Image credit: Docklands Community Centre/Full Circle

Dubbed by agencies across the voluntary sector as, ‘The Great British Sell-Off’, our shared heritage and civic assets, community and youth centres, libraries and public green spaces are being lost as part of the council funding crisis.

Bristol City Council’s 2022-23 budget announcement is framed with the proviso that further cuts will be needed to plug a £19.5m deficit. This includes, “£3.5m by reviewing the buildings we own across all services.” With the statue debate still raging nationally, we’re sleepwalking into a future that, even prior to the pandemic, has already stripped Bristol of £30m worth of publicly owned assets.

"If we continue to deplete our supply of places where we can read our first book, become a Scout, learn a language or a new dance move or play Bingo in our retirement, we’ll continue down the pathway to polarisation."

The challenge is not in making such spaces loved, it’s in making them viable. We neglect the leaking community centre, or the inaccessible library, whilst trying to ‘level-up’, through investing in ‘transformative’ projects where the cost of the economic impact assessment alone would cover repairs and alterations across community spaces citywide. It’s hard to see how the building of an Arena or a multi-million concert hall refurb compensates us for the loss of the places where we connect with one another, make memories and build our sense of place and belonging in our everyday lives.

As costs of a few projects escalate to keep pace with aspiration, this increases the distance between the ‘viable’ and ‘non-viable’ spaces. If you’re a charity running a building, it’s almost impossible not to get caught on the capital conveyor belt to nowhere, in which we all chase an unattainable vision of the perfect building. Often, like Trinity, it’s what we’re legally constituted to “preserve” our asset. This means, even with the best intentions, we can end up leaving behind our stakeholders and our communities in the pursuit of building back better.

When we get swept up in the notion that a capital project is the priority above all else, we lose sight of the thing that makes buildings important in the first place; it’s the empty space within and the energy it’s filled with that matters more than the bricks and mortar.

We want to make Trinity the best venue it can be, just not at the expense of other venues or those who need the building in the first place and who have been happy using it even at its shabbiest. Balancing the need to future-proof and make a viable and sustainable Centre, whilst taking others with us and ensuring any investment is felt beyond our four walls.

This is why we produced the 100 Beacons report in partnership with other venues and the Council to evidence the contribution of Bristol’s community assets, including the critical role they’ve played in providing local services as part of the COVID19 response.

As part of Bristol’s One City Plan, early indications are a commitment from the Council to invest in improvements to concessionary lettings, such as those referenced in our report. This could provide a lifeline to buildings owned by the city and managed on our behalf. As the budget is still in draft form, we still don’t yet know how this will translate into money to make neighbourhood hubs useable, accessible, green and COVID-Secure. However, this is at least an example of what can be achieved if we work together on what matters to people, to ensure spaces are retained for community use for the benefit of ourselves and future generations.

If we continue to deplete our supply of places where we can read our first book, become a Scout, learn a language or a new dance move or play Bingo in our retirement, we’ll continue down the pathway to polarisation. Such catastrophic loss to communities makes it easy to develop false attachments to an effigy of a slaver not designed with us in mind, whilst increasing our resentment towards those we see as encroaching on any space we feel we have left, be it the immigrant or the gentrifier.

If only those advocating to preserve commemorative statues put even a fraction of that energy into campaigning to save their local heritage asset or civic space, volunteer at their local community or youth centre, or set up a regular social activity in their local library we’d all feel the positive effects. As we continue to navigate the isolating impact of a period of successive restrictions, it’s the spaces that reduce the distance between us that help us to level-up, culturally, socially and economically.

Emma Harvey, CEO

Read the report: A Community Canvas - building the case for community infrastructure 2022 - 2026

Spilt Ink developed Home at Trinity in collaboration with local school children

Spilt Ink Theatre, a trio of performers who specialise in movement, clowning and puppetry, created a new piece of work for children through a paid Trinity commission. The company worked in collaboration with a local school to develop a movement piece called 'Home’ - a piece that would celebrate the many cultural heritages of children in Bristol.

"My 4-year-old was totally engaged, repeating the keywords from the main character. She even wrote her own letter!"

