New water refill stations across the venue thanks to the ticket levy and One Stop grant

At the Trinity Centre, we’re constantly striving to enhance our space, ensuring it remains accessible, inclusive, and sustainable for all. This year, we’ve undertaken several crucial capital works aimed at modernising the venue, thanks in part to your support through our ticket levy.

What's the levy for?

The ticket levy is a fee applied to all event tickets, intended to fund essential improvements to the building. These funds help us match contributions from sponsors and grant funders, allowing us to undertake mid-scale capital projects to enhance the venue for all users.

The levy is just one of the many ways we raise vital funds to maintain and improve the centre, ensuring it remains a hub for creativity and culture for communities of East Bristol and beyond.

Works so far

In 2024 we have already made significant strides to upgrade and enhance the venue to ensure it remains a vibrant, accessible and sustainable space for all who use it.

One of our key achievements has been the installation of water refill stations throughout the building and its gardens, made possible with additional match grant support from One Stop. This initiative is part of our commitment to sustainability, encouraging visitors to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics by carrying refillable water bottles. Not only does this reduce waste, but it also promotes healthier hydration habits for everyone who steps through our doors.

In addition to the water refill stations, we have upgraded our boiler system, ensuring a more energy-efficient way of heating the building. This improvement brings us a step closer to reducing our overall carbon footprint, in line with our sustainability goals. We have also carried out essential upgrades to our fire alarm systems, in addition to our general repairs and maintenance of the venue carried out each year.

What's next?

We're in the process of modernising our lift, which was originally installed in 2007. As a key part of our mission to ensure accessibility, this upgrade is vital to maintaining the reliability of the lift, which benefits an est 2,000 people with mobility needs who use the centre annually. The modernisation involves replacing outdated electrical components with modern, locally manufactured parts, reducing the frequent faults that have recently caused disruptions to various activities. This work is also being funded by the Bruce Wake Charitable Trust.

Looking further ahead, we are seeking to raise funds to impliment plans to deliver other mid-scale renovation projects to be supported by the ticket levy and match funds include:

Main hall upgrades; commissioning new technical lighting array to enhance the quality of performances and events held at the centre and carrying out improvements to internal doors to further improve fire and sound compartmentalisation.

Creation of a new multi-use meeting/dressing room; transforming our downstairs office, including roof repairs and internal works to provide a more flexible, multi-use space for staff and visitors alike, including providing additional back-stage space for artists and performers, upgrading the furnishings and fittings to create a more functional and versatile environment.

New garden eco-unit; replacement of the old outdoor mud-hut kitchen, built in 2012 thanks to an Awards for All grant, with a new unit to support the delivery of our children's nature play and wider learning and well-being activities.

Emma Harvey, CEO of Trinity, said:

"Trinity was built almost 200 years ago, and those who designed it could never have imagined the incredible variety of ways the space is used today. As proud guardians of this fantastic building, our work to maintain and modernise it for contemporary use is a continual effort.

"By contributing through the ticket levy, our audiences enable us to carry out much-needed upgrades while preserving the unique character and authenticity of the building. This support is crucial in demonstrating the match funds needed to secure wider grant funding and sponsorship needed to deliver against our ambitions for an accessible, inclusive and sustainable centre for the people.

"Thank you for being part of this journey with us and for helping us create a better Trinity for everyone."

Trinity Community Arts is a registered charity number 1144770

Her 2023 release, Young & Naive/Lifetime of Wanting, charted at No. 38 on the UK Independent Album Chart. She has also supported Dylan, Inhaler, and the Courteeners, and is a member of Loud LDN.

In just two short years, the West Midlands singer-songwriter has galvanised a legion of devout fans thanks to her wit and electrifying stage presence. An accomplished self-taught guitarist with a finely-tuned ear for a soaring hook, Ella’s lyrics recall the candid songwriting of Sam Fender. By writing astutely about growing pains, unfiltered impulses and those first real, unexpected breakups with sincerity and flair, she extends a helping hand to listeners going through similar journeys of growth.

