Artwork credit ASLS

Trinity CEO Emma Harvey reflects on the importance of community buildings following the news that Jacob Wells Baths is now at risk of being taken out of public ownership.

Jacobs Wells Baths is an asset owned by us. Built in 1889 to serve the working poor, the Grade II Listed building holds within its walls a wealth of of architectural and social heritage - from its time as a public swimming baths to its 30 year history as a dance hub.

This all risks being lost as, in December 2022, leisure company Fusion Lifestyle announced they were pulling out of restoring and managing the space meaning our cash-strapped local authority may now table it for disposal.

The story of this asset is sadly not unusual. A 2019 report by Bristol Cable revealed how Bristol City Council has sold off millions of pounds’ worth of public property as part of their ongoing response to austerity. This local saga is set against a national backdrop dubbed as ‘The Great British Sell-Off’, with local authorities across the UK attempting to combat funding crises through sale of our shared civic and heritage spaces.

"One thing you can say about Bristol is we’re a city that has demonstrated we can take complex heritage assets and transform them into viable community and cultural hubs."

It’s a pattern that shows no sign of stopping in 2023. Bristol faces yet another round of cuts and the pressure’s on to plug a £32m funding gap in whatever way possible. 134 years on from the Baths’ construction, it feels as though Bristol folk are still working hard though still very much the poorer for it.

It’s really easy to reduce these buildings to numbers on a spreadsheet. If we sell Jacobs Wells then the headache as to what to do with it next is finally over. Plus, we get some cash to plug a gap so we can all breathe a temporary sigh of relief until the next cycle of cuts. If you grew up poor it’s actually understandable. I’m sure many of us have memories of our parents pawning what few possessions they’d acquired just to make ends meet. It’s just what you do when you’re broke.

The problem though is that, when our Councils take this same attitude to balancing the books, this robs current and future generations of the assets we own and makes us all collectively poorer. In a city like Bristol, growing in density and diversity, it deprives us of places to come together, connect and share experiences. To learn and grow, to grieve or to celebrate. To keep fit, dance and be merry. To avoid loneliness or just to get out of the cold. Even to problem solve, mobilise and take collective action about the things that matter to us.

What is unusual about Bristol though is that for every Jacobs Wells Baths there are other success stories that run counter to this ‘sold from under you’ narrative. From Spike Island, to Watershed, to the Tobacco Factory, one thing you can say about Bristol is we’re a city that has demonstrated we can take complex heritage assets and transform them into viable community and cultural hubs.

The Trinity Centre is one such building as over the last 15 years we have demonstrated that we can take a big old dilapidated liability and transform it into a celebrated, multi-use arts and community asset.

So what’s stopping us from doing the same with JWB? Even with our track record, groups like Trinity just aren’t treated as serious contenders when the future of assets like Jacobs Wells Baths comes up for discussion. Maybe that’s because we don’t have millions of pounds at our disposal, or maybe its because I look like a Fraggle and talk like the love-child of Russell Brand and Janet Street-Porter. Decision makers just aren’t that great at trusting anyone to solve complex problems if the solution isn’t packaged in received pronunciation and a smart suit.

We don’t do it because we’re told we can’t, are scared to try or don’t believe we can. If we want to change this narrative this doesn’t start with the Council. It starts here and now with us. If we want to save our spaces and protect Jacobs Wells Baths and other shared civic spaces for this and future generations, as citizens we need to come together and say we want one last shot at reimagining a different future.

The Council may be the landlord but these buildings are ours. Once they’re gone they’re gone and there is no going back. We just need to believe for a moment that we can do this Bristol. Let’s put our heads and voices together and make it happen.

Take action today:

• Contact your Councillor and MP – write to them about why JWB is important
• Prepare a statement for local Cabinet
• Check out past feasibility study and plans for viable asset management
• Send your support to ensure it is registered as an Asset of Community Value
• Share on social media using the tags #SaveOurSpaces #SoldFromUnderYou #SaveJWB
• Read our 100 Beacons Report and find out more about Power to Changes We're Right Here Campaign

Booty Bass - Credit: Khali Ackford

Ahead of their collaboration as Obsidian this New Year's Eve at Trinity, we spoke to Ngaio of Booty Bass, and Betty from Shade Cartel about inclusivity, creating safe spaces for everyone on the dancefloor, and what makes Bristol audiences the best. Booty Bass are a collective of female/nb DJs formed in 2018, while Shade Cartel are an inclusive dance and performance collective of colour, consisting of drag artists, aerial/pole artists and professional dancers.

How did Booty Bass come about, and what was the idea behind it?

Ngaio: When I first began DJing I was shocked by how few women, women of colour or queer people were on the line ups I was being booked on and how intimidating the spaces were when they were filled with predominantly white, cis, men. Even if a lot of them were my friends and they were good people, I felt an overwhelming sense of having to prove myself because I was the only one who looked like me behind the decks. When I was given a residency at the Plough in Easton every other Thursday, I was able to see the type of crowd and sense of community that could be cultivated when they saw a woman behind the decks having a great time, dancing for myself and no-one else. As that gained popularity, I was given a weekend slot once a month and opened up the warm up to other women; queer women, women of colour and non-binary people. At the end of 2018 I was given New Year's Eve where some of the warm up DJs from the year joined me and from then on, that was the beginnings of Booty Bass. That was also the last time we threw our own New Year's Eve party!

How did Booty Bass come into collaboration with Shade Cartel?

N: Funnily enough me and Betty grew up a town away from each other in rural Wales but never properly spoke until 2021 when Booty Bass and Shade Cartel were booked at an event at Lakota Gardens. We knew of each other but hadn't had space to properly chat until then I think and then it all came out! That we grew up in a similar way, had worked in the festival and events industry for years, and were trying to diversify the landscape with our crews - me with Booty Bass on the music side and Betty with Shade Cartel on the dancer's side. Every time our crews got booked to play the same stages, we would have the best time, so when 2022 came about we thought let's not wait for others to put us together, let's take control as we have already and carve out space for ourselves.