Split Ink embedded themselves in the school. Many children felt anxious at first, having recently experienced disruption due to Lockdown restrictions however, through small group workshops, games and storytelling activities the children increased their confidence. As part of the journey children shared their own stories, many of whom had experienced the themes explored in Home, such as experiencing migration.

The final part of the development of the work saw the company inviting the children, their teachers and their families to Trinity to see a preview of the performance Summer 2021. As part of the post-show discussion the children shared their own insight into the themes of flight, home and belonging.

Having developed the seed of Home, Spilt Ink are now in the process of realising this into a full length children’s performance to be completed in collaboration with local school children and presented at Trinity in 2022.

“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

Forest school workshops with local schools and artist Alice Cunningham

The Bird Bath is carved in Ancaster Weatherbed stone by artist Alice Cunningham

Trinity commissioned Bristol artist Alice Cunningham to create a bird bath sculpture as part of the recent improvements to the community garden.

"I liked exploring the garden and being able to build up trust with my team because before we started I did not have trust in them" Baraka, workshop participant, St Nicholas of Tolentine primary school.

Carved in Ancaster Weatherbed stone, the bird bath is in memory to Bunty Bax, following a legacy donation by her daughter Amelia. Amelia’s legacy gift donation contributed towards creating an accessible outdoor space including new pathways, raised planters and a sensory nature trail.

As part of the making of the bird bath, Bristol-based sculptor, Alice, also delivered workshops with 12 local children from Hannah More and St Nicholas of Tolentine Primary Schools who attend Forest School sessions at Trinity. The children explored different types of homes and nests in nature and then used clay to create their own sculptures.

We are really grateful to be able to complete this round of improvements to the garden creating an accessible inner-city garden for all to enjoy. The improvements have been funded by Power to Change, match funders and Amelia’s legacy gift donation.

Local children took part in What I Want To Be, What I Want to See in April 2021

In 2021 we asked the people of Bristol to tell us their hopes and dreams for the future as part of our ambitious community arts project, What I Want To Be, What I Want To See.

Trinity collected over 70 responses that ranged from a community mural, celebrating heroes, a daily protest, listening posts of voices we should listen to - young & old, a playlist for Newtown, a silent disco, a place for tea and cake, a zine to remind us ‘how to be nice’ and a day of art and dolphins.

In Autumn 2021 we sent an open call for an artist, collective or company to creatively respond to these. The successful project The Wish List by artist Michelle Roche was selected by Trinity’s programming forum. The forum, are made up of local residents, Trinity Members and regular groups and classes, chose Michelle’s project as it connected with the local community in a fun and playful way.

Working with grassroots organisation, Newtown Network, The Wish List will make the hopes and dreams, collected during the call out, a reality by co-creating creative happenings with local communities this December and January.

Newtown Coffee Mornings Throughout December local residents joined artist Michelle Roche for a cup of tea coffee and cake and creative activities.

Catch sight of The Newtown Dolphin Parade

In January keep an eye out through the curtains and look for the Dolphin Lantern parade that will take place in the streets on Newtown.

Get involved:

If you would like some further information on the project contact Stefan Boakye on stefan@trinitybristol.org.uk

Lowkey, Photo Khali Ackford

Leading UK hip-hop artist, Lowkey is renowned for using spoken word and music as a form of activism and amplification. He was at Trinity to share the story of his journey as an activist/artist as part of Art of Resistance, a two-year Heritage Lottery project exploring creative acts of resistance.

Before the event, Lowkey kindly joined students from Trinity’s music making project, Making Tracks, to chat about how he entered into his musical making career, the challenges he has faced, and some top-tips for the emerging musicians.

“I found this advice really helpful and I've since tried to begin putting some of it into action. Lowkey also spent some time talking about how to stay motivated and keep up a consistent creative output, and how important consistency over time can be to develop a career in any creative industry.” Feedback from Jo Joyce-Venables, who is currently on a six-month placement at Trinity, as part of the Kickstarter scheme.