+ support: Die Twice

19:00: Doors

20:30: Last entry

23:00: Curfew

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

Garden Party: A Community Celebration - Image Credit: Alastair Brookes

On Sunday 22 September 2024, we opened our gates for our end of summer community celebration. This event featured community arts workshops,  activities for children and families and performances.

In collaboration with our Community Connectors we connected with facilitators and artists from the local area who we invited to deliver activities on the day. We also offered businesses the opportunity to trade during the event and local traders came along to sell crafts, jewellery, vintage goods, and more at Garden Party.

On the music side of things, we programmed a diverse lineup of artists, including traditional Arabic music from Soufian Saihi, New Orleans style Brass music from Bigfoot Brass Band, Afrofusion from duo Sisanda and Ru, and an amazing blend of Bhangra and UK sounds from our headliner Indian Man.

We also offered attendees the chance to find out more about what we do at Trinity, with talks throughout the day about our Citizen’s Assembly project and our children, young people and families programme.

“An amazing day out – community, music and lots of activities for the kids” – Participant Feedback

We had a good turn out on the day, with 297 attendees and over £400 donated to Trinity to allow us to put on more community-focused events like Garden party. We wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who braved the rain and made this Garden Party so special, from the talented artists, workshop facilitators, stall-holders, local food vendors, the dedicated sound and lighting team behind the scenes, our hardworking bar staff, the entire Team Trinity, and, of course, all of you who joined us on the day.

Thank you for coming down to support what we do and celebrate our amazing local community.

If you'd like to continue to support Trinity, click here to make a donation.

They have scaled exhilarating heights since vocalist Jim Higson and guitarist Daniel McCarthy’s packed-out, homespun acoustic performances as students. Though the harmonic tenderness of folk is foundational to KAWALA’s sound, it is their instinct for pop music – the kind that is nourished by hooks, highs and a sun-blush glow of optimism for brighter horizons – which came to define this particular magic which expanded far beyond those small rooms.

+ support: Teenage Dads

19:00: Doors

19:45: Teenage Dads

20:45: Kawala

23:00: Curfew

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

The album mark’s a significant evolution for the group as they welcome Sheffield-based vocalist Aziza Jaye to the forefront, adding a fresh dimension of Patois and RnB to their sound.

The Heady, sun-drenched release is peppered with impressive collaborations, including musical legends Nile Rodgers and Seun Kuti, who bring their trademark disco and afrobeat mastery to the tracks they feature on.

+ support: NEONE The Wonderer

19:30: Doors

20:30: Last entry

23:00: Curfew

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

Line up:

• Krust (93 vinyl set)
• Tim Reaper
• Mantra
• Double O
• Dead Man's Chest
• Deselecta
• Hosted by Blackeye MC

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

Originally formed in Brooklyn, Sungazer has brought their blend of hard-hitting jazz fusion, 8-bit, progressive rock, and EDM to audiences across the world.

Masterfully melding cutting-edge electronic elements with a human touch and soul, they create music aimed squarely ahead into the 21st century. Their debut album, co-produced by Simon Grove (Plini, Protest The Hero, Intervals), features an eclectic cast of guest musicians.

Exciting, hard-hitting, and never predictable, we proudly present Sungazer .

19:00: Doors

20:30: Last entry

23:00: Curfew

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

Citizens for Culture is ground-breaking initiative bringing together people from across the region to meet with creative practitioners, cultural providers and decision-makers to create a Cultural Plan for the region.

Delivered in with St Pauls Carnival, Citizens In Power and the West of England Combined Authority, the project will host the first region wide Citizens’ Assembly for Culture in 2025.

We caught up with Producer, Anjali Prashar-Savoie and  Project Manager, David Jubb, to ask some key questions about the project - what is it, why we’re running it and what we hope to achieve.

David and Anjali - what is a Citizens Assembly for Culture all about?

A Citizens' Assembly brings people together to learn about and deliberate issues and together, reach conclusions about what they think should happen.

Our project, Citizens for Culture, will invite citizens from areas in the West of England to create a set recommendations for a Cultural Plan for the West of England Combined Authority Region.

Taking place across multiple sessions citizens will explore how creative opportunities can be inclusive, accessible and representative of the many people living across the region. They will immerse themselves in creative and cultural activities, hear from experts who will share their knowledge about creativity and culture and then, working together, develop recommendations for a Cultural Plan to be delivered across three regions in the West of England.