Betty: Booty Bass does in the music scene what Shade does in the dance scene; so it made sense to bring them together. Both collectives are run by two creative black women (myself and Ngaio) committed to inclusion, self-empowerment and creating safe spaces. Bringing our babies together has been pure vibes and it feels great to perform onstage with DJs where you feel completely comfortable and free; it’s a beautiful queer family affair.

2022 has clearly been a big year for you both, what have been some stand out moments from this year?

N: Launching Obsidian has got to be the stand-out for me, I think. It was hard work for sure and took a lot of planning and grafting but being able to do it as 2 crews pulling together being led by 2 women of colour was seriously special. The last day our venue was open at Boomtown, me and Betty watching Grove perform Black in our venue for our community that we put together was amazing. We stood in the crowd hugging; it gives me goosebumps thinking about it now!

B: Shade have performed on lots of great sets and festivals this year but the highlight has got to be creating and growing obsidian; bringing our collectives together. We’ve had so much fun with it.

Creating a safe space on the dancefloor is clearly important to Booty Bass, do you think venues are doing enough to make people safe, and if not what more could they be doing?

N: It's very important to us, because namely on that New Year's Eve night 4 years ago, one of our friends was sexually assaulted by a man who lied to get himself on stage and even now refuses to acknowledge that what he did was wrong despite being banned from our events. It wasn't someone who came regularly and clearly thought he could get away with it. After that I began a series of Halt Harassment dinners where venues, promoters, security teams and audience members for together to talk about how to tackle this as a unit. Through that project I created a policy that we in Booty Bass adhere to and talk through with each venue we work with but these conversations need to continue. I think there is a responsibility that artists, venues and promoters have to try their best to police the spaces they invite people into and take action if they see something wrong. Booty Bass rarely runs events in venues where the dancefloor can't be seen by the DJs because I think we all have to work together to push the message that harassment is not something we will sit back and let happen.

There’s been a focus over the last couple of years about the importance of promoting diverse line-ups – have you seen this change happen or is there still work to be done?

B: I think there was a drive for diversity a couple of years ago but it feels like the movement's since fallen flat. I can’t say I've seen a massive change. Most lineups are still predominantly male. I feel like promoters and platforms still have lots of work to do here.

N: I think there's still a lot of work to be done. A lot of the music and entertainment industries made a big show and dance of putting up black squares and bringing in a tokenistic artist here and there during 2021 but since then the push for a lasting change I think has diminished. Since 2020 the number of BAME people in the music industry has actually dropped despite the claim that this was one of its focal points post-BLM. For me the question isn't just 'who's on your line up' but also, who is running the space? Who is backstage? Who's on the door? Yes, representation is key but alongside that needs to be industry-wide training around how to be actively anti-racist and uncover your unconscious biases to understand what the experiences are for those people that you put on the line ups. There should be a push in representation across the board - not just for the performers on the stage. Which is why Booty Bass and Shade Cartel make such a great match, because we understand what those experiences are - of being marginalised on the stage, in the offices, behind the scenes, and recognising all the things we would do differently to make that space once that in inclusive and diverse. It's also why I work as a trainer and consultant in this field, because I feel passionately that if everyone participated in learning and growing, the scene would be much stronger for it.

What do you think makes the club scene in Bristol unique?

B: People within the Bristol music scene are super creative and vibrant and there's always loads of cool collaborations going on. The close proximity of the music venues means there’s a concentrated party feel which is fun.

N: The fact that people ultimately want to go and dance the night away! Bristol audiences are the best - there's no pretence. No trying to look sexy the whole time or standing at the side of the dancefloor not getting involved - we go in! We dance hard, we sweat, we laugh, we meet new people, we smile at strangers, we love polyrhythms and big Bassy bangers. We are a fusion of cultures, music styles, Soundsystem children. We like to hear things we haven't heard before - we thrive on the unknown. And we're also political, we want to be part of the change and hold each other and ourselves accountable. It's a very special scene to be a part of.

And finally, any big plans for 2023?

N: SO MANY!!!! Can't talk about them yet but keep an eye on the socials! I myself am working on some new music that I'll be releasing in the new year and we've been hatching plans to build on some of the incredible work we've done this year. 2023, we ready!

B: Other than world domination we’ve got some very exciting festivals and events planned for 2023. We can’t spill quite yet, but keep your eyes on those line ups; we there!

Booty Bass and Shade Cartel will be joining forces for Obsidian this New Year's Eve at Trinity - tickets are now on final release, click here to get yours while you still can. Find out more about Ngaio's work, or check out Obsidian, Booty Bass and Shade Cartel on Instagram to stay up to date with what's next for the collective.

About Trinity Presents:

This show is part of Trinity Presents - our in-house programme of music, bringing world-class artists and emerging talent to inner-city audiences

Thanks to your support this year we continued to respond, amplify and empower communities through the arts.

We launched our new-seasonal outdoor venue, The Den, creating a space to platform up-and-coming artists. We hosted family-friendly day raves, summer parties and two-free community Garden Parties that welcomed over 4000 people.

"Garden parties were fantastic, and summer family Peachin' event. Love the diversity and support from Friday stay-and-play"​ Audience feedback

We created pathways for some of the youngest members of the community to take part in creative provision. Creative Play sessions, delivered in collaboration with East Bristol Children’s Centre, offered a free-to-access provision for families with young children who were disproportionately affected by Lockdown.

We uncovered, celebrated and preserved Bristol’s rich history of activism through murals, podcasts, conferences, performances and immersive exhibitions as part of Art of Resistance.

We have collaborated with over 90 partner organisations to empower residents through the arts offering outdoor cooking projects in our community garden, discos for the over 50s and bespoke support to help people develop ideas and secure funding for community arts projects.

