MoYah is an Afro‑fusion Hip Hop artist and cultural producer whose work explores identity, heritage and social justice. Born in Mozambique and raised in Portugal, his creative practice is rooted in lived experience and community connection. Since moving to Bristol, MoYah has been closely involved with Trinity Community Arts, contributing to youth‑focused creative programmes, collaborative projects and spaces that centre Black creatives and cultural expression.

Who is MoYah, and how did your relationship with Trinity Community Arts begin?

I’m an Afro‑fusion Hip Hop artist and cultural producer. My work is shaped by themes of identity, heritage and social justice.

My relationship with Trinity began when I first moved to Bristol and was looking for a connection. I came across Black Creatives, which had just started at the time, and I’ve been attending since the very first meetup. That space helped me connect with other creatives in the city, and over time it’s grown into something consistent, with regular events and shared purpose.

I’m now part of the board, where we help promote each other’s work, share opportunities and organise monthly sessions and outings. The relationship with Trinity has developed naturally over the years, and it’s become an important base for both my creative work and collaborations.

What projects are you working on at Trinity Community Arts?

I’ve been leading the Speak Out project alongside Sukina Noor, delivering workshops and mentoring sessions with young creatives based in Bristol. We’re also working with Patchwork Prod on a video that captures participants’ growth and development throughout the programme.

I’ve used spaces at Trinity for a range of other projects too, including sessions from the Hip Hop Garden programme, which I’m delivering in collaboration with Bristol Drugs Project. As part of that work, participants used the studio to record a track and rehearse together, which was a powerful and meaningful process.

In addition, Trinity hosts our Black Creatives monthly sessions, providing a consistent and welcoming space for people to come together, share ideas and support each other’s work.

Where do you see gaps in youth provision for young people in Bristol?

One of the biggest gaps is the lack of consistent, long‑term support. There are some amazing initiatives across the city, but many are short‑term or underfunded, which makes it difficult to build trust and real progression with young people.

I also see a gap in creative pathways that genuinely lead somewhere. Young people are often encouraged to express themselves, but not always supported to turn that expression into skills, opportunities or careers.

There’s also a real need for culturally relevant spaces where young people feel safe and supported to explore their heritage, talk honestly about the challenges they face, and speak their truth without feeling judged or limited.

Hype Dance Company has been part of the Trinity Bristol family for over two decades, offering vibrant street dance training for children and young people across the city. Founded and led by Bristol-based dancer and mentor Natasha Benjamin, HYPE stands for Helping Young People Excel – a value that underpins everything the company does.

Created as Girls With Attitude, Hype Dance Company has now been running for almost 23 years, using dance as a powerful tool for confidence, discipline, creativity and belonging. Today, Hype runs open Wednesday street dance classes at Trinity for children and teenagers of all abilities, alongside highly respected performance teams who compete and perform nationally and internationally.

“I truly love what I do and feel grateful that I’ve been able to make a positive impact on young people’s lives. Seeing their growth and confidence is what makes it all worthwhile.”

– Natasha Benjamin, Founder of Hype Dance Company

Hype is far more than a dance class. For many students, it becomes a second family – a safe, supportive space where young people feel seen, encouraged and challenged to reach their potential.

Auditions for performance teams are not based on technique alone. Behaviour, attitude, teamwork and respect are just as important, ensuring that dancers grow not only as performers but as role models and leaders.

From 2007 to 2025, 98% of Hype students progressed into further education, with many former members now working professionally in dance – touring with major artists, performing in the West End, appearing on television and film, and teaching the next generation.

Natasha Benjamin: founder, mentor and role model

Natasha began teaching dance at just 16 years old, shortly after becoming a teenage mum. Determined not to let circumstances define her future, she built Hype to show young people that belief, perseverance and community can open doors.

“I wanted young people to know that no matter your background, your struggles or your age, you can still achieve great things if you believe in yourself.”

Her contribution to the Bristol community has been widely recognised, including an Olympic Torchbearer nomination (2012), a High Sheriff Award (2021) and a Community Thank You Award from Eastside Community Trust (2025).