Following the Assembly, citizens will oversee the implementation of the Cultural Plan with support from funders, local authorities, organisations and individuals, all working together to deliver these citizen-led recommendations.

What is the story so far?

"By using this democratic approach we will hope to inform future cultural policies and priorities for the West of England, creating a legacy that will serve as a model for the UK's continually evolving arts and cultural landscape."

The project was created in response to the partners wanting to explore how using a Citizens Assembly model - a deliberative, democratic and people-centred approach - could reimagine what a cultural offer could look like in the South West.

Each partner brings their own skills to the project - St Pauls' Carnival CEO, LaToyah Mcallister-Jones brings her wealth of expertise and experience in leading and facilitating Assemblies.

Using their expertise in citizen-led decision making, Citizens In Power have been securing support for each stage of the project, from the initial research phase in 2022 to the delivery of the final Assembly in 2025 and Trinity's CEO, Emma Harvey, brings over 20yrs of expertise of using arts and culture as a tool for civic participation.

Together, we delivered a research phase for the Assembly, where the principles for the design were shaped by a group of people from across the region, chosen through a random selection process.

Based on these design principles, the Assembly was further developed by people working in the cultural sector. The research phase provided the building blocks for the framework for the planned 2025 Assembly.

Why are you running Citizens for Culture?

The Assembly aims to help shape a regional cultural offer that is relevant, accessible and reflective of diverse voices and perspectives. By co-creating cultural leadership and decision-making with the people who live, work and stay in our region, we hope to build a more democratic approach that will help shape the future direction of culture in the West of England.

What do you mean by “citizens” and “culture”?

When we say citizens, we simply mean the people who live, work or stay in a place.

We feel that the Assembly is best placed to arrive at its practical definition of culture - one that best serves the creation of the regional Cultural Plans.  We want to ensure the people taking part can participate fully and that thoughtful conversations happen that aid in guiding this. By allowing the Assembly process to refine this definition, we hope to ensure that the Cultural Plan has a clear focus and achievable goals, while still acknowledging the richness of cultural diversity across the regions.

"By using this (a Citizens' Assembly model) democratic approach we hope to inform future cultural policies and priorities for the West of England, creating a legacy that will serve as a model for the UK's continually evolving arts and cultural landscape."

How do people get involved?

Citizens will be invited to participate in the Assembly through a sortition process, or democratic lottery, rather than by election or appointment. This ensures that the selection is impartial and includes a wide representation of community voices from across the region.

We're continuing to invite people and organisations working in the cultural sector to help shape plans for the 2025 Assembly.

If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you - feel free to get in touch with the Citizens’ Assembly producer, Anjali Prashar-Savoie, at anjali@trinitybristol.org.uk to arrange a chat.

Find out more about Citizens for Culture:

• Read LaToyah McAllister-Jones opinion piece on her experiences of facilitating democratic decision-making in the second part of this series about civic participation

• Read Edson Burton’s opinion piece of why voting matters in the second part of this series about civic participation

• Email Imogen@trinitybristol.org.uk to join our Citizens For Culture mailing list

Citizens for Culture is an initiative from St Paul Carnival CIC, Trinity Community Arts, Citizens in Power and West of England Combined Authority and is supported through funding by Arts Council England, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch).

They will also be joined by GoodGood PleasureSub, a creative collective exploring physical storytelling through multidisciplinary creative platforms. There will also be drawings, prints, zines, t-shirts & other GoodGood goodies for you to tuck into on their stall. Stalls by Tamatha-Ann Lovett and GoodGood PleasureSub and Chipper Leather Co

Club Love socials are open to members and non members. Non members will also have the opportunity to be vetted for Club Love Membership in person at the event.

Club Love are also initiating the KINKY CLOTHES SWAP. Bring all the bits you don’t wear anymore, don’t fit ( we’ve all bought stuff we’ve forgotten to return) or the some beloved items you want to share with someone else. In the spirit of being conscious about fast fashion let’s start a community rotation of all our kinky clothes which gives us the opportunity to revive or reinvent our current Club Love looks.

