Wild Card Award Open Call for Artist Commission

In Between Time in partnership with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), Fierce Festival, Trinity Centre supported by Arnolfini, seek to commission an artist to make new work to premiere at IBT17 and tour throughout 2017.

Wild Card Award is committed to supporting and developing artists who engage with live practice and employ an experimental approach to process, form and audience.

Wild Card Award is part of IBT’s wider commitment to supporting artist development and sits alongside the New Bloods platform – an open-call for six emerging UK artists, and The Student Awards, a new prize given to 3 promising UK art students from Leeds Beckett University, University of Chichester and the University of the West of England.

The Wild Card Award 2015 commissioned Peter McMaster to create 27, which was performed in Fyfe Hall here at the Trinity Centre and is currently on tour with IBT.

Deadline Sunday 17th April - more info here

The Aftermath Dislocation Principle (ADP); a stand-out exhibition in Banksy's apocalyptic theme park Dismaland, will be coming to the Trinity Centre, rehoused in a specially converted shipping container.

Far from inciting another riot the exhibition creator, Jimmy Cauty, hopes the experience will be peaceful and thought-provoking , with the only real disturbance being the constant chatter of miniature police radios, dotted all over the exhibit.

The exhibition runs from Friday 29 April - to Sunday 8 May.

We are looking for a great team of volunteers to act as stewards during the opening night, (6pm - 10pm, Friday 29th April) and between 10am - 7pm daily until Saturday 7th May.

Trinity's annual Garden Party; taking place on Sunday 8th May, this year celebrates 40 years of Music.

We are looking for volunteers to steward and help out on the day assisting with crowd management, sign-posting, set up and pack down as well as helping out with workshops and the final day of the ADP Exhibition.

Running between 12pm - 9pm, this year's Garden Party line up includes live music from RSD (Smith & Mighty), The Most Trio ft Lil Rhys & Eva Lazarus, Lionpulse, Rattle, The Evil Usses, Bodywork DJ's, Yama Warashi, Luui, Many Monika as well as theatre performances from Tessa Bide and Bianca  Bartalot and more.

All volunteers will be be given an induction to the site and the role before starting. They will also receive refreshments and a free Trinity T-Shirt! Those assisting at the Garden Party will be provided with lunch.

To sign up or find out more please fill in our online volunteer application form or contact Ripley@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200.

Trinity has joined forces with Lockjaws* to host a 5 day exhibition in Fyfe Hall and The Graffiti Room including exhibition and publication launch alongside a number of artist performances and artist collective interventions.

Curious about art? Want to be part of something big? Art Weekender are seeking inspired and enthusiastic people to become Ambassadors. Help celebrate the arts in Bristol and Bath, while learning professional skills and making new friends.

Art Weekender Ambassadors will be immersed in the festival, working directly with producers, artists and curators. You will be the public face, helping people to access exhibitions and events, and engage with new experiences and new ideas. Click here to find out more from the Art Weekender website.

In addition to Art Weekender Ambassadors Trinity is looking for 2 x volunteers to assist with the exhibition here on Sunday 1st November. Get in touch to find out more: info@3ca.org.uk

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.

This summer we have a range of activities, workshops and events especially programmed for young people, children and families.

Start the summer off with Bath Literature favourite Polarbear as he brings his spoken word show for young audiences - Mouth Open, Story Jump Out to The Trinity Centre  29 July. Be ready for a tale of assassins, boa constrictors and spies in this interactive show for 8 + (and their grown ups), tickets start at £6 and regular community group users get a discount.

Back again we have our very popular summer club, Children's Adventure in Nature in the garden, for 6 - 12 year olds (if you have a child under 6 they will need to have a grown up with them). Starting on 27 July and running every Monday & Thursday (expect bank holidays) until the end of August. Children will explore nature in our urban garden, learn bushcraft and play. It is free, but we ask those who can afford to, to donate £5 per session. To find out more and to book a place email: lisat@3ca.org.uk or call 0119 935 1200.

For those with younger children the garden team are also hosting weekly Stay and Play drop-in sessions on Thursdays,  9.30am-11.30am for the under 5's, their parents and carers all summer long. No need to book, just turn up!