Making dance accessible through subsidised places

Trinity has been an essential part of Hype’s journey, providing a trusted and welcoming home for classes, rehearsals and families. Through funding from BBC Children in Need and Bristol City Council’s Youth & Play Network, Trinity has supported 20 subsidised places each year for three years, helping remove financial barriers for families affected by the rising cost of living.

These places ensure children and teenagers can access consistent training, performance opportunities and a strong sense of belonging.

From younger dancers settling into a new city, to teenagers developing leadership skills and beginning to assist with teaching, the impact of Hype is seen every week in the studio. Older students are increasingly stepping into mentoring roles, while younger dancers are building confidence through performance and teamwork.

Recent achievements and what’s next

Over the past six months, Hype dancers have celebrated outstanding competition success, including multiple first-place wins at the Soar SDC, Electric Dance Championships, and UDO Street Dance Championships, as well as performing on the main stage at Super Dance Weekender in Birmingham.

Looking ahead, dancers are preparing for performances at:

• St Paul’s Carnival
• Bristol Harbour Festival
• World Street Dance Championships

For more on HYPE, head here

As part of the Saving Jacobs Wells Baths development phase, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, heritage engagement specialists Local Learning have been working with 5 MArch Students from University of the West of England (UWE), City of Bristol College students on the Pathways to Independent Living course, Children from Willow Park Primary and accessibility practitioners Daisy Holder and David Ellington, to understand how accessibility in heritage spaces is not a nice to have but fundamental to how the building will function as a civic space.

With Phase 1 capital repairs live, plans for Phase 2 renovations will attempt to address some of the issues that have long held the building back. The former Victorian bathhouse suffers from being largely inaccessible with no lift provision and a complex arrangement of split levels and changes in floor height, meaning there is no level access throughout the building. This has historically limited who can use the space also limiting its viability. The inability for some participants to physically access the building as part of the design works limited their ability to engage fully in the design process, reinforcing that without full accessibility, the building cannot support meaningful participation or co-creation as a civic and cultural hub.

Through co-design sessions, disabled young people worked with the architecture students from UWE to develop proposals for a fully accessible youth space within the Baths. Their insights, grounded in lived experience of navigating the city, directly informed spatial design, circulation, and the social use of the building.

Many participants had no prior experience of youth spaces, reflecting the sustained closure of youth provision and limited access to dedicated, inclusive spaces within the immediate locality. This underscores both a critical infrastructure gap and the importance of designing environments that are genuinely accessible from the outset.

The student’s work also begun to articulate a unifying creative vision for the Baths that will underpin the building’s reimagining as a cultural powerhouse for Central Bristol Drawing on the building’s layered histories and future potential, UWE architecture student Nghi developed a framework that distilled these diverse narratives into five overarching themes: Resistance, Rhythm, Reflection, Flow and Imprint.

These themes capture the Baths’ evolution, from civic infrastructure to dance space to future cultural hub and provide a conceptual foundation for how the building could be experienced, programmed and interpreted.

The students work is informing technical designs being created by Architects PH3 Design. As part of the design consultation PH3 have also worked with accessibility specialists WECIL to refine and improved accessibility of the site, as part of Phase 2 capital work plans. A full accessibility audit can be seen here.

Sean Redmond, Architect from Ph3 Design said:

“Ensuring we weave accessibility throughout ever changing floor levels of this complex, listed building, has been a significant challenge that has benefitted hugely from the consultation and engagement events that the team has organised. We’re determined to ensure that when we’re finished, everyone – irrespective of their access needs - will be able to access all areas of the building and we can’t wait to welcome people of all access abilities into this magnificent new community and cultural hub.”

Through this process, children shared their experiences of the public realm, what feels welcoming, unfamiliar or out of reach, showing that accessibility is not just physical, but also about permission, ownership and cultural connection.

The work developed through this programme was presented publicly at a Reflection & Sharing session on 23 April 2026, bringing together partners, artists, students and community participants to reflect on learning to date and explore the building’s future potential.

UWE students talked through their design proposals demonstrating how early-stage architectural thinking can be meaningfully informed by people with lived experience, embedding accessibility, inclusion and social use at the heart of the design process. The event also created space for reflection, linking past and present learning to future work.