Lowkey shared some helpful advice on self-promoting, sharing his own story of how to use different methods of finding audiences online and keeping them engaged, using the technology and resources that are available today. Many students, including Jasper, found his tips on using Patreon and other online platforms useful, commenting "It was really good that Lowkey gave us a few insider tips such as using Patreon."

We are really grateful to Lowkey for taking the time to chat with students. Connecting emerging musicians directly to professionals is an important part of young people’s journey on Making Tracks. Lowkey joins the likes of Benjamin Zephaniah and Dev (Idles) who have all offered their support to the project and the young people’s journey.

Making Tracks

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders Youth Sector Support Fund.

Lullabies performance. Photo Khali Ackford

Lullabies, created by multi-disciplinary artist Roxana Vilk, reached out and connected with communities across Bristol, recording and collecting songs from the many people who call Bristol home.

“Sharing lullabies is deep and private because you end up talking about your past, your motherhood, your mothering and your mother." Participant Lullabies

Initially developed during an IGNITE residency the project was selected to be part of the national project Here and Now to celebrate the National Lottery 25th Anniversary. Initially, Roxana worked with partners deliver song and music workshops in local community centres. However, due to the impact of the pandemic Roxana moved these workshops online meaning her project began to connect with people across the world.

Roxana used the sounds and stories of the people taking part in the project to influence the project. This saw a one person who initially took part in a workshop became a collaborator, helping in the delivery of the music-based workshops.

To celebrate Lullabies, Roxana staged a two day Trinity take over. She collaborated with tech-creatives Squidsoup to create an immersive, interactive performance inspired by the Lullabies journey with movement from dancers Delicia and Marianna, Real World Studios, Arron Hussain.

Bristol-based illustrator, Jasmine Thompson created portraits of some the families who took part in Lullabies exhibited and outside in the garden DJ’s staged a Baby Rave for the youngest members of our communities (plus their grownups).

Roxana is further developing her creative practice working with Bristol and Bath Creative R+D to further explore the Lullabies Project and is developing an ‘Adaptative Podcast’ with brand new technology featuring the co-creators Lullabies.

Projects like Lullabies are at the heart of Trinity’s commitment to artistic development.  We offer paid commissions to artists to develop work in collaboration with communities as well as artist residencies, free/subsided hire for R&D and producer and marketing support.

Sign up to Trinity’s free course to gain skills and knowledge necessary for documenting art and activism.

Programmed as part of Art of Resistance this course is an opportunity to explore Bristol’s radical history. If you are interested in Bristol's rich history of resistance and how to document and how to share this story, this course is for you.

Art of Resistance is an exploration of activist art produced by activists through the ages with a focus on the following themes: Women’s Equality, Environmental Activism, Anti-Fascism/anti-racism, Workers' Rights and 'Counterculture' - Bristol's free-party scene and occupy movement.

By taking part in this FREE course, we hope you will discover the rich resources as part of our shared history, which are freely and publicly available in Bristol's archives.

Our aim through this intro course to activism research is to build a team of volunteer researchers who can help us discover the stories, images and artefacts to grow an Art of Resistance archive.

Each listing below is for a 2hr physical site visit - further info to be provided on registration.

Wed, 17 Nov, 2pm – Course series launch at Trinity

Come meet the team and other people taking part in the series and find out more about art activism.

Tues, 23 Nov, 1:30pm – MShed site-visit

A curator-led journey of the objects and exhibitions that tell the story of activism in Bristol.

Sat, 27 Nov, 1:30pm - 3:30pm - Oral history training day at Trinity

Oral history has an important role in telling the story of Art Activism this session will be a practical hands-on guide to collecting oral history testimonials.

Mon, 29 Nov, 11am - Bristol Records Office visit

Find out where Bristol's radical history is stored and how to access it.

Mon, 6 Dec, 10 am - Central Library visit

Join the team at Bristol Central Library to uncover activism history stored in their vaults.

Click here to register for the series.

About Art of Resistance

Art of Resistance is a two-year National Lottery Heritage Funded exploring 100 years of social activism, protest and civil disobedience in Bristol and the art that underpinned each movement.