Our IGNiTE Theatre and Dance resident, dance artist Latisha Cesar is bringing a series of Haitian Dance and Drumming workshops to Trinity. Delivered by dancer and drummer Peniel Guerrier these classes are high energy, and big and expressive moves. Prices start at £8, booking is essential - find out more here.

23 & 24 August we are opening up our music studio for Free Summer Music Sessions for young people to create and produce music, including percussion, grime and hip-hop. We even have some very special guest speakers. Age guide 13+, places are limited and booking is essential.

Huge thanks to Jessica Bartolini for the pics :)

Due to successfully being awarded Arts Council support through the Grants for the Arts funding we are now recruiting for two great Freelance Posts to join our Trinity Team.

We are seeking a freelance Marketing Officer who can work with us to implement our Marketing Strategy, to help raise the profile of the Ignite project, encourage participation and engage audiences in our developing in-house programme.

We are also seeking a freelance Producer who can work with us to implement our Programme Strategy, to help programme and deliver a diverse range of activities and events that reflect our values and respond to our communities and centre users.

We are looking to engage with consultants who are confident, resourceful and creative, who can operate in a busy, changing environment.

Ignite is a year-long project 2016/2017 during which we will implement our Programme Strategy through a series of residencies, workshops and live-performance, featuring up-and-coming artists reflective of Bristol’s diverse communities.

Through an enhanced in-house programme, targeted residencies, commissioning opportunities and bridging activities that foster connectivity between resident creatives and centre users, we will help affect real change in the diversification of arts in Bristol.

Click here to visit the Job Vacancies section of our website for more info.

Trinity is proud to announce that we have achieved Bronze status in line with Attitude is Everything's Venue and Festival Charter of Best Practice.

Attitude is Everything improves Deaf and disabled people’s access to live music by working in partnership with audiences, artists and the music industry. The ethos of the Charter is that Deaf and disabled people should be as independent as they want to be at live music events.

Attitude is Everything provided a toolkit detailing criteria for changes to the built environment, organisational policies and processes to help Trinity become more accessible. A specially designed action plan will allow us to progress through the stages, starting with Bronze and making our way to our goal of achieving Silver Award by the end of 2018. Reaching Bronze is recognition of our current offer:

- personal assistant ticket for gigs at no additional cost

- accessible parking spaces and box office

- viewing platform with good sightlines to the stage

As part of our commitment to access Trinity recently secured £5,000 funding from the Hedley Foundation and Bruce Wake Charitable Trust to pay for a mobile accessible lift to enable wheelchair users to access our Main Stage. The new lift can be available for any event. Please get in touch if you would like more information.

For more information about accessibility at Trinity click here or give our staff a call on 0117 935 1200.

Joy Crookes. Credit: Khali Ackford

Kokoroko. Credit: Luke Macpherson

Ezra Collective. Credit: Ash Harnett

With Self Esteem’s recent sold-out gig and Wet Leg coming up (21 Apr), we thought we'd take a moment to reflect on some of the best acts who've played at Trinity on their breakthrough tours in the last few years.

Alt J (2012)

Indie pop makers Alt-J came to perform live to a sell-out crowd the day after they won the Mercury Prize for what was to be one of their last intimate gigs.

Ezra Collective (2019)

London jazz collective Ezra Collective fuse Afrobeat, Hip-Hop and Soul to create a distinct sound. Known for “pioneering the new-wave of UK jazz music” (Boilerroom) their sell-out gig was yet another sell-out in 2019.

Freddie Gibbs (2019)

American rapper Freddie Gibbs is known for his technical proficiency and provocative lyrics as well has two collaborations with critically acclaimed Madlib.

Loyle Carner (2019)

One of the most popular rappers to come out of the UK in recent years, Loyle Carner played here following the release of his second album ‘Not Waving, But Drowning’.

Mick Jenkins (2019)

American rapper Mick Jenkins had released two far reaching albums, The Healing Component (2016) and Pieces of a Man (2018) prior to playing to a very ecstatic hip-hop loving audience.

