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.

Dismantling the Master’s Museum - Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias  and Isabelle Cox

Performed as Part of Emergenc(i)es

Learn more about—and TAKE ACTION AGAINST—Bristol’s celebration of enslavement and Bristol’s whitewashing of history! Bristol, in both its public art and museums, still celebrates the legacy of eurocentric enslavement of African persons. This ugly celebration runs alongside Bristol’s gross social and economic oppression of its communities of African descent—alongside poor representations of, and poor engagement with, African history, African heritage, and African people, in Bristol’s public museums and galleries, in Bristol’s public squares and streets. These public spaces are owned by us—citizens who contribute to society in various ways, including by paying taxes. These public spaces are funded in our name, to serve our communities and our children.

This interactive workshop will include short film screenings, collective debate, and a sharing of resources and action-based toolkits. 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 please join us, on Friday 10th June, between 2 and 5pm, in Bristol’s Trinity Centre. The session is open to all, but we explicitly and unapologetically extend a special invitation to Bristol’s communities of African descent and to people who do not usually engage with museums. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard, listened to, and put into action.

The session will be led by Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman a scholar-activist from Birmingham, where he works closely with the Black Studies Research Cluster at Birmingham City University’s Centre for Critical Social Research, and Isabelle Cox, a scholar-activist and mother from Manchester, who is passionate about children, young people, and Black liberation.

Part of  Emergenc(i)es  Exhibition, 6th - 17th June: Control and Calculation : Inheriting Liberation : Improvised Publics

Per/forming Pharmacy

Researcher/word hoarder Alex Wardrop and careful artist and Arts psychotherapist Georgina Huntley are per/forming pharmacy. Through mixing inscription potions we will ease, balance, disrupt, agitate, heal, hurt, cure and/or poison.

In our interactive arts installation we consider the emergency of the current historical moment through the collecting, categorising, collaging and sharing of words. Inscription positions will emerge to cure or poison the emergencies of this moment that you will share with us.

We will mix up a remedy – or a poison – for your nastiest ailments, existential angsts, calcified blockages of power, silly woes, serious worries, calm thoughts, political grief, beastly hurts, bad feelings or too obvious forgettings.

Our pharmacy is per/formed through our interactions with you. In sending us a word or short sentence of the emergency you want to be cured or poisoned, you become part of the formation of new meanings and maybe the de/re-formation of old ones.

Any healing emerging from our performance/art/pharmacy will be participatory and, sometimes, ambivalent.

For help with your emergency, please send us a word or sentence to: makinglearning@gmail.com

Alternatively come down to Trinity on 9th June between 14:00-17:00 and join in on the day.

We will mix up your remedy, or position, and put it in a bottle for collection at the Trinity Centre between 14:00 -17:00 on 9th June 2016.

Part of  Emergenc(i)es  Exhibition, 6th - 17th June: Control and Calculation : Inheriting Liberation : Improvised Publics

Transference

Have you ever wanted to wear a robot? Or wondered how the lyrics in songs get you dancing? Perhaps you've found yourself moving in sync with everyone around you?

We're looking for curious and playful participants to come and take part in a one off and groundbreaking live research event that might just get everyone dancing. Created by the award-winning Guerilla Dance Project, no previous dance or movement experience is necessary in order to take part. Just bring along with you an energy and openness to see what happens on the night!

Please Note: Participants should be aware that the event is being filmed and that any data gathered will be used for non-commercial academic research. The Trinity Centre is accessible to wheelchair users. For more information please click HERE.

Transference is a collaborative project created by Guerilla Dance Project, Cambridge University, Exeter University and Watershed. It has been funded through the Being There EPSRC research project.

Tickets are free but should be reserved in advance.

Boomtown Fair and Bassline Circus are bringing Carnival Arts Workshops to the Trinity Centre on Sunday June 12th 2016.

The carnival workshops will run from 12-3pm to give a flavour of the Carnival Parade at Boomtown Fair, Matterly Bowl, Wichester, Sunday 14th August.

Workshops are for 5-12 yrs and families, there are limited places available so please book in advance asap

Free Entry - Suggested donation £3 on the door and all proceeds go to www.energy-revolution.org.uk Booking essential...limited places

To Book: kids@boomtownfair.co.uk or call Mia 07779 418115

Come and Create:

Carnival Costumes- Design and make costumes for the carnival parade at Boomtown

Carnival Dance - Learn new dance moves to bring the carnival to life Physical Theatre - Create a performance and become a character of Boomtown.

