People gather in the main hall for this years drumming workshop Photo @Alexa Ledecky

Families taking part in the craft workshops in the Main Hall Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Almatic's lead singer Katie during their set on the Main Stage Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Children taking part in Cirque De Silk's aerial workshop Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

All the enjoyment early on in our community garden Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Miss T, who attends sessions as part of our music making project plays the Making Tracks showcase Photo @Alexa Ledecky

Families enjoying the spring sun and vibes with Trinity and her iconic towers in the background Photo @ Khali Ackford

Wecil Collective perform in the Main Hall, including an cameo from Trinity's Engagement Coordinator Dr Edson Burton who MC'd on the mics Photo @ Khali Ackford

Bristol artist, DJ and producer Dutchie during her set Photo @ Khali Ackford

Rider Shafique and Sam Binga played the end set at this years Garden Party Photo @ Khali Ackford

Trinity T's everywhere! Photo @Khali Ackford

And it ends ... with Lottie Ball & Edson Burton hosts of this years Garden Party Photo @ Khali Ackford

Photo Alexa Ledecky

Photo Alexa Ledecky

Trinity has been selected to be one of 40 community arts centres to take part in Here and Now, a national and local celebration of culture within communities running alongside the National Lottery’s 25 year anniversary.

In these challenging times, Trinity and Cambridge Junction have come together to offer a £3,000 commission to a D/deaf or Disabled Artist(s) to create work for an online audience.

We will commission one new piece of work and want the brief to be as open as possible, so you can respond in a way that best suits you as an artist. We welcome artists of any practice, working in any art-form, to apply.

We want to commission:

• A brand-new online performance/exhibition that can remain available to experience for a set period of time – we want people to be able to experience your work safely from their homes

• One artist who identifies as D/deaf or Disabled, or a collective of artists where at least 50% of the collective identify as D/deaf or Disabled

• Work that will be completed and distributed online before the end of October 2020

“Being able to use Trinity free of charge has enabled us to keep running the art and craft drop-ins even with a very limited budget, reaching a greater number of disabled people.” WECIL

We believe activities are most successful when they're led by those by who use the services.

Our Community Kickstart scheme supports inspired individuals in our communities who have an idea and the passion to start an activity that is lacking in the community or neighbourhood. The scheme gives local residents free space, support and seed-funding to get new neighbourhood activities off the ground.

Kickstart is open to groups that are not in receipt of funding and do not have access to regular space to deliver their activity. Activities can include a dance, arts or fitness class, a community meeting or network event, a regular tea morning or an advice group or workshop.

Through Kickstart, we've launched new regular groups and classses such as Gentle Dance, which was set up in 2010 with support from LinkAge Bristol. With Trinity’s support, the group has become self-managing and sustainable, with 30+ regular participants each week, helping to improve health and well-being for over 55s through regular dance activity.

To qualify for our Kickstart scheme you have to be:

We are what you make us, so #makethespace and #getinvolved

Volunteers help maintain the gardens at Trinity

Putting Down Roots is a horticultural therapy and training project, using gardening as a tool to help people in their recovery. Delivered by St Mungo’s, the project helps to build people’s self-esteem, confidence and sociability through connecting with nature.

“It is a pleasure to work in such a beautiful space and to be part of something so positive that so well serves the local community.” Putting Down Roots Participant

The group meet weekly and help maintain the gardens in Trinity’s historic grounds and work in teams to plant blubs, prune trees, weed and even to take part in crafts activities such as mud sculpture.

On average about ten people attend the weekly sessions at Trinity. The team delivering Putting Down Roots say that taking part can be an up and down journey, but it is proven to help people take positive next steps in their recovery.

One client, Miriam*, took part in Putting Down Roots for about a year and a half. She particularly enjoyed being in the garden and the St Mungo's team saw her benefit therapeutically through being able to get involved, for example, in pruning the trees or weeding an area enough to unwind and feel much better after a few hours than she did when she arrived. Miriam recently moved on to start a new role as a Forest School Assistant.

