Movema's Easter Dance Club. Photo credit Alastair Brooks

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

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

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

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

About the Winter Crisis Fund:

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

Thanks to the flexibility of funders we have been able to deliver planned works in spite of the challenges of COVID19.

As part of Trinity's Phased Capital Works programme to improve Trinity's spaces, grounds and enable us to increase our cultural offer, we undertook a series of renovation works between 2019-22, supported with funds from Power to Change, Nisbet Trust, Tarmac Landfill Trust, Bristol City Council, private donors and other match funders. ​

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with new people within the art world where I would never before.” Member, Programming Forum

Work included much needed accessibility adaptations to our Community Garden, improvements to Trinity's Graffiti Room and the design and build of a new outdoor event space -  The Den - set in our historic grounds.  ​

As well as carrying out significant capital works, with increased capacity and resources thanks to Power to Change, we were able to strengthen our live events team through a new internship that has enabled us to grow our in-house Trinity Presents Programme - a platform for promoting underrepresented and emerging talent. Through this support we were able to develop a new Community Activities Coordinator role to help rebuild our community activities offer post-pandemic, building meaningful connections with local groups in response to need. ​

We have continued to put people and communities at the heart of decision making, reviewing and updating our democratic tools to ensure our communities influence what we do. Work included a targeted Board recruitment campaign in 2021 and further development of of participatory decision making forums.

Click here to read our Capital Works 2019-22 report.