An interactive workshop led by Colourful Minds formed part of this wider engagement. It invited attendees to explore heritage, place and belonging, building on earlier work with children and young people including the Bristol–Bordeaux twinning exchange, funded by Bristol City Council, where children from after-school clubs at Evergreen, Hannah More, Easton and St Nicks primaries (with Willow Park to follow) created cardboard models of landmark buildings in both cities - such as La Rocher de Palmer, La Cité du Vin, Bristol Museum and Easton Jamia Masjid. Also facilitated by Laura from Colourful Minds, these sessions encouraged creativity, observation and a deeper connection to heritage.

The event presented a series of site activations created as part of Art of the Possible, a pilot activation programme exploring how artists can work within the Baths during its restoration. To date, 11 Bristol-based artists have responded to the space across disciplines including music, spoken word and dance, helping to test how the building might function as a future cultural hub.

This work demonstrates the value of embedding creative, community-led thinking within the development process, ensuring the restored Baths are not only physically accessible, but also culturally meaningful and legible to those who use them. It shows that investment in accessibility goes beyond compliance, enabling Jacobs Wells Baths to function as inclusive social infrastructure shaped by and for the communities it serves. It reinforces the role of heritage spaces as welcoming and relevant to those historically excluded from cultural and civic life, and highlights accessibility as a collective process, strengthened through ongoing collaboration and knowledge-sharing between practitioners, participants and future users.

Photos by Shamphat Productions

Echo, a new one-day international music and cultural exchange festival, takes over Trinity in Bristol on 30th May with a free, all‑day programme of live music. Celebrating nearly 80 years of cultural exchange between Bristol and Bordeaux, the festival brings together grassroots artists from both cities, Binbag Wisdom, DJ Koyla, Josephine Gyasi, MĀDŁY, Okali and t l k, in a genre‑spanning celebration of shared creative practice.

Taking place on Friday 30th May at Trinity, he free one‑day festival marks the first chapter of this new cross‑border cultural exchange between Bristol and Bordeaux, developed in partnership with Le Rocher de Palmer and Twin Cities Fest, and delivered during Trinity Community Arts’ 50th anniversary year.

At its core, the programme brings together a diverse range of artists whose work spans hip‑hop, DJ culture, neo‑soul, alt‑theatre, spoken word, and immersive live performance.

As part of the event, we will have Binbag Wisdom, a boundary‑pushing hip‑hop trio blending sharp lyricism, theatrical comedy, and live turntablism to redefine what a hip‑hop performance can be. Fresh from a sell‑out run of their new show The Ballad of Wee Willy Winky, Binbag Wisdom’s live sets balance humour and honesty, creating performances that are as emotionally resonant as they are entertaining.

The line‑up also features DJ Koyla, a French‑Burkinabè multidisciplinary artist whose high‑energy sets draw from 90s house, afrobeats, funk, and disco, alongside Bristol‑based DJ and cultural connector Josephine Gyasi, known for instinct‑led sets rooted in embodiment, rhythm, and connection with the room.

MĀDŁY, a Paris‑born, Bristol‑based multilingual singer, rapper, and poet, brings a powerful live project combining neo‑soul, nu‑jazz, and hip‑hop, supported by an acclaimed band of Bristol musicians. Alongside Okali, a multidisciplinary music project blending spiritual African influences with neo‑trip‑hop, performing songs across English, Eton, Zulu, and French.

“Echo is about building real connections through shared creativity, across borders, cultures, and communities.” - MĀDŁY

Alongside music, audiences can expect food and drinks from local traders. A family‑friendly and relaxed garden‑party atmosphere, making Echo an accessible, welcoming day out for all ages.

Background

Echo is a new international cultural exchange programme connecting Bristol and Bordeaux, two cities officially twinned since 1947. The project is designed to strengthen long‑standing cultural links by supporting grassroots artists and creating accessible opportunities for audiences to engage with international creative work.

The first edition of Echo takes place in Bristol at Trinity. The programme reflects Trinity’s long‑standing commitment to lowering barriers to participation, amplifying underrepresented voices, and creating inclusive arts spaces where culture is shared rather than consumed.

Echo is delivered in partnership with Le Rocher de Palmer, a leading cultural venue in Bordeaux, with a strong focus on global music and community engagement, and Twin Cities Fest, a project celebrating cultural exchange through music and international collaboration.