Clients who take part in Putting Down Roots are referred to the project through their key worker - they may live at the St Mungo's hostel or are recommended by a someone who has previously taken part.

If you would like to find out more about the project please visit the St Mungo's website.

*name changed to protect privacy

Community Painting Day. Photo credit: Khali Ackford

In partnership with St Paul’s Carnival and David Jubb of Citizens In Power, Trinity are exploring how we can co-create a cultural strategy for the city and surrounding region.

During this research phase funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch), we invited a range of collaborators from the sector who place participation at the heart of their practice to hear from some of the best speakers working in democratic decision making right now.

These focus groups have been a chance to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and expertise on co-creation, participatory democracy and how we can do things differently in the culture sector.

In a series of blogs we are documenting and sharing what we are uncovering this journey.

Part 1: What is a Citizens' Assembly?

For the first focus group we welcomed Brett Hennig, co-founder of the Sortition Foundation. The Sortition Foundation is an organisation that believes in representative and participatory politics, with a particular focus on Citizens' Assemblies.

The purpose of these assemblies, Brett outlined, is that they bring people together from all walks of life and give the time and space for people to collectively tackle issues. It is a model, Brett shared, that Bristol itself has delivered as part of its plan for post-Covid recovery.

Citizens' Assemblies work by a three-part process of learning, discussion, and decision-making. In the learning stage, evidence is presented on the topic by ‘expert witnesses’, the group then discuss this evidence and work together to come to a consensus to create recommendations. These recommendations are then put to the vote. The recommendations that are most supported can become the official recommendations of the assembly.

Brett stressed the importance of having representation in a Citizens' Assembly, so the pool must be reflective of demographic data and, in the case of our project, cultural engagement. He shared that, unlike politics, Young People (30 and under) are represented in Citizens' Assemblies because of the nature of the selection process that reflects a city’s demographic data.

Participants of Citizens' Assemblies are selected via an independent third party - these organisations will initially contact citizens directly using a database, such as the Royal Mail’s database of every postal address in the UK. There is then a second selection of the people who respond to the invitation based on the demographic data they provide.

The group were interested in how the experts are selected - as this could be contentious. Using an example of congestion in a city, Brett explained that a Local Authority could commission an external third party to collect the evidence at hand, perhaps from an open call out. An Oversight Group for the assembly will be given the responsibility for ensuring the evidence that is presented to the assembly is balanced. Assembly members can also be part of the process of identifying contributors to the assembly. This would enable a wider pool of opinions, practically from those invested in the topic with expertise and/or lived experience.

The group wanted to understand how large a Citizens' Assembly should be. Brett shared that, in deliberative democracy, it is not a big numbers game. The key is representation. Brett shared that in Ireland, assemblies have seen numbers of up to 100 people, France had 150 in the Climate Assembly, but many local assemblies are around 40 people.

In summarising his talk, the discussion centred around how to ensure that voices are heard and amplified in Citizens' Assemblies, specifically those from Communities who may face barriers to participation. Brett shared that perhaps over-representation could be a consideration so that more communities are attending for specific areas whose voices are historically not amplified. Brett also explained that representation is not only about the citizens in the assembly but also about the voices of those who give evidence.

Interested in finding out more?

We will continue to share our findings from the research stage our project alongside programming further focus groups and action-learning sessions.

• Keep up-to-date about the project by joining our mailing list
• Read Freddie Wulf's article: Identity Capital
• Watch Trinity's take over of the Radix Big Tent
• Join in the conversation using #67MillionVoices

Ice Road by Raucous performed in Jacob Wells Baths. Photo credit Jack Offord

In October 2022 a decision was taken to pause the process of awarding fixed-term funding to the arts and cultural sector of Bristol, in order to ensure transparency and independent decision making.