Young people from Making Tracks project who came along to chat with Dev from IDLES. Photo Lee Ramsay

Adam Devonshire (AKA Dev), bass player with Bristol based UK album chart topping post punk band IDLES, headed to Trinity to share his professional experience with emerging musicians on Trinity's music making project Making Tracks.

"It gave me some great insight into the industry and made me realise what I need to do next." Jasper, Trinity Making Tracks Participant

Dev spoke in great detail about the Idles ethos, song writing, musical inspiration, touring, branding and approach to digital streaming. His main advice to the young people who to 'hone your craft, write loads of songs - then scrap those songs and write better ones, play tons of gigs and build a strong local fan base'. He advised that once this has been achieved this then you can start thinking about moving outwards and attracting more industry attention.

Dev gave insight to Idles early days - playing tiny local bars to virtually no one to supporting the Foo Fighters, touring the world and playing the Park stage at Glastonbury Festival - something which had been a dream for the band right from the very start.

"I’ve had to sacrifice a lot to get to this point. The band has always come first. Even when no one seemed interested in us. We just kept on working hard, learning our craft and believing we could achieve and do what we love." Dev, IDLES

To finish off Dev took a quick fire round in which we learnt his favourite ice cream is mint choc chip, the first single he bought was, ‘Boom! Shake the Room’, by DJ Jazzy Jeff and that one of his favourite films is Shane Meadows bleak cult classic, ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’.

This exciting opportunity was co-created in direct response to feedback from a cohort of students involved in the Making Tracks Steering group. This group empowers young people within the project to have their voice amplified and opinions heard, providing them with autonomy and agency helping them to shape and design the Making Tracks’ programme.

About Making Tracks

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders Youth Sector Support Fund.

Like Mercury residency, Bellatrix and Emma Houston Dance Collective. Photo credit Khali Ackford

We are pleased to announce that we are looking for exciting new work to present as part of our programme of shows in Spring 2022.

We are keen to hear from artists and companies whose work responds to our current theme of Art of Resistance in exciting and innovative ways, work that is timely and relevant for our diverse local audiences and work that will inspire and engage.

What we’re looking for:

• Performance ready Theatre, Dance, Spoken Word and Cross-art form, work that responds to the themes of arts and resistance and social activism.
• Work that can be presented across two seasons: 1) between January and 31st March 2022, 2) between 1 April and 31st June 2022.
• Small-medium scale work to be programmed as single shows (on occasion we may programme more than 1 day of a performance).
• Work that can be presented outside of a traditional raked seating format. Work that is relatable and exciting to our community whether that be our local residents in inner-city Bristol, service users who regularly meet at the centre or a community that we might not have met yet but who will benefit from experiencing live performance at Trinity.
• Work that has not been previously presented in Bristol in its current state.
• Work that involves wrap-around activity that can engage our community (Q&A, workshops etc)
• At least 2 of the performances we select will be created by Bristol based artists who are based within 15 miles of Trinity Centre.

We will provide:

Between £750 and £1500 in fees to include performance fees, travel, accommodation and expenses. (Please note that you must have a bank account in your organisation’s name or be registered as self-employed) Technical support for get-in, show and get-out. Advice and guidance from relevant members of staff at Trinity and relevant partners on developing your audiences.

Pay What You Can tickets for audience members and free tickets for community participants

How to submit:

We’ll ask you to submit a tour pack of no longer than 4 pages that includes show information, engagement/wraparound activity plans, a tech specification and marketing strategy.

We’ll ask you to answer a question about how you’ll work with us to engage with our community and to tell us which season (1 or 2) your work is available for.

We’ll ask you to complete an equal opportunities form, so we can make sure these opportunities are reaching the right people, but this won’t be used in the decision to programme your show.

How we decide who to programme:

At Trinity we believe that the most important decision makers are our community. Therefore we programme our Trinity Presents Arts Programme using a Programming Forum made up of local artist and community members and people who use our building on a regular basis.