Following the Bristol event, the festival will continue its journey to France, with the second chapter of Echo taking place at Le Rocher de Palmer in Bordeaux on 19 September, ensuring the exchange flows in both directions.

We took advantage of warm, sunny weather and were able to take these sessions outdoors, which created a relaxed atmosphere.

Working outside encouraged freedom of movement, conversation and experimentation, and the children responded with enthusiasm, confidence and a real sense of enjoyment in their creative processes.

These sessions are funded by Bristol City Council through their Youth and Play Grant, which enables local young people to explore new opportunities and engage with the local community. A big thank you for the continued support!

Over the two days, the children demonstrated curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to try new ideas, resulting in a collection of vibrant and unique outcomes. They worked well in their small groups, making friends with peers from other schools in the area. They also managed their own need for breaks and independently formed smaller groups to enjoy the garden space, where they played games and relaxed together.

Day One

Imprinted Clay & Plaster Face Sculptures - This activity, focused on texture, form and surface, led by artist Dorcas Casey, gave children the opportunity to explore mark-making in clay, pressing in vegetables and plants to create expressive, tactile faces. They experimented with composition, facial features and imprint techniques, resulting in a diverse range of thoughtful and characterful sculptures.

Shiny Collage Suns – The young people were invited to play with reflective collage materials, layering papers and foils to explore light, colour and pattern. This activity encouraged bold design choices and experimentation in arranging materials.

Day Two

Art Cakes - The children built 3D cardboard cakes, combining colour, shape and structure to create playful, decorative pieces full of personality. This activity allowed the children to problem-solve with 3D shapes, while also keeping attention to detail.

Trinity is proud to present Echo, an international cross-city celebration of sound, creativity and community. Developed in partnership with Le Rocher de Palmer (Bordeaux), and Twin Cities Fest, Echo marks a remarkable 79-year relationship between the two officially twinned cities, bringing together grassroots artists, cultural practitioners and local communities through a free one-day festival at Trinity on 30 May.

This first chapter of Echo takes place in Bristol, with the celebration continuing in France as the programme travels to Le Rocher de Palmer on 19 September for the second half of this unique cultural exchange.

Audiences at Trinity can expect a day of music performances, food, and refreshments available from local vendors and community engagement for all ages as Bristol’s grassroots talent meets exciting artists from Bordeaux. With Trinity Garden‑party vibes, Echo offers a feel‑good day out for the whole family.

Line-up:

• Binbag Wisdom

• DJ Koyla (Bordeaux)

• Josephine Gyasi

• MĀDŁY

• Okali (Bordeaux)

• T L K

Alongside the main programme, pupils from Hannah More Primary School, St Nicholas of Tolentine Primary School, Evergreen Primary Academy and Easton CE Academy have been taking part in after‑school sessions led by artist Laura Clifford, the CEO of Colourful Minds. Using recycled materials, each KS2 group created detailed skyline artworks combining iconic landmarks from both Bristol and Bordeaux. These collaborative pieces will be displayed at Trinity during the festival, inviting children, families and the wider community to celebrate their work.

Bristol City Council  visited each participating school to deliver assemblies and staff sessions, introducing an accompanying classroom activity pack.

“We were approached by Bristol City Council’s International Twinning Manager, to introduce the team to the local primary schools we work closely with through the PHF‑funded Cultural Alliance Programme. Our strong relationships with these schools have enabled us to support them with creative projects and to strengthen communication and delivery.” - Sarah Franke, Children's Programme Manager, Trinity Community Arts

The festival is free to attend, with a suggested £3 donation per person on the door to help Trinity continue delivering inclusive, community‑focused events.

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“We were approached by Bristol City Council’s International Twinning Manager, to introduce the team to the local primary schools we work closely with through the PHF‑funded Cultural Alliance Programme. Our strong relationships with these schools have enabled us to support them with creative projects and to strengthen communication and delivery.” - Sarah Franke, Children's Programme Manager, Trinity Community Arts

The festival is free to attend, with a suggested £3 donation per person on the door to help Trinity continue delivering inclusive, community‑focused events.