Trinity are advocating for a similar level of scrutiny regarding the future of our city's community infrastructure, given these decisions will have a far greater long-term impact on our social and cultural fabric.

Our work to promote the plight of the city's community buildings falls in line with Trinity's charitable objective to "provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare". Recently we outlined the value of our many community spaces in Bristol in our report: "A community canvas – building the case for community infrastructure 2022-2026"

The disposal of Jacobs Wells Baths

Since January this year we have been working with stakeholders to create a vision for Jacobs Wells Baths, a Grade II Listed building that holds within its walls a wealth of architectural and social heritage - from its time as a public swimming baths to its 30 year history as a dance hub.

Following the information that Jacobs Wells Baths is now being put forward for disposal Emma Harvey, CEO of Trinity Community Arts, has submitted a statement to Bristol City Councils Full Cabinet meeting 04 July 2023.

Emma Harvey CEO Trinity Community Arts Statement:

For over 15 years, I have been raising concerns about Bristol City Council's failure to adequately classify and protect its community buildings.

Today, I once again bring forth my concerns regarding the disposal process being tabled today. It highlights a lack of protective asset class for buildings like Jacobs Wells Baths and Ujima House, which have been listed for disposal alongside disused plots of land, an old lock-up garage and a former public toilet.

The reduction of irreplaceable community buildings to footnotes in a 400-page agenda pack raises questions about how irreversible decisions are made about the assets we own. Disposing of irreplaceable assets without adequate scrutiny or a consistently applied process jeopardises our connection to the past, erodes our present identity, and threatens the resilience of future communities. Such a decision should involve greater care than may given by an ‘estates rationalisation’ exercise, when these decisions risk eroding the city’s landscape of public spaces where our communities - growing in size and diversity - can connect, build trust, and foster unity.

"Bristol has the opportunity to lead the way and, rather than disposing of these cherished spaces with a dismissive wave, we could seek to adopt a new ‘Public Realm’ asset use class that can change the way we define and protect civic and cultural domains for all citizens. These assets belong to the people of Bristol and as our elected representatives you are entrusted by us to act as our guardians of these shared spaces."

These spaces are more than physical structures and worth considerably more than an old bog or a dumping ground. They represent a tangible connection to our city's heritage and have witnessed countless memories and community gatherings that have shaped our city's social fabric. Not only do these spaces connect and improve the daily lives of people in their surrounding areas, they can also act as significant local economic multipliers, generating jobs and supporting small businesses. Specifically Jacobs Wells Baths is the only community hub within a locality with a combined population of 25,000 residents.

As Trinity has already set out, it has every potential to service the needs of this locality’s diverse communities; residents of HMOs and adjacent social housing blocks, older and young people, who have no other hub for locally based service provision.

I ask the members of today’s Cabinet what is the legacy you want to leave behind?

I urge the Cabinet to re-evaluate this process, as the Mayor has done with other recent called-in decisions, such as the Cultural Investment Programme.

I urge members to consider the 2019 Land for the Many independent report, which advocates for changing the way we make decisions about these critical assets.

Bristol has the opportunity to lead the way and, rather than disposing of these cherished spaces with a dismissive wave, we could seek to adopt a new ‘Public Realm’ asset use class that can change the way we define and protect civic and cultural domains for all citizens. These assets belong to the people of Bristol and as our elected representatives you are entrusted by us to act as our guardians of these shared spaces.

Though your time in office may be limited, the decisions you make today will have lasting consequences for the communities of tomorrow. Please do not miss this once in a lifetime chance to make a positive impact to safeguard the legacy of these and other community buildings for the enrichment and well-being of present and future Bristolians.

Further information

We support Power to Change's We're Right Here Campaign that is building a united movement for community power.