Thank you so much for your support – we could not do this without you.

We are looking forward to 2023 where we will continue to use the arts as a vehicle to celebrate with and connect to communities and hope you can join us too.

From riots in 1831 to the Colston statue and Kill the Bill protests, Bristol has long been a city renowned for radical action. Now, as then, radicalism has been accompanied by an outpouring of creative responses - from poetry to illustration to performance.

Now, Stories of Resistance, a new nine-part podcast series has been launched, uncovering some of Bristol’s lesser-known stories of contemporary activism. From the story of how one moment changed the direction of a grassroots boxing club, to a mother’s journey into disability activism, to changing the face of environmentalism and pushing for better gender representation in the music industry, these podcasts explore the stories of ordinary people fighting for change.

"What I noticed was by taking part in this project people discovered that there are so many people battling injustices and fighting against social injustices and yet so often don’t see themselves as an activist." Miranda Rae, Community Journalist

The series was created by Bristol residents during workshops with award winning journalist and broadcaster Miranda Rae (Sound Women SW and Ujima Radio). Over four months Miranda hosted group and 1-2-1 training sessions where participants learned how to produce, research, record and present a podcast.

The podcasts were commissioned as part of Art of Resistance, our two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project that has been exploring, documenting and celebrating the human stories behind activist movements in Bristol.

The podcasts will be distributed on Ujima Radio on Sundays  throughout January at 11am starting on 08 Jan throughout January 2023 and will include interviews with the creators as well as Dr Edson Burton, who is the driving force behind the project. Please note that the episodes may include language and topics that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listen now on Spotify

St Pauls Carnival

In partnership with St Paul’s Carnival and David Jubb of Citizens In Power, Trinity are exploring how Bristol can co-create a cultural strategy for the city and surrounding region.

During this research phase, funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch), we invited a range of collaborators from the sector who place participation at the heart of their practice to hear from some of the best speakers working in democratic decision making right now.

These focus groups have been a chance to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and expertise on co-creation, participatory democracy and how we can do things differently in the culture sector.

In a series of blogs we are documenting and sharing what we are uncovering this journey. For our first focus groups we welcomed Brett Henning, co-founder of the Sortition Foundation and Janet Vaughan, designer and co-artistic director of Talking Birds to share their experiences of creating Citizens' Assemblies.

Part 2: Art, for, with, by the people

Janet Vaughan is the co-artistic director of Talking Birds Theatre Company who hosted the UK’s first Citizens’ Assembly on Arts, Culture & Creativity as part of the 2021 Coventry City of Culture. The Assembly took place over six weeks and produced recommendations that were incorporated in the city's Cultural Strategy. We invited Janet to share their experience of using this model and what they learned during the process.

Joining us on Zoom, Janet first shared how their interest in participatory democracy came from the early day of the pandemic where a large proportion of people in the UK suddenly had time 'to do things'. During this time, Janet shared that they took part in online conferences and events by organisations including Civic Square and that this initial engagement was the spark that led to their hosting of a Citizens' Assembly.

The initial barrier to programming the Citizens' Assembly in Coventry was engaging with stakeholders to invest in the process - as Citizens' Assemblies are very expensive. However, Talking Birds, in collaboration with stakeholders, felt it was important for people, outside the cultural sector, to have a voice in creating a cultural offer.

Through David Jubb, Janet connected with the Sortition Foundation and they acted as the independent organisation who would administer, engage and select participants for the Assembly. The Sortition Foundation worked to ‘crunch’ the numbers to ensure participants reflected the demographic data that has been specified.

As with other UK Assemblies, Talking Birds paid for participants to take part and supplied people with the tech they may have needed for engaging in the process during a pandemic. They also offered 1-2-1 tech support to ensure engagement was equitable.

The group were interested in whether the Citizens' Assembly ‘made a difference’ and if the process enabled learnings that were 'surprising or unexpected'. Janet shared that, yes, firstly because conversations were had that otherwise would not have been able to happen and, secondly, because the people who took part would not normally have been able to engage with each other. Then finally, that because the Citizens' Assembly approach is tried and tested, it created real spaces for conversation, questions and ideas.

The group were then interested in how to go about choosing the provocation for discussion during the Assemblies'. Janet shared that Talking Birds set up an oversight committee to explore what their provocation would be. At the time there was a drive to ‘build back better’ and the committee, through discussions, came to an agreement that they wanted to explore the role of art and artists in this.

The final part of Janet’s talk looked at data and numbers. The Coventry project ran over six weeks, 50 people took part in the Assembly itself across six learning sessions with evidence from around 12 expert witnesses. The cost to run and engage participants was around £120k.

Janet reflected that it was brilliant to watch the participants build confidence over the project and felt the approach enabled people to feel autonomy, listened to and that their questions were valid. From these, recommendations were drafted and put to vote at the Assembly and then went through a process of refining the recommendations which where eventually submitted to the Council for consideration.

We will continue to share our findings from the research stage of our project alongside programming further focus groups and action-learning sessions.

Interested in finding out more?

• Read part 1: What is a Citizen's Assembly?
• Keep up-to-date about the project by joining our mailing list
• Read Freddie Wulf's article: Identity Capital
• Watch Trinity's take over of the Radix Big Tent
• Join in the conversation using #67MillionVoices

Trinity is excited to announce that one of The World Reimagined globes has found a new home on our site. The globe, created by Easton-born artist Michele Curtis, is titled 'Ascension', focused on "healing from the past, on unity, and on pride in ourselves and our community". Michele Curtis is known for her project 'The Seven Saints of Saint Pauls', a four-year series of murals around St Pauls, Bristol, commemorating the achievements of Black Bristolians and their contributions to racial and social justice.