Deadline: The deadline for submissions is 9am 04 Oct

Click here to submit your tour pack and information

Photo credit: Colin Moody

Art of Resistance is a two-year project exploring the role that creativity plays in resistance movements. Through the lens of key protest movements in Bristol: Women’s Equality & The Suffragettes, Workers' Risings & Bristol Riots, and Anti-Racism & Anti-Fascism, the project is documenting and exploring Bristol as a city where people feel empowered to make change.

Throughout this Summer (July – Aug 2021) there are opportunities to find out more about creative acts of resistance through a programme of talks, workshops, and events. Featuring the likes of Lowkey, Kiki, Queer Vision and Julie Boston – all key players driving to change the world around them for the better.

Banners have, literally, been at the forefront of Trade Union protest and a way in which women in particular have contributed to Trade Union activism. Imagine from Reclaim the Night to Black Lives Matter.  Join textile artists Ruth Ramsay and others to collaborate in the creation of a ‘Banner For Bristol’ that will capture the spirit of Bristol (05 Aug).

Short films are often a stepping stone for film-makers, lending themselves to a variety of innovative approaches to storytelling and platforming. For one night only, Kiki Bristol join forces with Queer Vision for an evening screening new QTIPOC film shorts (15 Jul).

Environmental campaigning has been at the forefront of the protest movements in Bristol. From Grassroots campaigning to Save The M32 Maples in St Paul’s to XR’s takeover of the City Centre. Julie Boston has been at the forefront of campaigning on environmental issues in Bristol for decades – join her at Trinity for an evening's discussion (22 Jul).

British rapper and activist, Lowkey is one of the most evocative, articulate, and urgent voices of our time. Since launching his rap career in the early 00s, Lowkey has been a consistent and powerful voice against Islamophobia, neo-imperialism, and the plight of Palestine. In an evening of conversation, Lowkey shares his inspirations, how he uses his art as a form of activism and his continued commitment to social justice (28 Sep).

Fast fashion has a detrimental impact on the environment. In a one-off workshop join Sophie & Frances to find out more about every-day-resistance through the simple act of up-cycling your clothes (12 Aug).

From their use in the military to the synonymous connection to the punk movement in the 70s/80s, patches can be a form of group identification, a creative symbol of counterculture, or a means of showing support for a cause. Find out more about the history of patches through creating your own in a one-off workshop (18 Aug).

Sign up by clicking on the links above, or find out more about the project here. Don’t want to miss out? Keep up to date with events and news at Trinity by signing up to our mailing list.

S.U.S.A.A.N the socially distanced robot toured the local area and collected responses from residents

Deadline for Proposals: 9am Friday 25th June

Earlier this year we asked the people of Bristol to respond to the sentence ‘What I Want to Be, What I Want to See’.

Over two weeks we programmed free-online workshops with Vanessa Kisuule, Rider Shafique, Gerry's Attic - plus more - to inspire people to creatively share what they wanted to see for themselves and others in the world around them, post-pandemic.

S.U.S.A.A.N, a socially distanced robot, toured the local area collecting responses from members of the local community. In Trinity's community garden Artist Amy May-Ellis welcomed people to take part in a socially distanced workshop to share their hopes and dreams.

On our social media platforms we shared videos from groups who use Trinity regularly, including Misfits Theatre Company and Dance for Parkinsons.

Responses came in from across Bristol - from wanting to be a marine biologist to hoping to spend more time with family, wanting to see more bikes and less cars and much more. People responded in many forms including poems and drawings.

We are now looking for an artist or collective of artists to creatively interpret the responses, capturing this moment and continuing the conversation with the many communities who connect with Trinity.  This is a paid commission with a fixed fee of £9000.

The call is open to a Bristol based (within a 20 mile radius of Trinity Centre) artist or collective that is reflective of Trinity’s diverse communities.  We’re open to people working in any art-form but you must have experience of co-creating with communities.

Please note:

All work carried out as part of the commission must adhere to current Covid-19 regulations and guidelines.