Read more in George Monbiot's Land for the Many independent report that focuses on changing the way our assets are used, owned and governed

Movema's Easter Dance Club. Photo credit Alastair Brooks

We were able to provide 150 local residents and users of the Trinity Centre supermarket vouchers as part of the Winter Crisis Fund. The support has come at a crucial time when families are grappling with unprecedented costs due to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

To allow for a fair and accessible process, we developed a user-friendly online form where individuals could indicate how they met our four predefined criteria for receiving vouchers. We then worked with key stakeholders to share the scheme, including printing flyers to distribute among resident groups and parents/carers whose children participate in activities at Trinity.

"I am in receipt of a low income. The shopping voucher really helps with everyday shopping, e.g., food, cleaning products. Furthermore, by being awarded the voucher, I feel listened to and valued. Thank you."

This initiative enabled us to offer some relief to the challenges posed by rising living costs, and the distribution of vouchers primarily benefited local residents with caring responsibilities. 78% of the vouchers were allocated to families whose children attend local schools or children's centres or take part in Trinity's Children and Young People program.

About the Winter Crisis Fund:

The Winter Crisis Fund is an initiative of The Society of the Merchant Ventures.

As part of the celebrations for this year's International Women’s Day, we caught up with Saláma Kefentse from All Ah Wi Women's group ahead of their Saturday 09 Mar event at Trinity. Click here to find out more about Saturday's International Women's Day Celebrations at Trinity.

Q: Hi! Tell us a little about yourself and the All Ah Wi Women's group:

A: My name is Saláma and I started All Ah Wi Women's group last year under my brand name Just Love Hub.

The All Ah Wi Women's group is a space for all women, especially those from the Caribbean and African diaspora. The group offers a sense of sisterhood and freedom to be just as you are without the added titles of mum, daughter, sister, aunty etc. It's an opportunity to spend time focusing on their needs rather than the needs of others.

Q: Where did the idea of the International Womens Day event come from?

After a joint conversation with staff at Trinity the idea was offered for us host an event to celebrate International Womens Day. They offered this opportunity to us and as the women in our group possess such inspiring skills and talents it seemed a great idea to offer them the space to showcase what they can do and show how amazing they are.

The group was developed because we need to have a space to go to with women who looked like me and could relate to the ups and downs life throws at us, have a laugh, a cry and a moan without judgement. Be free to try new things and talk about topics that aren't typical but create awareness and are thought provoking.

Q: What can we expect from the event?

Expect great music from DJ Kissan and DJ Delicious, Essential oil 101 from spiritual healer Michelle Meridith and a workshop on 5 steps to overcoming childhood trauma with Author Carmen Carrol, hosted by the All Ah Wi Women's group.

Q: Why do you think celebrations like International Women’s Day are important?

Events like these give women the chance to shine a light for each other and be seen for who they are and what they do. It brings women together and shares good energy, healing and connection. We get to congratulate our sister's for their hard work and be inspired by them too.

Q: How can people get involved or help All Ah Wi Womens group?

The All Ah Wi Women's group is looking for volunteer session leaders to help organise and run the sessions and board members / trustees to start as a CIC to help with fundraising to bring the ideas these women have created to life.

The All Ah Wi Womens International Womens Day event is on 09 Mar 2024 from 10am – 3pm and features workshops from Michelle Meridith and Carmen Carol, music by DJs Kissan and Delicious and Podcasting form Keep It Real Podcast, click here to find out more.

Trinity Garden Party. Photo Alastair Brookes

Over the last year, we have developed our Community and Neighbourhoods programme in response to the needs and interests of residents, community groups, and grassroots organisations.

“I’m really looking forward to connecting with the residents of Newtown. The weekly sessions will be a place where people can share their skills and interests and socialise together” Shanti, Community Connector

We have created three 'Community Connector' roles to connect with communities within the Newtown area, families who live on or near Stapleton Road, and people who access services at the Wild Goose Cafe.

Shanti Pant is the Community Connector for Newtown, a neighbourhood directly opposite the Trinity Centre. As with all the Connectors, Shanti has an active presence in Newtown both as a local resident and in organising community events alongside her daughter, Hemlata.