"My practice has always focused on the positive aspects of Black history. My design focuses on our healing from the past, on unity, and on pride in ourselves and our community. My intention is to convey hope and encourage a sense of self-actualisation, while still honouring our cultural heritage and history" - Michele Curtis, Artist

The World Reimagined was a ground-breaking, national education project transforming how we understand the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans. The project was one of the largest art education projects for racial justice the UK has ever seen, comprising of education offerings in schools relating to the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans, alongside 103 unique globes placed across the UK, forming an education trail to allow the public to learn more. Trinity hosted a globe created by local artist Alex Grose, entitled 'Legacy', representing passage of time and the way history affects memory and knowledge in contemporary society, in our Community Garden.

Michele's Globe will be permanently on display at the front of the Trinity site, just right of the side entrance on Trinity Rd. Click here to find out more about The World Reimagined, and click here to find out more about Michele Curtis' Seven Saints of Saint Pauls project.

Community Painting Day. Photo credit: Khali Ackford

In partnership with St Paul’s Carnival and David Jubb of Citizens In Power, Trinity are exploring how we can co-create a cultural strategy for the city and surrounding region.

During this research phase funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch), we invited a range of collaborators from the sector who place participation at the heart of their practice to hear from some of the best speakers working in democratic decision making right now.

These focus groups have been a chance to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and expertise on co-creation, participatory democracy and how we can do things differently in the culture sector.

In a series of blogs we are documenting and sharing what we are uncovering this journey.

Part 1: What is a Citizens' Assembly?

For the first focus group we welcomed Brett Hennig, co-founder of the Sortition Foundation. The Sortition Foundation is an organisation that believes in representative and participatory politics, with a particular focus on Citizens' Assemblies.

The purpose of these assemblies, Brett outlined, is that they bring people together from all walks of life and give the time and space for people to collectively tackle issues. It is a model, Brett shared, that Bristol itself has delivered as part of its plan for post-Covid recovery.

Citizens' Assemblies work by a three-part process of learning, discussion, and decision-making. In the learning stage, evidence is presented on the topic by ‘expert witnesses’, the group then discuss this evidence and work together to come to a consensus to create recommendations. These recommendations are then put to the vote. The recommendations that are most supported can become the official recommendations of the assembly.

Brett stressed the importance of having representation in a Citizens' Assembly, so the pool must be reflective of demographic data and, in the case of our project, cultural engagement. He shared that, unlike politics, Young People (30 and under) are represented in Citizens' Assemblies because of the nature of the selection process that reflects a city’s demographic data.

Participants of Citizens' Assemblies are selected via an independent third party - these organisations will initially contact citizens directly using a database, such as the Royal Mail’s database of every postal address in the UK. There is then a second selection of the people who respond to the invitation based on the demographic data they provide.

The group were interested in how the experts are selected - as this could be contentious. Using an example of congestion in a city, Brett explained that a Local Authority could commission an external third party to collect the evidence at hand, perhaps from an open call out. An Oversight Group for the assembly will be given the responsibility for ensuring the evidence that is presented to the assembly is balanced. Assembly members can also be part of the process of identifying contributors to the assembly. This would enable a wider pool of opinions, practically from those invested in the topic with expertise and/or lived experience.

The group wanted to understand how large a Citizens' Assembly should be. Brett shared that, in deliberative democracy, it is not a big numbers game. The key is representation. Brett shared that in Ireland, assemblies have seen numbers of up to 100 people, France had 150 in the Climate Assembly, but many local assemblies are around 40 people.

In summarising his talk, the discussion centred around how to ensure that voices are heard and amplified in Citizens' Assemblies, specifically those from Communities who may face barriers to participation. Brett shared that perhaps over-representation could be a consideration so that more communities are attending for specific areas whose voices are historically not amplified. Brett also explained that representation is not only about the citizens in the assembly but also about the voices of those who give evidence.

Interested in finding out more?

We will continue to share our findings from the research stage our project alongside programming further focus groups and action-learning sessions.

• Keep up-to-date about the project by joining our mailing list
• Read Freddie Wulf's article: Identity Capital
• Watch Trinity's take over of the Radix Big Tent
• Join in the conversation using #67MillionVoices

Forest School and nature play in Trinity Community Garden. Credit Madeline Penfold

The Arts Council have announced their latest National Portfolio Organisations, having unsuccessfully applied in this round, Trinity will not be among them.

The Let's Create agenda promised a revised approach and an opportunity to fund differently, embracing more diversity and community engagement in arts and culture than ever before. Those who know us well, know that we embody this approach and will continue to champion access and opportunity to the communities we serve.

We will continue to champion new artists, new and more diverse audiences, deliver ground breaking projects and forge closer ties to our locality as a hub of creative learning and activity for all.

Trinity grew from local grass-roots activism, essentially a building take over and a will to provide a cultural space for all.

We will be creative and resourceful in our approach to seeking alternative ways of sustaining our work going forward.

Mijanou Blech

Chair of Trustees, Trinity Community Arts

Over the summer we joined forces with Travelling Light to shine a light on how, with the support of the Coutts Foundation, we are both working to create opportunities for some of the youngest members of our communities to take part in creativity and begin their creative journey.

“Its good to have this so close. Have been walking past for ages and I didn’t know they could come in. Would really like to come again because we don’t have anywhere to play outside as we live in a flat” Feedback from the family garden sessions

Travelling Light Theatre Company are based in Barton Hill - just up the road from where Trinity is based. They create theatre for children and families, run a youth theatre and programme free events and activities.

Their work, like ours, is embedded in local communities and they, like us, are committed to creating opportunities for children and families/carers to take part in culture, to play and celebrate together.

At Trinity this includes weekly Forest School sessions for children aged 12 and under and Family Sessions throughout the school holidays. The sessions aim to support children to develop or build upon their skills. In 2021/22, out of the 357 children who took part in Forest School activity, 97% showed increased confidence.