Listing Information

Echo Festival at Trinity 
Date: 30 May 
Location: Trinity Centre, Bristol 
Admission: Free (suggested £3 donation)

About Trinity Presents – Celebrating 50 Years of Music

Echo forms part of Trinity Presents, our in‑house programme spotlighting outstanding artists and fresh new voices, rooted in the communities at the heart of the city.

About Le Rocher de Palmer

Le Rocher de Palmer is a contemporary music venue (SMAC) in the Bordeaux metropolitan area. The 6700m2 venue includes 3 concert halls, a documentary resource centre on world music, a digital studio, a coworking space, a cultural business incubator, and a digital museum with the Micro-Folie label.

https://billetterie.lerocherdepalmer.fr/

About Twin Cities Fest

Through its programme, Twin Cities Fest aims to celebrates the unique cultural identity of each city - spotlighting its music, food, art and wider creative communities. It provides emerging artists with opportunities to perform for international audiences, while building lasting connections with artists and venues in partner cities

“Some of my favourite times making music, sharing music has been in grassroots venues. Getting it really right, getting it really wrong, getting it all shades of in between and through that, learning so much about not only myself, but learning about the people around me, learning what a sense of community feels like.

Grassroots venues are essential and so much love to Trinity for what this space is going to be." - Grove

Trinity Community Arts has launched Art of the Possible, new pilot programme exploring how creativity can thrive inside Jacobs Wells Baths while the historic building continues to undergo restoration. The programme offers a rare chance to experience the site in its current transitional state, test creative ideas and imagine future uses for the space for both communities and artists. The series invites Bristol artists to respond to the building as it is now, capturing the energy, atmosphere and potential held in an unfinished space.

As part of this pilot programme, Trinity is releasing a series of short videos created on site with Bristol artists, including Grove and Muneera Pilgrim. The series will feature a broad mix of artistic disciplines - from spoken word and live music to dance and electronic music, with more contributors to be announced as the programme unfolds.

As Trinity Community Arts works to restore the Grade II listed bathhouse, Art of the Possible acts as a living research and development process.

Emma Harvey, CEO of Trinity Community Arts, said:

“The history of Jacobs Wells Baths is rooted in everyday people making that which seemed impossible into a reality. And we know artists are the best people at bringing our imaginations and dreams to life.” -Emma Harvey

These early responses demonstrate how different art forms can inhabit the building even as repair work continues, offering audiences a glimpse into how the Baths might operate as a creative hub once restoration is complete.

“Grassroots venues are not just important they are vital they are the life blood to what we do as artists, as communities. If we don’t have grassroots venues we don’t have venues.

In spaces that are grassroots you get to cultivate music, art, truth, create community and create change”- Muneera Pilgrim

Muneera Pilgrim by Khali Ackford Photography

A continuation of heritage learning and participation offer for residents, schools and community groups already involved in this phase of the project, will run alongside the artistic research and development programme, helping people connect with the building’s social history and understand the traditional skills involved in its conservation.

This work is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, and is part of Trinity’s wider programme to bring Jacobs Wells Baths back into everyday community use. The Art of the Possible pilot also complements active restoration funded by the Architectural Heritage Fund and other partners.

Trinity continues active fundraising to support the next stage of restoration, with the aim of safely reopening the building as soon as possible. Continued support from local people, funders and partners will determine how quickly the Baths can return to public use.

Art of the Possible marks an important moment in the journey to bring Jacobs Wells Baths back into everyday community use, offering a glimpse of its future potential while celebrating its past alongside this important renovation phase.

Trinity’s wider renovation and engagement programme is supported by a range of funders and partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, The Nisbet Trust, John James Foundation, Society of Merchant Venturers, Historic England, Pilgrim Trust, Bristol City Council, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Centrica Energy and Trinity’s individual donors and sponsors.

Opinion piece by Emma Harvey, CEO

Since the launch of the Citizens for Culture cultural delivery plan on 15 Jan 2026, we’ve seen a level of collaboration, energy and shared ambition in Bristol and the region that shows what’s possible when we come together around a common endeavour.

Though we've not been longlisted for UK City of Culture this time round, Bristol can still build our collective response to our citizen-led cultural plan with the same level of passion, openness and effort that went into making it.

Bristol's cultural identity is defined by what we choose to do collectively and the measure of us is not as a one-off moment, but in our ongoing way of being.