Originally from Nepal, Shanti has lived in Newtown since 2019. Having grown up in the countryside, she is keen to bring activities to Newtown that connect people to nature and organise weekend events for children and families. A keen craftsperson she wants to use these skills to offer activities for people who may be experiencing loneliness and isolation, providing opportunities to connect through creativity and craft.

In the first few months as a Connector, Shanti has been working with Trinity’s Communities and Neighbourhoods team to plan workshops inviting local residents to join artist Benoit Bennett in designing a mural to celebrate Newtown and the communities who live there. She also attended workshops led by the University of Bristol at their Wellspring Micro-campus in Barton Hill. These workshops explored ways in which older adults can use film as a creative medium – something that Shanti is keen to explore with local Newtown residents.

Alongside this, Shanti has been connecting with residents and community organisations, including Lawrence Hill Health Centre, to create two new free-to-access activities for Newtown residents that will start in June 2024.

Nature in Newtown is a series of weekly nature walks where local residents are invited to explore the area and take part in gentle movement activities. Initially led by facilitator Subitha Baghirathan, the sessions will then move on to exploring how to use simple creative film techniques as a way to capture and express participants’ experiences of engaging with this activity.

Shanti will also be hosting drop-in Coffee Morning sessions in Rosevear House every Friday morning from 10am to midday, starting on 4th June until 5th July. These meetups will include creative activities and the opportunity for residents to connect with each other.

If you are a Newtown resident and you have an idea for creative activities in your community you can speak to Shanti by:

• Attending a coffee morning or joining a nature walk
• Calling Trinity on 0117 935 1200
• Sign up to our mailing list

Community Connectors and our Community and Neighbourhoods programme has been developed in response to our pledges, click here to find out more.

Nature in Newtown - Image Credit: Alastair Brookes

Throughout the summer, we’ve been working with our Community Connectors to programme activities for the local community. Working with Shanti Pant, our Community Connector for Newtown, we devised a programme that encouraged residents local to Newtown to spend time together, enjoying and learning about local green spaces through gentle exercise and nature walks.

“You just don’t know what is on your doorstep” - Feedback, Nature in Newtown Participant

Newtown is one of three local neighbourhoods that Trinity is working closely with over the course of this year, to develop a greater understanding of residents’ interests and experiences, and how we can offer support to share creative activity. As a Newtown resident, and nature-lover, Shanti was keen to share her experience of how spending time in nature can provide a simple way to support wellbeing and connect with others, so we worked with her to create this project.

Nature in Newtown ran for ten weeks from June - August, led by Subitha Baghirathan, and supported by Shanti. With Lawrence Hill Health Centre as the groups’ meeting point, Subitha shared a range of wellbeing exercises and activities for participants to experience including; tai chi, vagus nerve breathing, mindfulness activities and listening walks. Through rain and shine, we welcomed ten local people over the weeks, enthusiastically sharing their knowledge of the area, and learning new things from each other.

We found out that there is plenty of nature surrounding Newtown, and new places to discover too. A walk through some tunnels - shared by one member of the group - contained beautiful tiles documenting ‘The Industries and Crafts of Bristol’s Rich Industrial Heritage’, a walk along the railway path encouraged group members to use Subitha’s tree book to identify different species by their leaves, and a visit to Trinity’s garden enabled the group to meet Fleur, our garden project facilitator, who showed them around the space and talked about our volunteer programme.

Over the weeks, participants reported an increased feeling of connectedness to their local community, confidence to explore the local area, and confidence to engage with others.

For the second part of this project, we’re inviting practitioners Shanti Sherson (Wellbeing at Wellspring Settlement) and Jon Aitken (filmmaker at Watershed) to join us at Lawrence Hill Health Centre’s community garden, for Filmmaking in Newtown.

Over three sessions in September, Shanti and Jon will lead nature-based activities and help participants create simple short films together that document our connection to nature.