We also work in partnership with organisations to co-create a programme that responds to need. For example, the Creative Play Sessions - delivered with East Bristol Children's Centres - supports families with young children to connect through art. Read more about this project here.

If you are a resident of Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, Newton or the Dings and would like to find out more about taking part in family arts activities you can sign up to Trinity's mailing list here and Travelling Light's mailing list here.

Freddie Wulf reflects on neoliberalism in the arts and the current pressure to capitalise on identity as an artist.

- - -

This article is based on a Facebook comment I made about neoliberalism in the arts and the current pressure to capitalise on identity as an artist:

My perspective here was based on the challenges of working as a performer, while navigating changes in the way I understood my own identity - and the experiences I've seen/heard from people around me.

In the last 10 years I've seen the trend for categorising art by identity grow, in a way which both creates opportunities, and applies unmanageable pressure to artists who hold marginalised identities. It feels important to create real space for this discussion, so I’ve spoken with four artists connected to Trinity whose practice is also affected by these issues.

- - -

I find 'neoliberalism' a sprawling, confusing word so I asked my friend Phoebe (an academic) to define it:

Neoliberalism is a form of capitalism which 'is about individualising and commodifying all aspects of human experience'* causing people to function as brands/consumers, in competition with each other - and breaking down community support structures.

- - -

Yewande Adeniran (aka Ifeoluwa) frames the context:

“Capitalism is all around us. Even in our so-called liberal arts spaces, we're always bound by the economic system that we live and die by. When you're a marginalised person always feeling the full weight of the oppressive system on top of you, there's an added pressure to sell parts of your identity.  

“When it concerns Blackness, we are [so] used to hearing about the trauma of Black people that when a Black artist tries to present something new - outside of this - it's often met with hesitation and, more often than not, will not be commissioned. Wider society's insistence on traumatic work serves the purpose to keep us within the space we occupy within the social hierarchy. If we're always making art about trauma, that trauma becomes our whole selves – we become it. Once we step outside of this, we become free."

- - -

Tom Marshman also highlights the expectation for traumatic narratives to be front and centre:

“I have observed audiences craving queer artists' trauma, and when the performance created is more joyous and celebratory, they're left wanting. But my experience isn't all about oppression and sometimes I just want to make work that is frothy and light.

I see artists around me be flippant with 'heavy life shit’, as a deliberate mechanism for dealing with the way queer people can often be wheeled out to tell our stories. My research into queer histories has seen queer people deal with this aspect of our lives with humour and wit, and that has been the case for a very long time.”

- - -

Katayoun Jalilipour is changing the way they work to navigate these structures:

“I made a decision to stop accepting opportunities that are identity-based – and that’s been an interesting challenge. It blurs your sense of self, so you don’t know what people are interested in.

I’ve become more interested in not having my face and my body in the work. There's this thing that happens with commodifying your identity - you become like the object, the desirable object or the interesting part - because you’re queer in the literal sense of the word. I don’t want to be the selling point of my work. 

You can feel a bit trapped, especially if you’re trans. It makes it more difficult to allow space for changes."

- - -

My experience was about coming out to myself as trans while working as a performer - and feeling unable to work, in a period where I couldn't define myself: 

"I felt a pressure to know who I was and write it down in words and commit to it, in order to continue working. 

I was having this magical experience in cabaret spaces, finally feeling a sense of belonging and opening up to who I was. But outside of those spaces the pressure to define myself, and the need to avoid speaking for a group I didn't know if I was part of, became too much.

I was often sidestepping and navigating what I could do to earn money without being disingenuous – while trying extremely hard to figure my identity out. Eventually I quit art and performance altogether."

- - -

Ania Varez is finding ways to take a break from the art / identity dynamic, while continuing their practice:

“Disclosing that I come from a humanitarian crisis and making work about it made me ‘urgent’. I wanted to talk about it, but suddenly that very personal desire became a brand worth capitalising on. But what if I wanted to talk about anything else?

Now I’m taking a break and focusing on the creativity that exists outside this contract, trying to remember why I love making art. It’s hard to have energy for it because I must earn my living from other jobs instead. What if we valued those personal acts of creativity? Whose voices would be celebrated and what could those voices change? I want more attention placed on those acts of creativity that will not make it to the market.”

- - -

I'm now coming back to performance, and a lot has changed in the four years since I last worked as an artist. I’m really glad that there’s more space for artwork by people with marginalised identities, and more openness to discuss the structural barriers – access budgets are a game changer! But as the industry goes on this learning process, and deals with cuts to funding, I think there's a tension between offering more opportunities and offering good, workable opportunities with adequate support.**

I want to advocate for institutions to take the pressure off individuals – both artists and staff members who hold marginalised identities – to represent whole groups. And for proper resources to be put in place to support people when they are doing work which crosses between the personal and professional, or which takes those experiences outside of their own communities. And – what I've learnt more than anything from the artists in this article – is to value the work in itself, and to value all the work, not just the parts where people are speaking directly about their identity.

*'Neoliberalism' definition by Phoebe Patey-Ferguson

**There is much more to be said on this point. For an off-the-top-of-my-head list of some ideas for how to make opportunities more accessible and beneficial for artists, see my blog.

For a more detailed discussion of identity in art practice, with a deeper discussion of the meanings of individual and community identity and 'neoliberalism', see: The White Pube podcast

This piece was commissioned by Trinity as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting creative communities. The piece has been supported by the Cultural Recovery Fund. This article was published on 15th November 2022

Community Paint Day, credit Khali Ackford

During the summer, Trinity and other members of Bristol's DIY Arts Network teamed up with Radix Big Tent Ideas Festival to shine a light on the city's cultural offer.

Cultural leaders from across the city came together to share their experiences of how culture can drive change in the city. Leaders such as Carolyn Hassan, Director of Knowle West Media Centre, who talked about the importance of investment in arts and culture (see above). Watch the full series of provocations about how culture can drive change here.