Timeline:

• Deadline for Proposals: 9am Friday 25th June
• Artists Selection Panel Meeting with Programming Forum: w/c 28th June.
• Successful applicant receive notification by: Wednesday 30th June.
• Residency Period: 1st July – 31st December 2021

How to apply

• Download the full artist commission brief here
• Download the application guidelines here
• When you have read the guidelines you can submit your application online here

You’ll need to attach or link to examples of your work and a budget detailing how you will spend the available commission (each question can be submitted as a video or audio recording if preferred)

We held an informal Q&A session about the commission and you can view the recording of that session here.

If you have access needs in order to join the Q&A session. Please let us know in advance by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk or telephoning 0117 935 1200

What I Want To Be, What I Want To See is supported through funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund

Gh0$t took part in a vocal looping workshop with performer and musician Keisha Thompson. Photo KoLAB Studios / Khali Ackford

Making Tracks is a life-changing music making project, delivered by Trinity and partners ACE and Basement Studios. The project supports young people to take their next steps in education or work through accessing music provision.

Gh0$t, aka Jack, joined Making Tracks when he was 23 - finding out about the programme through a suggestion by Access Creative College. The college have worked with Trinity for a number of years, often referring students who may benefit from an alternative education setting.

“Jack’s journey has had its challenges, but his passion for music and the support Trinity provided throughout this time has helped to keep him focussed and motivated. Jack has showed a consistent level of dedication and has seen the confidence in his own abilities and talent develop exponentially.” Dave Thomas, Youth Activities Manager

All young people who take part in Making Tracks have individual learning plan. This is created through conversations with students, highlighting what they may want to achieve and input from tutors, identifying key areas of development.

Jack showed an interest in developing his skills in writing original lyrics, rap and learning more about recording his own songs. He developed his music skills in regular 1-2-1 sessions and attended workshops and opportunities offered throughout the programme. This included workshops with touring artists Keisha Thompson, Making Tracks Summer Music Sessions, Q&A sessions with industry professionals and music events. Gh0$t also was active in promoting his own music made during his sessions on social media.

The final part of Jacks development was the opportunity to work as a youth mentor on an Anti-Knife Crime project. Organised by Avon and Somerset Police and delivered in partnership with local schools, Jack supported students to create a soundtrack for an animation. Jack was completely dedicated to the process taking part not only as lyric writer and performing artist but also as a consultant, offering musical advice to the students in the project.

“My main motivation … stems from my past. It actually drove me to write and work on this project because I felt I could relate to what these young people go through on a daily basis, but I also wanted to portray the message that you can still make a difference and become something that no one believed you could be.” Gh0$t

Since completing the programme, Jack is working on building his youth work CV and accessing further courses and youth work qualifications - proving his commitment to continue his professional journey.

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders Youth Sector Support Fund.

Peaches, Trinity, 2016 Credit: Jessica Bartolini

Resonators, Trinity, 2018, Khali Ackford

Alesandra Seutin I Vocab Dance Company, Trinity, 2018, Jessica Bartolini

Kiesha Thompson, Trinity, 2018, Jessica Bartolini

This gallery is part of Art of Resistance, a two year project documenting creative responses to resistance movements in Bristol. The women featured in this exhibition are known for their creative power and for their commitment to changing society.

Using music as their platform, Peaches takes a bold and unexpected approach to the topics of sex, feminism, queerness, gender, and new millennium politics. Fronted by Faye Houston and Kassia Zermon, Brighton reggae band, Resonators, draw influences from original Jamaican sounds and riddims.

Keisha Thompson and Alesandra Seutin both use performance to explore race, identity, and gender issues, often creating highly personal and thought provoking work.

Protest history and the art it has created is both formal and informally documented. It is held within memories, private collections, people’s art, posters, music, and poetry. We hope these pictures inspire you to remember your own creative acts of protest, large or small, to share them with us and be part of building a people’s archive.

Art of Resistance is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund

Trinity is thinking about the future, & we want to hear from the people that matter - you.

From March 25 we are asking the people of Bristol to share their hopes and dreams for the future as part of What I Want To Be, What I Want To See. To inspire you, we have teamed up with our extended Trinity family of artists and community groups to create 11 days of free activities, content and workshops.