St Pauls Carnival Panel Discussion at Glastonbury Festival 2024 - Image Credit: Khali Ackford

Trinity is committed to creating ways in which citizens can take an active role in shaping arts and culture. As part of this commitment we are connecting with leading voices in the cultural sector to ask them to share their thoughts on the different civic and democratic tools that we as citizens can access. In the second in our series of opinion pieces exploring civic participation LaToyah McAllister-Jones, Executive Director of St Pauls Carnival, reflects on her experiences of using various tools to facilitate democratic decision-making.

Opinion: Voices in Decision-Making, LaToyah McAllister-Jones

I have always been attracted to work and play that enables people to have a voice. To be heard. After years of working with marginalised groups, from managing accommodation services for street homeless people to community organising in Hackney, I have developed an interest in the right to influence decisions being made about our lives.

One of the most interesting things about leading a community arts organisation is just how integral the community is to our work. St Pauls Carnival CIC is merely a custodian for the iconic event; we provide a stage and the community fills those spaces. Carnival celebrates African Caribbean talent in St Pauls and beyond as well as our culture and heritage. Our communities continue the traditions of our ancestors using music, dance and storytelling to share lived experiences and connect to our heritage. This is one of the most important things about our event: it allows us to tell our own stories, in our own words, using our voices.

In 2021, I was asked by Involve to facilitate   Bristol City Council's Citizens’ Assembly supporting policy development in housing, health inequalities and transport as the city emerged from Covid. The process was new to me, and I loved the way it cut through many of the challenges that we often come up against when engaging communities:

• Participants are randomly selected, and usually aren’t experts in the central assembly topic. There is a process to ensure that all participants are able to meaningfully contribute to the discussions, and this is critical to the success of an assembly.
• The process seeks to facilitate consensus, rather than debate which tends to have a winner and a loser.
• Participants are encouraged to explore what their real priorities are and what they might be prepared to forego for those priorities.
• Assemblies bring together a diverse range of people who you wouldn’t necessarily find together in a traditional social setting. This creates an opportunity for vastly differing viewpoints to be heard and influence how others participants might think about a topic.

St Pauls Carnival are currently delivering a Citizens’ Assembly for Culture in partnership with Trinity Community Arts, Citizens In Power and West Of England Combined Authority. The idea developed just as we were coming out of the pandemic and thinking about the lessons learnt; particularly the role of community. Together, we were curious about what it would look like to use the assembly process - democratic, person-centred and thinking about strengths of a place, its people and its assets - to reimagine what the cultural offer could look like in the South West region.

Democratic decision-making allows citizens to actively contribute to the discourse that shapes their communities. We also believe culture is experienced by everyone, in many different ways, and everyone should be able to access the culture that represents them. If this is to be the ambition, it is vital that we put people at the centre of that process. This means understanding how people experience culture, what it means to them and, as cultural leaders, asking ‘how can we reflect this in our approach and programming?’

The new Labour Government expressed an interest in the use of Citizens’ Assemblies earlier this year, and the format has been used to unpack challenging issues like abortion in Ireland. The South West region is already embedding this approach into how we speak to our communities, and we are at the forefront of using assemblies to understand how we deliver for everyone, and not just those who can afford it or who have easy access to culture.

Our Citizens’ Assembly for Culture project offers an exciting opportunity to create a new approach to engaging people in the cultural life of a place. The Assembly will take place in Spring 2025 as a central programme within Culture West, funded by the West of England Combined Authority and Arts Council South West. The recommendations coming from this Assembly will become part of the regional approach to delivering a citizen-led cultural offer.

Find out more about the Citizens' Assembly for Culture project:

• Read the first piece in this series about civic participation: Edson Burton’s exploration of why voting matters
• Sign up to an online information session with the Citizens' Assembly team
• Email Imogen@trinitybristol.org.uk to join our Citizens For Culture mailing list
• Read our blogs to find out more about the Citizens' Assembly project