As a community arts organisation Trinity are committed to creating pathways for people to take part in civic life, to have the right for freedom of expression and to celebrate both the heritage we share and the differences we may have.

From our Art of Resistance project exploring the human stories behind activist movements in Bristol to supporting residents to programme activities in their neighbourhoods and celebrate local successes, Trinity supports access to culture to give people a voice and the freedom to make positives changes about the things that matter to them.

In partnership with Eastside Community trust and Somali Kitchen, we are collaborating with local residents to create opportunities to learn more about taking part in civic life. From Night Clubs for the over 55’s, to supporting local artists to develop their ideas, to celebrating the places people live.

Through funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) we are collaborating with St Pauls Carnival and David Jubb of Citizens In Power to explore if a Citizens Assembly model could be used to co-create a cultural strategy for the city and surrounding area. This model of participatory democracy brings people together from all walks of life together to collectively tackle issues and has been used successfully during Coventry's City of Culture.

Over the next year we are going to be pulling all these strands of work together to further explore how co-creating with communities and creating the space for democratic decision-making can enable people to use culture and creativity as a vehicle to empower, amplify and respond to the issues they hold true.

Interested in finding out more?

• Follow #67MillionVoices on socials and join in the conversation about what culture means to you.
• Sign up to our mailing list to find out how you can take part and get up-to-date
• Read $ Identity Capital $

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.

Bristol Resists Mural by Tanith Gould - Image Credit: Sam Prosser

We are joining forces with Arts organisations from across Bristol to create #67MillionVoices, to raise awareness of the possible risks to the future of freedom of expression.

The right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association is a fundamental cornerstone of any democratic society in particular in Bristol as a city of civic action with everything from bridges to buses, supermarkets to statues forming the backdrop to centuries of resistance that has helped to advance workers and civic rights nationally.

Freedom of expression is a unique and precious liberty on which the UK has historically placed great emphasis in our traditions of Parliamentary privilege, freedom of the press and free speech. UK Government, July 2022

This is why we believe the introduction of the Public Order Bill risks criminalising our fundamental rights of freedom of expression - to share our views, to raise our voice and to take action. Proposed amendments within the Public Order Bill contradict this core British value by enhancing restrictions that can be imposed on people who take part.

Trinity is here not only to protect popular ideas but to also platform the breadth of opinions that makes up the world today and to safeguard against all forms of censorship as the most common violation of artistic freedom, in pursuit of our vision, creative expression for all. In a diverse city like Bristol with diverse perspectives, our personal freedoms start and ends where another person’s begin and we work to develop approaches that gently blur the edges between our freedoms to achieve peace and unity from producing creative content and providing space for conversation as well as helping people to develop the skills and networks they need to take action about the things that matter to them.

We are concerned that the proposed changes allow disproportionate use of powers to restrict and control in a way that contradicts our collective aims of freedom of expression, including banning orders to completely remove a person’s right to attend a protest. This is less about the rights and wrongs of toppling a statue. Throughout history and today people have protested in a number of ways to have their voices heard:

• The Suffragettes were always inventing new ways to keep their campaign in the public eye and often chained themselves to railings. The Public Order Bill would make it a new offence to "lock on" to others, objects or buildings, which would impact heavily in particular on environmental activists.

• The Trade Union Act of 1871 led to a flurry of striking across industries including coal mining and textiles, as new unions fought for better conditions which caused widespread disruption to industrial activity. The Public Order Bill would make a new offence to obstruct or interfere with the use or operation of key national infrastructure and major transport works, which would impact on the industrial action of groups such as transport workers and airline staff.

• Prominent Black Bristolians such as Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett have made a huge difference to the advancement of UK civil rights. The Public Order Bill would make introduce new protest-specific stop and search powers, which would risk disproportionately targeting Black people who are are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people.

Do we want to find ourselves in a position where people are too scared and would risk a hefty prison sentence, a large fine, restrictions on their ability to use the internet and electronic tagging of to prevent them from attending future demonstrations.

If we tolerate this, who in future will to stand up for the things that matter to us all?

Take action today

Locally and globally, the right to peaceful assembly and protest are fundamental principles of any democracy.We call on MPs to vote it down.

✔Write to your MP to ask them to protect your rights to peaceful protest, by asking that the proposed parts of the proposed Public Order Bill giving the police disproportionate powers to tackle lawful protests are removed.

✔Amplify our collective message on social media

✔ Get Informed - read the online timeline of events so far

✔Sign Liberty's petition to drop proposals in the Public Order Bill

#67millionvoices make culture - use yours today

#BristolResists #TrinityResists

Afrika Eye at Trinity

South West of England’s biggest celebration of African cinema and culture - Afrika Eye - has been going for sixteen years and this year presents an 11-day programme between 7 - 17 November.

The festival will feature new and classic films, street art, spoken word, dance, music, food and photography at city-wide venues including Trinity. As part of the festival, we will be hosting More Than A Number - an exceptional and thought-provoking exhibition from photographers across Africa caught between modernity and tradition, curated by Cynthia Sitei.

As part of the exhibition, there will also be a symposium on the 15th, followed by an evening of music and a film screening of Casablanca Beats directed by Nabil Ayouch (Certificate - 12).

We are proud to have hosted events as part of the festival and have been working with Afrika Eye to screen films and deliver workshops since 2015.

Past festival highlights from Afrika Eye @Trinity (pictured below) include:

Kure Kure in 2019 - workshop with Anna Mudeka, taking participants on a journey through the ancestral mbira music of Zimbabwe and bringing the Shona-Bira experience to life.

Amazina in 2017 - film screening, Q&A and participatory dance workshop What Happens When with Rachael Nanyonjo.

Visit Afrika Eye's website for full festival details.