#GetInvolved

Online - follow us on our Social Media channels for scheduled activity and a daily TikTok challenge. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Sign up to a daily Assembly Monday - Friday by heading to the Facebook group here.

Sign up - click through below for our free workshop programme:

25 Mar - Writing Workshop With Vanessa Kisuule,

29 Mar - Intergenerational Dance Workshop,

30 Mar - Body Percussion Workshop,

31 Mar - I-Dentity Workshop.

Take part - join us on site for our Socially distanced community artwork, Mobilise, in Trinity Community Garden

If you live close to Trinity look out for our freepost leaflet, along with a free, specially created, print by Andy Council, coming through your letterbox. Please add your own responses and post them back to us.

If you live in Newtown or St Judes, keep your eyes open for the newest team member of Trinity - S.U.S.A.N.N the socially distanced robot - who will be out on the streets collecting your responses.

Want to share your dreams for the future? Click here to find out how.

The project is supported through funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund helping Trinity still #behereforculture

What would you do if you had no limits? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you spend time with? And what are the changes you would like to see, locally or globally?

Trinity is thinking about the future, and we want to start by hearing from the people that matter - you. We’re asking the people of Bristol to respond to the sentence ‘What I Want to Be, What I Want to See’.

We are asking you to get involved writing, drawing, making or recording something as a way to share what you want to see for yourself and the world around you, post-pandemic.

From 25th March our extended Trinity family of artists and community groups will be sharing their responses to help inspire you including Misfits Theatre sharing their ambitions for a utopian future and top tips on getting creative with artists Grove and Pete Warner.  We’ll be running a series of free workshops with artists including Rider Shafique, Vanessa Kisuule and Gerrys Attic to help you get creative in response to the theme. There will also be an opportunity to take part in socially distanced workshops in our community garden with artist Amy May Ellis to create an art-installation.

Find out more about the project and the events coming up by visiting trinitybristol.org.uk/arts

Ways to #GetInvolved

• Share any content you create with us by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk
• Get in touch by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk to find out how to drop off any physical responses at Trinity.
• Submit your content online
• Share with us directly on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter
• Share on your own social media using the hashtag #WhatIWant

If you’re located in BS2 look out for our freepost leaflet, along with a free, especially created, print by Andy Council, coming through your letterbox and post them back to us.

If you live in Newtown or St Judes, keep your eyes open for the newest team member of Trinity - S.U.S.A.N.N the socially distanced robot - who will be out on the streets collecting your responses!

Once we've gathered enough content to represent the diverse communities of the city, we’ll be working with talented local artists to create their own responses inspired by you, to be shared as part of a celebratory event later in the year and to build a lasting legacy of our shared ambitions for the future.

Image: Nathalie Codsi in Arnold's Big Adventure by Tessa Bide Productions, photo by Kai Taylor

Spilt Ink Theatre Company have been awarded Trinity’s Young Audiences Commission to develop a new piece of work for 3-10 year olds. The £6,000 commission has been made possible through the support of the Cultural Recovery Fund.

Spilt Ink are a physical theatre company who create playful, joyful and fun work with and for communities and children. During their development commission they will be exploring the themes of home and identity.

“We will create a fantasy ‘home’ rooted in real stories of our multicultural community. It will explore both the physical sensation of home and the cultural meaning of home.  We will question what home means to ourselves, as diverse artists, and to the multicultural local community of East Bristol.”

They will work with Trinity and local community partners to deliver creative and playful workshops with local children and families; sharing and exploring the stories of the many communities living in Lawrence Hill and Easton.

Spilt Ink were selected for the commission following an open call out that received 20 project proposals. Their project, Home, stood out to our parent-led selection panel - made up of staff, volunteers and community reps - for the way it placed co-creation at its core and young people at the centre of deciding where the project journey would take them.

Between its members - Lebanese/Italian actor and theatre maker Nathalie Codsi, Bristol-based international theatre director, community arts facilitator and performer Hester Welch, and British actor, puppeteer/ theatre maker Sarah Cribdon, Spilt Ink have a wealth of experience of working with diverse communities across the world and we look forward to seeing where Home will take them.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get involved with the Young Audiences Commission as it emerges, please get in touch or sign up to our mailing list.