Kokoroko (2020)

London-based eight-piece musical group Kokoroko play a fusion of Jazz and Afrobeat and came to us just before Lockdown restrictions in Mar 2020. Despite this, they are making waves in the UK Nu-Jazz scene.

Joy Crookes (2021)

An essential new voice in the burgeoning UK Neo-Soul scene, Joy Crookes played an incredible sold-out show in November last year.

Self-Esteem (2022)

Hot off the press, we knew Self Esteem was going to be popular by early requests for press passes and how quickly it sold out. The crowd jumped to the performance of I Do This All The Time and we think this will be a gig that forges itself in many memories. We are sure this will be one of her last gigs playing to smaller crowds.

Not-to-miss breakthrough gigs coming up:

Bakar (03 Apr)

A melting pot of indie, rap, rock, and punk, Bakar's music bridges the gap between genres, drawing influence from a wide range of artists such as Madlib and Foals.

Wet Leg (21 Apr)

The Isle Of White two-piece drew international acclaim with their breakout single Chaise Lounge, which went viral last year.

Yard Act (11 May)

Spearheaded by James Smith (vocals) and Ryan Needham (bass), the four-piece have built a sound that explores observations from all walks of modern British life.

Yemz - Sophia Stefelle

The Den - Khali Ackford

Big Tent - Rahil Ahmad

Bristol Harbour Festival - Jade Ayino

While we're all sad that summer is winding down, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take a minute to reflect on some of the amazing arts and music events that’ve happened at Trinity over the last few months. Read on to learn more about our highlights from an amazing summer of activities.

Garden Party

Trinity's annual Garden Party returned this summer for the first time since 2019 and it was such a pleasure to welcome you all back to one of our flagship events for the season.

This year, we were able to bring a great programme of artists from Bristol and beyond to perform in The Den, including LCY, Yemz, tlk and more. Alongside our music offering, we also hosted a range of workshops including drumming and circus skills, Young Musicians takeover of the main stage, poetry and heritage activities in the Graffiti Room, as well as a whole load of food and craft stalls from local businesses.

We had a great time at May's Garden Party and it seemed like you all did too - over 4000 people attended on the day and we managed to raise £4500 in donations so that we can continue to offer events like Garden Party to our amazing local community.

The Den

We launched The Den, our new outdoor space for platforming emerging talent. Joining forces with some of the best promoters and talent developments agencies in the South West we welcomed Bristol poetry collective Raise The Bar, family friendly day raves from female led DJ collective Peachin' and Club Djembe.

Bristol Harbour Festival

Trinity took to the stage at Bristol Harbour Fest 2022, hosting Bristol Dances in Millennium Square. Over the weekend we showcased the breadth of dance in the city from Irish Dancing to Bharathnatyam Dance to Voguing alongside performances from award-winning dance troupes, HYPE and Miss Daisy Dance Class.

Big Tent

As part of Radix Big Tent Ideas Festival, Trinity joined forces with Bristol DIY Arts Network to shine a light on Bristol’s diverse and rich cultural offering by inviting cultural leaders in the city to take part in keynotes and panel discussions exploring the role of culture in driving change in the city and what ‘City of Culture’ means for an independently creative city like Bristol.

Bristol Ball

We were honoured to host Bristol’s first official Vouge Ball at Trinity this summer with The Bristol Ball. Originating in Harlem in the 1920s, Ballroom culture provides a safe space for LGBTQIA+ people to express themselves through dance, music and fashion. It was great to be able to host a sold-out Vogue Ball at Trinity and be a part of this ongoing Ballroom culture.

We'll be celebrating the end of summer this Sunday (18 Sep) at Garden Party: Revolution Sounds, our second Garden Party of 2022, a free, community party that will bring together some of the best arts activists, covering music, sound, poetry, art and performance.

As an iconic Arts Centre with forty years of music programming experience under their belt it should come as no surprise to you that the Trinity team are continuing to push boundaries with their IGNiTE programme of performance in 2017.

Ranging from the playful to the sometimes hard-to-swallow realities of life, the newly announced spring selection of programming is destine to challenge and excite audiences. Fergus Evans, Trinity’s theatre and dance producer says that all the shows presented are ‘a celebration of the spaces we make for ourselves when none of the boxes fit quite right.’