Everyone is subject to our vibe checks on entry. This is not a cruising event. You will be turned away if we feel your intentions are misaligned or your vibe is off. Low income tickets or free PA tickets available via email clubloveltd@gmail.com.

Everyone is subject to Club love's vibe checks on entry. This is not a cruising event. You will be turned away if we feel your intentions are misaligned or your vibe is off.

Low-income tickets or free PA tickets available via email here.

• No Dress Code
• No under 18's
• Club Love Event Etiquette Applies
• Not a Play Party
• Last entry 7:30pm

Please ensure you visit Club Love's website for event etiquette and guidelines.
Visit here for more info on accessibility and parking.

Also, Bristol’s own (though he renounced his Bristolian roots earlier this year), Charlie Sterling will make an appearance, along with the always captivating Millie McKenzie, adding even more excitement to this spine-chilling, festive night of wrestling.

Expect an adrenaline-fuelled spectacle as SWW brings together a line-up of top-tier wrestlers, each vying for glory and supremacy in the ring. From bone-crushing power slams to awe-inspiring acrobatics, every match guarantees heart-pounding action and intense rivalries. With Trinity as the backdrop, fans can anticipate an immersive experience filled with roaring crowds, dramatic showdowns, and unforgettable moments.

Schedule:
Doors - 5pm
First Bell - 6pm 
End Time - 10:30pm

- Matinee: Doors 2:30pm Show 3:00pm.

- Evening: Doors 7:30pm Show 8:00pm

Attention Humans! This is HENGE. They are not from this world. They bring you music from distant planets. They offer this gift for the edification of humankind… so that eventually our species may put an end to war and set up new homes in space.

Tirikilatops is a collaboration between UK and S. Korean artists and musicians located in the UK. A combination of kimchi beats, pop sensibilities, offbeat lyrics, dayglo colours, hacked keyboards, dada attitudes, forteana and super earworm melodies.

Children over 2 years old will need a ticket for the matinee show.

Evening show: 14+ under 16s to be accompanied by an adult.

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available.

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Venue levy: Trinity has introduced a £1 Restoration Levy on every event ticket sold. This income will be used to create a dedicated fund for critical building works that will protect and maintain the Trinity Centre building and grounds.

Old Market is set to undergo a vibrant take-over this Autumn as the city-centre location becomes host to, Destination Old Market, a programme of public events showcasing the area's cultural and creative scene.

Taking place throughout October to November 2024 we have created a programme that will feature pop-up gigs and performances in secret locations in the area - shining a spotlight on the many artisans, makers and independent businesses based in the area.

"Living in Old Market for nearly a decade has made it feel like a part of me. I love the blend of its buildings, the unique characters, and the deep historical significance it holds for Bristol. My goal is to share with audiences a side of the city that’s often overlooked or taken for granted." - Tom Marshman, Artist

Businesses and shops will transform into DIY venues and will host pop-up performances from some of Bristol's finest live music, experimental sonics sounds & DJs. Line up so far includes Bristol's t l k, Copper Sounds + Sarahsson, Josephine Gyasi and James Storm. Pop up venues so far include pubs, hairdressers and retail shops.

Audiences can delve deep into Old Market's rich contemporary history through a new theatrical promenade performance devised by writer and artist, Edson Burton, in collaboration with artist Tom Marshman. Taking place in locations throughout Old Market, the audiences will uncover the captivating lives and stories that have shaped Bristol's Old Market into one of the city’s most memorable streets.

People can book Destination Old Market events through our website. A £5 deposit is required when booking. This deposit can either be refunded or exchanged for a voucher that can be spent in Old Market business taking part in the Destination Old Market.

Destination Old Market will take place on the following dates:

A Sound Odyssey:

Saturday 12 Oct

Saturday 02 Nov

A Theatrical Promenade

Sunday 13 Oct

Sunday 20 Oct

Sunday 27 Oct

Sunday 03 Nov

About Destination Old Market

Destination Old Market is produced by Trinity Community Arts and is part of the City Centre and High Streets Culture and Events Programme, funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority. The initiative aims to attract more visitors to the City Centre, boosting local businesses and the economy.