Citizens told us seeing one thing delivered from their plan would be amazing, and that's starting to happen. Responding to the call for greater openness and accountability, the sector is working together to build a more connected Bristol Culture Network, with clearer entry points and a more transparent, mapped approach so people can see where they fit and how to get involved. Bristol City Council’s commitment to protect cultural investment over the next three years, despite significant budget pressure is another clear sign that citizens' voices have been heard.

Bristol is, in many ways, a microcosm of the UK and as such we're the best place to test and build how culture can better include all of us. The Citizens’ Assembly showed what that can look like in practice: people coming together to shape decisions that reflect the city they live in. This city is what we make it, so get involved and let's do this Brizzle.

The vision we put forward

Our year of culture is our city’s response to a regional citizen-led cultural delivery plan, which sets out how, “Culture here should represent all of us, our stories, our voices and our future.” Bristol’s identity is defined by civic energy and radical history, and culture is a key mechanism for connecting the diverse stories and perspectives of the city and wider region. From Brunel and balloons to Banksy, Bristol is known for industrial heritage, rebellion and innovation. From the Bristol Bus Boycott, which helped pave the way for the Race Relations Act, to our City of Sanctuary status, the city has played a defining role in the UK’s civil rights history. From the Quaker abolition movement and Methodism to the toppling of the Colston statue, Bristol’s cultural life is deeply rooted in social change. Alongside this, our fiercely independent, community-driven cultural scene, from Bristol Old Vic, Aardman and St Paul’s Carnival to Massive Attack and IDLES, makes Bristol a distinctive and internationally recognised cultural destination.

This bid has been shaped as a collaborative, sector-led proposal using the Advice Process. Our vision is ambitious and unique, informed by the UK’s first citizen-led Cultural Delivery Plan for the West of England Combined Authority, created through the 2025 Citizens’ Assembly for Culture. The Plan articulates a shared ambition for “a fair, creative and connected region where culture brings people together, belongs to everyone and strengthens our communities.” Our bid aligns with Bristol City Council’s Corporate Strategy’s vision to “work together for a sustainable and equitable Bristol that enables everyone to be safe and well and thrive”. As major developments such as Temple Quarter and Creative Growth reshape the city, our year of culture anchors change in inclusion, weaving together history, creativity and civic life in ways that strengthen communities and enhance our profile.

At a time of global uncertainty, this UK City of Culture journey allows Bristol to tell our story of Radical Inclusion and a local-to-global city, rooted in justice and fairness, amplifying the voices we hear from least. Themes have been defined in response to the citizens’ cultural delivery plan, and reflect themes shared across the UK’s four nations; belonging, migration, climate justice and creative resistance. Building on the Assembly insights, our programme will invest in everyday cultural and civic infrastructure, skills development, and local creativity, alongside ambitious institutional work, to weave together the combination of stories, interventions and approaches that makes Bristol a very exciting place to live and visit.

Bristol’s cultural ecosystem extends beyond the city into the wider West of England, and our City of Culture year will connect festivals, heritage, creative industries and networks across the region and UK, using shared corridors and connectors - from rivers and music to digital innovation and emerging talent - to bring communities and sectors together and create a shared moment to imagine a better future through culture.

Badliana is a Bristol-based artist known for her dark sound that merges grime, rap, and alternative R&B with haunting vocals. Supported by BBC Radio 1, BBC 1XTRA, and BBC Introducing, she is currently part of Big Team's Next Level program.

Ahead of this Sunday's International Women's Day edition of  Seedling Sessions, we’re getting to know some of the artists at the heart of Bristol’s evolving grassroots music scene.

With women and non-binary talent still disproportionately underrepresented across festival line-ups, senior industry roles and technical fields, platforms like Seedling Sessions remain vital spaces for visibility and advocacy.

Ahead of the show, we caught up with Badliana, talk about her creative journeys, the people who inspire them, and what performing at this International Women’s Day edition means to them.

Hi, we're so excited to have you, let's start off by telling us a bit about yourself. How would you describe your sound in a sentence or less?

Badlina: I would describe my sound as emotionally charged, slightly ethereal with a darker undertone.