Mixing the exciting with the unexpected, the season’s five shows set out to provoke conversations. In I-Dentity Rider Shafique explores being mixed race and what it is like when you are neither but also both. Liz Aggiss’ giddy and sometimes sinister Slap and Tickle cheekily explores female sexuality and growing older. What you see is not always what you get in Alesandra Seutin's  C'eci n'est past Noire (This is not Black) - a journey through identity politics, Beyonce and, a few parlour games. Putting the Band Back Together is a playful story about why we give up on our dreams and how we find them again. Gather the round dinner table in Daughters of the Curry Revolution and find out what it means to be the daughter of a migrant.

At Trinity you're never just a member of the audience, and this carefully selected programming certainly reflects this. From picking up an instrument and joining Unfolding Theatre’s house band to learning new ways to move with Alesandra Seutin (Vocab Dance Company). You can sign up to be a member of one of our test audiences and see work in development from our resident artists. Let us know what you think of the show you’ve seen or volunteer as a steward. The message is clear: Don't just come see a show. Take part. Speak up. Start something.

Alongside our regular programme of live music and community events, we present world-class, innovative artists whose work is about issues that matter to people now, starting conversations and sparking debate. IGNiTE is supported by funding from Arts Council England.

Further Info:

Tickets go on Sale 10am Friday 3rd Feb http://www.3ca.org.uk/ignite ​ ​

Slap and Tickle, Liz Aggis 18th March 7.30pm £10 / £8

Ceci n'est pas Noire (This is not Black), Alesandra Seutin I Vocab Dance Company 25th March, 7.30pm £10 / £8

Putting The Band Back Together, Unfolding Theatre 21st April, 7.30pm £10 / £8

I-Dentity, Rider Shafique 28th April, 7.30pm £10 / £8

Daughters of the Curry Revolution, Afreena Islam 5th/6th/7th May : 3pm / 5pm / 7pm £12 / £10

Peachin' Day Festival. Photo credit Khali Ackford

In our commitment to platform emerging talent and provide access to quality facilities for the community, we’re excited to announce a summer season of live music and spoken word events in our outdoor space, ‘The Den’.

Between July-September 2022, we will be showcasing some of the best breakthrough artist from Bristol and the South West alongside a wider programme of family friendly arts activities and events.

“Trinity have always been there providing a space for us and many other artists to do what we do best and always put creativity and community first” Ishmael Ensemble

We’ve joined forces with collectives who are making waves in the region including Bristol poetry collective Raise The Bar, who are bringing Youtuber Leena Norms to perform, 31 July and multi-disciplinary Arts organisation Beyond Face, who will take over The Den to showcase spoken word artists from the global majority.

Head over to our What's On section to find out more about events and activities at The Den.

About The Den

Our vision for The Den is to increase our presentation of creative and performing arts, and alongside this provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure for community groups and local residents.

Funded by Power to Change, Bristol City Council, Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund and match funders, our revamped outdoor space feels like a secret, magical corner of a festival. The space - including bar, kitchen, outdoor seating and stretch-tent – is set within our beautiful garden and heritage grounds.

The works form part of Trinity’s phased capital works programme, that paused in 2020 when the impacts of COVID19 and Brexit caused delays to planned construction of a larger scheme of work, including a two-story kitchen/bar with offices and outdoor area.

Venue Director, Jamell Ackford said; “Like many music venues, we began to get creative with our outdoor space in response to pandemic restrictions, launching the ‘Garden Sessions’ in 2020.

Following support in 2021 from the Architectural Heritage Fund to to revisit and revise our Feasibility Study, a detailed community consultation helped us to find out what the community wanted from us in a post-pandemic environment. From this, we updated our original plans and the idea for ‘The Den’ was born.

With this new bespoke setup, The Den will provide wider opportunities including supporting local food and community activities, as well as giving audiences a unique experience.”

As part of Trinity’s post-pandemic responses, a Community Activities Coordinator has been appointed to support ‘Community Kickstart’ activity – working with local residents, grassroots groups and charities to establish new activities from the space.

If you are a local resident or group and would like to run an activity for the local community, get in touch with stefan@trinitybristol.org.uk to find out more.