Find out more about Moving Bristol’s Producer Deborah.

Deborah Baddoo MBE is the Producer for Bristol Dance Future’s Moving Bristol project. The project focuses on developing dance practice for new and existing audiences and developing an ecology of dance across Bristol.

Drawn to the opportunity by a desire to galvanise action and create a legacy for Dance in the city, Deborah brings her extensive experience in the dance sector to the role.

Passionate about her long-term vision to raise the profile and support the development of Black choreographers nationally and internationally,she was awarded an MBE for service to dance in 2010. In 1986 in partnership with musician Steve Marshall, she set up arts production company State of Emergency. The company produces shows, projects and events and works with world-class artists and creates opportunities for emerging artists. The charitable arm, State of Trust works to use the arts to promote social cohesion.

Deborah has also worked as an Arts Council Agent for Change with Bristol Old Vic and Sailsbury Playhouse, was Diversity Consultant for Bristol Museums and has worked with many renowned dance and arts organisations across the UK including Rich Mix, DanceXchange, Stratford Circus, Swindon Dance and East London Dance.

As well as a planned programme of industry events - such as the upcoming Dance and Health Conference 2021 - Deborah has collaborated with the Dance Futures Steering Group, independent artists and organisations to select the Dance Connect residencies. The residencies are an opportunity for practitioners, organisations and communities to collaboratively develop a programme of dance activity. Artists will explore and develop ways that dance can be enjoyed and experienced by new and existing audiences and participants across the city.

Deborah has also supported the creation of three Dance Hubs across the city to focus on the development of Dance for Health, Young People and Audiences. Organisations on board are Arnolfini, Creative Youth Network and Trinity. Trinity will be working with dance practitioners Lerato Dunn and Rachel James to programme activity in our role as the Arts & Health Dance Hub for the project.

Find out more about Moving Bristol here.

About Bristol Dance Futures

Bristol Dance Futures, is a consortium of Bristol organisations and independent artists, that nurtures talents and provides professional development opportunities for dancers, with an aim to create a vibrant dance ecology, so people of all ages can engage with high-quality dance.

Dance Connect is supported by funding from Arts Council England

Image Colin Moody

Art of Resistance is a 2-year project exploring 100 years of social activism, protest, and civil disobedience in Bristol, and the art that underpinned each movement.

We're looking for people who have artifacts or stories they would like to share to help build this picture of Bristol as a city of art and activism.

Whether your #resist story or art relates to Workers Rights, Women’s Equality, Anti-Racism, Anti-Fascism - or something else we haven't thought of - we'd love to hear from you.

In particular, we're really interested if any artwork, including poetry, textiles, posters, banners and ephemera, music and performing arts that were used to support and capture the spirit of different movements throughout the ages.

#GetInvolved

If you have digital material you can upload it here: Art Of Resistance Submission form.

If you have a physical item or would like to discus taking part in an interview to tell your own story, please contact info@trinitybristol.org.uk

Keep up to do with the project and other Trinity news and event sign up to our mailing list here.

The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Trinity has been working to create opportunities for children and young people in our local community of Old Market, The Dings and Lawrence Hill to access to arts and well-being activities during the COVID19 pandemic.

“Many families we support don't have gardens, computers or printers to benefit from online resources many organisations created. It is important to remember about this digital inequality and therefore packs like those prepared by Trinity Centre are particularly valuable. They contain colourful booklets with inspirational ideas ... to cheer up those who can only dream about their own gardens”.

Pat Pinkowska, Community Engagement Officer, Up Our Street

As part of this work we have created two activity packs full of creative ideas, ranging from make your-own Bird Feeders, to singing Lullabies to learning more about Resistance Movements in Bristol - all devised to do in the home.

Working with our community partners including local primary schools and Eastside Community Trust we have delivered over 900 activity packs to local children and young people.

Trinity's Summer and Winter Activity packs are also available as a free download . They have been devised by the Trinity team and designed by Group of 7.

The packs have been made possible thanks to grant funding from Children in Need, Power to Change and Quartet.