pensions Committee, Support for ex-offenders Fifth Report of Session 2016–17, p5

We are very excited to announce that Jimmy Cauty’s critically-acclaimed The Aftermath Dislocation Principle (ADP), previously seen at Banksy's Dismaland last summer, will be coming to the Trinity Centre, Friday 29^th April – Sunday 8^th May.

The fine city of Bristol has never witnessed such devastating scenes of destruction and chaos. So it will come as great comfort to citizens to learn that it is on an incredibly small scale---1:87 to be precise---and safely contained within a 40ft shipping container, as part of a surreal model village experience visiting the city.

The Aftermath Dislocation Principle (ADP) is a post-riot landscape created in miniature by acclaimed artist Jimmy Cauty -- co-creator of chart-topping band The KLF and its subsequent, million pound-burning arts incarnation The K Foundation.

Following The ADP's critically-acclaimed appearance at Banksy's Dismaland last summer, the installation has taken to the road, re-housed in a specially converted shipping container, which will open its doors to visitors across the country, at the sites of historic riots.

The ADP Riot Tour's visit to Bristol, from 29th April, will see it take up residence at The Trinity Centre, opposite the Trinity Road Police Station, instrumental in The St Pauls Riot of 1980, which saw black and white youth stand up to police harassment.

Far from inciting another riot, the event's organisers hope the experience will be a peaceful and thought-provoking one, with the only real disturbance being the constant chatter of miniature police radios, dotted all over the exhibit.

The Art Therapy sessions were planned for young adults, most of them referred by their GP's. The purpose of the project was to help individuals to increase their understanding of what is happening, reducing the level of distress caused by unusual experiences and prioritising personal recovery and a quick return to valued roles and social relationships.

Katie Gannaway, Mental Health Worker for AWP Bristol Early Intervention Team explains why the project was important:

"Earlier this year we ran a therapeutic art group from Arts West Side, for 16 weeks. The group was for young people 16- 35 years who are experiencing mental health difficulties. As part of their recovery we wanted this group to be in the community to promote social inclusion, leading to service users to feel less isolated and facilitating them to link in to other community resources.

The art group gave them an opportunity to explore their creativity whilst receiving emotional support in a safe group environment enabling them to feel more confident to be part of the community. The group was for a maximum of eight people, and included two healthcare professionals facilitating the therapeutic art group.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends the use of art for young people because it can help to alleviate negative symptoms and should be provided in a group setting.

The feedback from group members was very positive; they liked the location because it was central, they also felt the space provided was safe and confidential, allowing them to freely express themselves through their art.

They also appreciated the art space below (SPACE), giving them the opportunity to view various exhibits, which for some, influenced their art and interest. This often impacted on our art sessions; members would access the group through the exhibition and this would become a talking point, and an opportunity to engage with others. Some of the members had never had the opportunity to visit art exhibitions; however, the accessibility provided this opportunity.

We would have struggled to provide this group in the community due to limited funds; Arts West Side offered a great space, accessible to communities that are often isolated."