First up tonight we have a brand new project kicking off for budding young drummers, BrisArts introduce their new group, Bristol Youth Samba who are working up to a performance at this year's St Pauls Carnival. For young people looking for a career in dance check out the Youth Dance Road Show this Saturday, find out more about work and education in the industry and check out five awesome performances.

Thursday and Friday we welcome SOLO showcase presenting 4 premieres of new contemporary performance from Bristol-based artists: Summon the ancestors with Alice Human; spot a rabbit in the headlights with Ale Marzotto; challenge your audience etiquette with Bella Fortune and relish in an angry outburst as Hannah Sullivan explodes. Jo Hellier completes the bill with her flood inspired sound installation.

Dunkelbunt ; said to merge the diverse sounds of Europes “Wild East” with Bluegrass and Hillbilly from the American pioneers of the old “Wild West”. Sounds of the world mixed with electronic, modern club music and bass heavy beats - playing alongside Manushka, Mr Tea and the Minions this Sunday.

Also just announced Earl Sweatshirt will be gracing the Trinity stage this coming June, "with impeccable wordplay, dense rhythms and effortless melodies layered in humbling texture, it's crazy to think Earl Sweatshirt has just turned 21". Described as showing "grade-A lyricism in brilliantly dark fashion that you'd only associate with hip-hop's elite", this gig is not to be missed.

Dot to Dot 2015 have also announced further headline bands including Swim Deep, Best Coast and Fat White Family for their 10th anniversary festival - we're looking forward to finding out who will be performing here at Trinity.

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Grove - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Kahn ft. Rider Shafique - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

After The Fire - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Rita Lynch - Image Credit: Marley Small

Hip Hop Garden - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Solomon O.B - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Irish Mellow + Cxption - Image Credit: Marley Small

Garden Party: Revolution Sounds was our second free-community event of the year where we said goodbye to the summer with a mix of live music, workshops, performances and an immersive exhibition: After The Fire.

As always we welcomed some of the best artists in Bristol and the South West all playing on The Den stage. From punk to experimental we had the likes of Rita Lynch, Talisman and Kahn. Kept a secret until they came on, headliner Grove closed out proceedings with an epic mosh pit.

"Inspirational people and artwork" Feedback, Garden Party: Revolution Sounds

In the Fyfe Hall, we hosted an immersive exhibition 'After the Fire', a thought-provoking odyssey through the sounds and sights of Bristol’s protest history in recent years. This exhibition allowed us to present a culmination of artwork made as part of the last two years of Art of Resistance - pieces created by participants including pottery and murals, alongside placards made as part of our Visions of Resistance including a mural made by Tanith Gould which was displayed outside People's Republic of Stokes Croft on Jamaica Street.

We also had a number of workshops running throughout the day, including Movema Dance Workshops and Button-Up Badge Making Workshop in the Main Hall, plus Hip-Hop Workshops in the Trinity Garden.

Big thanks once again to everyone that made this event possible - from the artists that performed, the exhibition curators, the workshop facilitators, the lighting and sound team working behind the scenes, the bar staff and Trinity Team, and of course all of you that came down on the day - over 1,200 of you came along, and we raised over £1,000 in donations so that we can put on more events like Garden Party for the local community.

If you'd like to stay in the loop with everything on at Trinity, head to our What's On page for all our upcoming events, or follow our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and sign up to our mailing list to stay updated.

Art of Resistance is a two-year, National Heritage Lottery Funded project charting 100 years of protest in Bristol.

Peaches, however, took that crown. She blew my socks off. And her own.

The costumes (Dancing vaginas - every show needs them. Who knew?) - or, at times, lack of them! - were eye popping.

The crowd were a sea of ecstatic faces, wowed by Peaches’ utter lack of inhibition which was, of course, infectious.

Strangers became dancing partners as we funked the night away; her growling, encompassing, electro punk sound and attitude forcing us all to let it all go. So we did.

This was a night to remember: one for the grand-kids; one for sweet dreams; a unifying spectacle of a night.

Thank you, Peaches, please keep f**king that pain away.

Would you like to write a review of a Trinity gig? Get in touch to find out more!