Set Design - Make your mark on the brand new Kidztown set, have your chance to paint the streets of Kidztown

An Open Mic Night ~ One Heart World

Celebrate the publishing of Vincent’s book & the wealth of talent in Bristol! Featuring a variety of shared music & spoken word performances.

Books on sale, signed by the author, at £10 each.

Bar & refreshments available.

Metered parking on site & surrounding streets.

Bring a cushion & a friend, & enjoy the beautiful vibes of Trinity.

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.

We are celebrating 40 years of music at trinity. There is no better way to celebrate than having the Resonators join us for a night of Roots & Dub vibes alongside a roots & steppas Bristol line u.

Resonators are one of the UKs best loved reggae acts. With dual vocal powerhouse Faye Houston and Kassia Zermon (aka Bunty) fronting the group, their repertoire ranges from sweet and soulful to the heavier and more progressive elements of contemporary dance music. With their energetic live shows, the nine-piece group have won over crowds across the UK and Europe, and 2016 will see them return with a much anticipated new release.

With extra performances from...

Count Bobo

Downbeat Melody Soundsystem

Roots Factory

Physical tickets available from Idle Hands & Bristol Ticket Shop

“There's a long history of UK musicians stamping their own identity on Jamaican sounds...Resonators proudly carry the tradition forwards, adding a distinctly British aesthetic to Dubwise production and also infusing elements from the Bass Music explosion that's revitalised the lower end of the sonic spectrum in recent years”

Mercury Music Prize Recommends

“British reggae at its best”
“...elements are truly beautiful and haunting. In these days of homogenised, digital recordings lacking in any individual sound or identity it is most encouraging to hear something so truly original...most refreshing.”

David Rodigan

Big Fish Little Fish Ugly Bug Circus rave!

Family fun for the post-rave generation of parents. Helping parents be responsibly irresponsible since 2013.

We return in September for our Ugly Bug Circus rave!

Headline DJ Dr Fly (Basskitchen), plus resident Little My play (grown up) dance music on the multi-sensory dancefloor with glitter cannons, bubbles, balloons and giant parachute dance.

Hop upstairs to visit Dr Fly’s bumblebee and fruit fly science lab, or learn circus skills and hula hooping with circus performer Iris West!

Craft tables with giant colouring mural, themed crafts and playdoh table. Play area with tents and tunnels and baby chillout space with mats and small ballpool.

Licensed bar, free transfer tattoos, glowsticks and freebie treats to take away at the end.

Theme: Ugly Bug Circus - Optional (but encouraged) insect/nature or circus related fancy dress!

For families with younger children (8s and under) though older siblings are welcome. Adults are not admitted unless accompanied by a child. A max of 3 children per adult. A max of 4 adults per child (and such groups must be pre-approved by emailing infosw@bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk before buying tickets). Tickets are non-refundable but if anybody with tickets finds they cannot attend a sold-out event please email infosw@bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk and BFLF will attempt to put you in touch with people seeking to buy tickets Each member of your group must have a ticket, adults £7.00, child £7.00 and pre-walking infants free (but must be ticketed). More on the door (if available).

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.

6.30 - 7.30 One Note Leads to Another

Maggie Nicols and Deborah Withers will facilitate a performance based on the exercise 'One Note Leads to Another'. The performance will invite participation for the audience through sharing long notes and repetitive phrases broken into discrete elements.

7.30 - 9.00 Goldf”

For this event a range performers will gather in clusters across the floor of Trinity's, Fyfe Hall  producing a sprawling live soundtrack to accompany the expanded film work Goldf". This work draws deeply upon Owen's interest in layman’s relationship to politics, participation and performance.  His work aims to expand ideas of cinemas and how narrative is forged through the competition between soundtrack, voice and performance. Starting at 7.30 musicians will converse, build and resist amongst the bits .

Part of  Emergenc(i)es  Exhibition, 6th - 17th June: Control and Calculation : Inheriting Liberation : Improvised Publics

Sue Mountstevens has been re-elected as Police and Crime Commissioner and this occasion is where she will set out publicly her continued commitment to serving the residents of Avon and Somerset with integrity and impartiality.

At the short event Sue will take an ‘oath of impartiality’ with the Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) Dr Jo Farrar OBE, who co-ordinated the election across Avon and Somerset.  Sue will also set out her strategic vision for the Constabulary for the next four years of her PCC term.