Fun Palaces in a UK wide organisation that supports volunteers, grassroots communities an organisations to programme events or create projects that celebrate the culture, skills and heritage of communities.

"I would love what I do to make a big difference in the world, I would love to do all kind of things like create wonderful things for people like homes for homeless people, or create wonderful animal sanctuaries. I just want to be happy with myself and make a huge difference." Ruth

We are partnering with Fun Palaces as part of thee-year project that aims to give power to communities so they can re-think, re-claim or re-purpose civic and community spaces.

As part of the project, local Newtown resident, Ruth, has been working with Trinity’s Communities Activities Coordinator to develop the ‘Recycle City Project’. The project aims to use creativity and technology to imagine a sustainable future City and hopes to include workshops across Bristol and an exhibition - most of all, Ruth wants to make a difference in the world around her.

Through the Fun Palaces partnership, we are offering free 1-2-1 support to Ruth, helping flash out ideas, apply for funding and support Ruth by attending meetings alongside her.

Ruth first started taking part in activity in the Community Garden at Trinity and remembers the sessions fondly, particularly baking using the outdoor oven and the other people who took part in the sessions. Recently, Ruth took part in The Wish List – a community arts project co-created by Newton Residents and artist Michelle Roache. She reflects that the lantern parade was ‘magic’ saying “we can all make that magic, I’m sure we can make that magic. I think that’s what I’m trying to create in my life, not just for myself, for the world”.

Fun Palaces aims to elevate everyday creativity, especially for those who may not consider themselves to be artists. Ruth feels this is beneficial and expresses this eloquently in saying "like with Grayson Perry, it’s celebrating everyone's unique, artistic, creative talent”.

The Fun Places project will continue until 2025 - click here to find out more about the project and how Trinity could support you to ignite your ideas.

Ishmael Ensemble - Credit: Khali Ackford

We spoke to Pete Cunningham of Ishmael Ensemble ahead of their headline show at Trinity on 10 Nov as part of our in-house music programme Trinity Presents, to chat about the benefits of collaboration, Bristol's music scene, and what's next for Ishmael Ensemble.

Can you tell us a little about how Ishmael Ensemble formed?

I started the project in 2017 having spent years making more traditional sample based electronic music & feeling uninspired by the process so I started recording & sampling the wealth of musicians & vocalists around me in the Bristol scene. It was so refreshing to take things back to the source as well as push myself as a musician. It soon became a live band & the rest is history…

What have been your highlights of 2022?

Without doubt playing the West Holts stage at Glastonbury, I’ve been going since I was a kid & although I’ve played there before this felt like a real bucket list moment. Everyone brought their A-game & I couldn’t be happier with how the show went.

Aside from Glastonbury, we’ve been playing main stages at other festivals as well, it feels like we can finally present the project as I’ve always imagined it. I’ve definitely found a hunger to really hone the live show and dial everything in performance wise. I can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to since then.

It’s also been great to get back in the studio & work on new music.

Collaboration is clearly an important part of Ishmael Ensemble's musical identity - what benefits do you think collaborating with a range of artists provides?

It’s just a great way of staying inspired, it’s amazing to witness how different everyone’s approach to music making is. I’ve learnt so much & made some great friends through the process.

The Trinity show is going to be special as we’re able to invite pretty much all the vocalists & musicians I’ve worked with over the years. A real celebration of the project as a whole.

In your opinion, what makes the music scene in Bristol so special?

I think it’s big enough to attract a large amount of creative people but small enough for everyone to get to know each other. You can go to the pub & the rooms full of people doing interesting stuff & chances are you know most of them (& if you don’t yet, you will soon). It’s also a super-supportive community. Everyone goes to each other’s gigs & sings each other’s praises - there’s no room for inflated egos here.

What should the audience expect from your performance at Trinity?

It’s going to be a one off that’s for sure - it’s our largest headline show so we’ll be playing a super special extended set with loads of special guests joining us on stage as well as the amazing Jelly Cleaver on support.

I also feel we’re playing the best we ever have. It’s been great to really focus on the live show this year, upping the production & just getting the overall live sound & visual aesthetic right.

What's next for Ishmael Ensemble?

There’s lots of new music in the pipeline, some of which we’ll be debuting at Trinity. There’s lots of other exciting stuff but you’ll just have to wait and see for now!

Ishmael Ensemble will play Trinity on 10 Nov as part of Trinity Presents, our in-house programme of music and arts. Click here to get your tickets.

The Real Living Wage Foundation  has announced that the new RLW will be increased by 10.1% in the new financial year (April 2023). Outside of London new Living Wage rates will rise to £10.90 an hour (£1 increase).

"We should not treat staff as a cost cutting measure but the engine which drives everything we do.  We know low-paid workers are being hit the hardest, with over half using foodbanks in the last 12 months, so the time for us to act is now". Adam Gallacher, Deputy CEO

With the largest year-on-year RLW increase announced recently we stand firmly with our commitment to ensure all staff and regular contractors are paid fairly. As such we have implemented the changes as of October 1 2022. This will mean entry level-staff members and those on casual contracts will benefit early from the increase.

We are proud to be an accredited RLW employer. New research from the Cardiff Business School shows that workers being paid the Real Living Wage have benefitted from more than £338m in extra wages since the start of this year, with one in ten employees now working for an accredited Living Wage Employer.

Find out more about the Real Living Wage by watching a short film about the positive impact it has on some of our team members here.

As part of our in house programme, Trinity Presents we welcome Gardna (Fr 14 Oct) who will be joining forces legendary reggae and punk veteran Don Letts.

Trinity's history has long been part of the cultural crossover of punk and reggae scenes which emerged in the late 1970s. Letts was instrumental in introducing reggae and dub sounds to the punk scene at the time. Given this rich history that we both share, we wanted to reflect on some of the key moments in Don Letts career.

