Our Freedom: Then and Now - Trinity x Future Arts Centres
Sukina Noor, Simon Armitage & Edson Burton
We are delighted to be a part of Future Arts Centres’ new UK-wide programme 'Our Freedom: Then and Now', reflecting on what ‘Our Freedom’ means to local people and their communities, following the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day.
Trinity is one of 60 venues around the UK taking part to create an exciting programme of events, artworks and more. Supported by the DCMS, Arts Council England and Libraries Connected, Future Arts Centres will lead the programme, working with 60 arts centres and libraries, their communities and artists to create special cultural events, exhibitions and performances that are meaningful to people living in these places and across the UK. This is a unique opportunity to reflect on the end of the second World War and to explore what freedom means to us in the present day, as individuals and within our communities.
Last week, we travelled to Contact Theatre in Manchester to launch the programme, and share our plans with all the other partner venues. We also listened to Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley and the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, who has been commissioned by Future Arts Centres to write a new poem for the project. The poem, Freedom Road, will act as a centrepiece and a starting point to explore what freedom has meant across generations and how it is felt and understood today. Click here to read the poem.
Edson Burton, Trinity’s Heritage Curator, and Sukina Noor, Bristol’s City poet, joined us up in Manchester, representing Trinity on a small panel speaking about early plans for interpretation of the project. Trinity will begin with poetry, using spoken word to explore and connect World War Two with contemporary Britain. As Edson says “World War Two doesn’t belong to a bygone Britain. It accelerated the End of Empire, forged a New Deal for the average citizen, was a catalyst in the campaign for the decimalisation of homosexuality and challenged gender roles in the work place. World War Two is a shared story, for better or ill, that connects our diverse and sometimes disharmonious nation”.
Take a look at the map showing all of the 60 venues participating in the project, with Trinity as https://ourfreedom.org.uk/venues/
At Trinity
From our home in the heart of East/Central Bristol, Trinity will bring together different members of our wide-reaching communities to understand how war has impacted and shaped modern Bristol, sharing and celebrating the diversity of the city that exists today.
Guided by Edson and Sukina, participants will be supported to share thoughts and stories, listen to differing perspectives on the themes of freedom and community and build a response through spoken word and poetry. From there, we’ll springboard into commissioning an artist to develop a bold, large-scale creative response to these words, to be showcased at, and around, Trinity towards the end of the year.
Interested?
We’ll run a series of workshops over the summer months with a different focus at each session.
Contact jen@trinitybristol.org.uk to find out more and register interest or stay tuned to our social media channels as we share behind the scenes of our work, and for announcements on our upcoming events and workshops as part of the programme.
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Facebook - @trinitybristol
Instagram - @bristoltrinity