• Don Letts was deeply inspired by the roots reggae from his parents' homeland in Jamaica, in particular the anti-establishment message of Bob Marley. After seeing Marley play the Odeon in Hammersmith in 1976, Letts snuck into Marley's hotel room and spent the night talking and befriending him.

"By 1977, the white teenage youths in London were looking for a new soundtrack and punk rock exploded on the scene. Problem was, this was so early in the scene, there were no punk records to play. So I'm spinning what I like, heavy dub reggae, and the punks were loving it. They dug the whole anti-establishment rebel vibe" - Don Letts

• During the 1970s, Don Letts rose to prominence as a resident DJ of The Roxy, a nightclub in London's Covent Garden. While The Roxy was known for being a hub for the punk scene that was growing in popularity at the time, Letts' sets at the venue featured mostly dub and reggae records.

• Letts recognised the natural similarities between punk and reggae, particularly in their shared, anti-establishment message, creating a crossover between the two cultures. Bands like The Clash were one of the first groups to incorporate elements of reggae music into their sound, seen most clearly through their cover of Junior Murvin's 1976 classic 'Police and Thieves'.

• Developing close relationships with punk bands such as Sex Pistols and The Clash led Letts onto creating films based around the punk scene at the time. Letts became the unofficial documenter of the scene, creating 'The Punk Rock Movie', mostly compiled from Super 8mm footage shot of live performances at The Roxy.

• Since then, Letts has gone on to direct over 300 music videos for a range of artists including Bob Marley, The Psychedelic Furs, Elvis Costello and long-time collaborators The Clash.

• Don Letts' life story was recently told in a documentary 'Rebel Dread', released earlier in 2022, featuring extensive footage from Lett's personal archive of videos.

Letts has continued to DJ throughout his career, and has been a regular feature on lineups across Bristol and the West. Don Letts will join Gardna at Trinity on 14 Oct for Trinity Presents: Gardna + Friends. Make sure to head down to catch this legend of the UK music scene (and his extensive vinyl collection) in action. Click here to get your tickets.

About Trinity Presents:

Gardna + Friends is part of Trinity Presents - our in-house programme of music, bringing world-class artists and emerging talent to inner-city audiences.

After The Fire - Film by Matt Feurtado

After the Fire was an immersive exhibition programmed part of our free community party in Sep 2022 . Across nine hours, over 1200 people came along to watch performances from some of Bristol and the South West's leading underground musicians, take part in workshops and much more. The exhibition displayed stories and artwork collected as part of the two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project: Art of Resistance.

From women's rights, worker's rights movements to the recent environmental and BLM movements ,Bristol has long been known as an 'activist city'. We sat down with historian and writer Dr Edson Burton, curator of Art of Resistance, to understand the project’s important contribution to social history:

"After The Fire was a vehicle for showing the midway point that we had reached with the research for the project. We had some fantastic audio from the oral histories we’d collected with artists and activists as well as pieces of artwork that had been inspired by protest.

To my mind it was important to escape the gallery aesthetic, the white-wall space which we normally associate with art, which conveys a certain sense of art as separate from life, separate from lived experience and it has an intellectual and class connotation that might leave some people feeling like it’s not part of their world.

We also wanted to bring the space to life, in keeping with the post protest theme, to stir the embers. With this in mind, we commissioned some of Bristol's leading performers to share their work, acoustically, straight after the soundscape.

The title was inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time written in response to racial tensions and riots in 60s America. I wanted to create a sense of a space that carried the sense of the broken, the unfinished, the space after the revolt.

"Collecting archives, interviewing people, is like gathering priceless treasures. I say priceless because, in a sense, an interview is a capture of a voice that may not exist in years to come."  Dr Edson Burton

I didn’t want it to feel like, ‘here’s one space that says is about that area of protest and here’s another’ because one of the things that is really striking when you interview artists and activists is often their passions intersect. We found people that are concerned with the environment may also be involved with anti-racism, people who are working on LGBTQ+ rights may also see common cause with anti-racism, and so on.

When you create spaces, they are spaces not just for audiences, but for artists to link, to meet and discuss and share, to see and revive work. That’s such a vital part of why these projects are useful. There is a sense too, that we are curating and holding the experiences that might otherwise disappear. Despite the wealth of research that is available, there are still stories that sink, there are not passed on. Collecting archives, interviewing people, is like gathering priceless treasures. I say priceless because, in a sense, an interview is a capture of a voice that may not exist in years to come."

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.

Movema perform on the Trinity curated Bristol Dances stage at Bristol Harbour Festival

We have partnered with award-winning dance charity Movema to deliver a programme of work with local schools and community groups.

The programme, made possible with support from the Coutts foundation, launches in Autumn 2022. Activities are planned throughout 2023 and will focus on children, young people and communities whose opportunity to take part in the arts is limited by background or circumstance.

“Dance is a powerful tool for communicating feelings and messages individually and collectively. Movema will explore dance styles and approaches that evolve from people standing up, pushing back and finding a physical voice in response to inequality and oppression”

Penny Caffrey, Director of Movema

Movema will work with schools local to Trinity (including Hannah More Primary and St Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic Primary) and a neighbourhood in Trinity’s immediate catchment.

The first schools-based project – ‘Dances of Resistance’ is inspired by Trinity’s Heritage Lottery project, Art of Resistance. Through a series of dance sessions the company will use their engaging learning tool ‘World In a Box’ –introducing children to places, people, festivals and cultures from around the world, helping to develop a greater understanding of the wonderfully diverse society we live in.

Children taking part in the school workshops will then be invited to weekly dance sessions at Trinity, hosted by Movema. Here they will take part in dance routines, make costumes and build connections - culminating in a Carnival Celebration.

The partnership responds to pledges we made following an in-depth community consultation in 2021 and aims to provide a continued offer of engagement – enabling and building connectivity with creativity and culture.