Seedling Sessions has a legacy of spotlighting emerging talent. What does performing at this International Women’s Day edition of the event mean to you personally as an artist?

B: It feels really special to be a part of such a great day alongside other amazing artists and I'm really looking forward to it.

This year’s event shines a light on women working both on stage and behind the scenes. Who are the women or NB mentors, local or otherwise, who’ve helped you grow on your artistic journey?

B: I'd like to give a shout-out to my good friend Charlie France, a friend of mine and a director who I've worked with over the years, who's been a massive support of mine and encouraged me a lot in my artistic journey. I'd also like to give a shout-out to Gabby, my mentor and teacher, who's been a massive support over the years, too. And of course, Saffron Records, they played a massive part in my launch into Badliana and without them I wouldn't have been able to release my debut EP. So I'm very grateful for them. Thank you very much.

The UK music industry still faces significant gender inequalities, from festival line-ups to roles in production and engineering. What changes do you feel are most urgently needed, and what can be done to help push that change forward?

B: I've seen how mentorship and support from people in the industry can make a huge difference. Programs that amplify the voices often overlooked can create real change for the next generation of musicians.

For audiences discovering you for the first time, what message or feeling do you hope they leave with after your performance?

B: I hope people leave my show feeling empowered, cute and fun.

Seedling Sessions was created to nurture new voices. What advice would you give to young women and gender-diverse creatives starting out today, especially those navigating barriers in the grassroots music scene?

B: Some advice that I would give to other artists would be keep going, keep learning and keep growing. Embrace the challenges and stay open to new experiences and always be your biggest cheerleader.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

B: I would like to say come to the Trinity Centre on the 8th of March for a sexy, badass show. Woo!

Come and catch Badliana, RED and Moxie Dolls this Sunday at Seedling Sessions: Celebrating Women in Music.

Trinity Community Arts has secured a significant boost for the restoration of Jacobs Wells Baths through a £350,000 Capital Grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF). The award will support essential repair works now underway on the Grade II listed former bathhouse, forming part of a wider programme to bring the building back into safe public use.

The new investment builds on AHF’s earlier £78,000 Development Grant, which helped shape future plans for the site. Together, these grants form a critical foundation for Trinity’s phased approach to conserving the building, preparing for public reopening, and enabling new cultural and community uses. Both grants were awarded through the AHF's Heritage Revival Fund, which is delivered in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Historic England.

Recent progress on the restoration has included bringing the historic Pump Room into public use for the first time in its history. Further works underway will stabilise key structural elements, address long‑term maintenance issues and support the development of Trinity’s Phase 2 delivery plan, which has also received match funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Alongside the physical repair works, Trinity has begun activating previously inaccessible areas of the site, including the old pool boiler room, through artist‑led interventions as part of the new Art of the Possible pilot program. This creative activity is helping shape and envision future plans for how the building might be used once restoration is complete.

The AHF’s continued support is a major step toward Trinity’s goal of safely reopening Jacobs Wells Baths for community use.

Trinity’s wider renovation and engagement programme is supported by a range of funders and partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, The Nisbet Trust, John James Foundation, Society of Merchant Venturers, Historic England, Pilgrim Trust, Bristol City Council, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Centrica Energy and Trinity’s individual donors and sponsors.

To follow news about the Jacobs Wells Baths project, email info@trintiybristol.org.uk to join our mailing list.

As we look ahead to March and prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re spotlighting Veronica, a member of our Art for Wellbeing group who first connected with Trinity last year. Her story reflects the power of creative community spaces to shift perceptions, build confidence, and reconnect people with long‑forgotten passions.

For a long time, Veronica didn’t pay much attention to what was happening at Trinity. She had heard negative stories in the past, and those early impressions lingered. “I didn’t take any notice before,” she admits. “But now I see what is happening.”

When she joined one of our arts and craft sessions last year, she discovered a completely different Trinity to the one she had imagined.

“I’ve learnt so much and met such lovely people … that’s not how I imagined it would be.”

What surprised her most was the warmth of the people she met and the sheer amount of activity taking place behind our doors. “There are friendly people,” she says, “but that’s not how I imagined it would be.”

Reconnecting With Creativity

Creativity isn’t new to Veronica. Her mother was a skilled artist, and Veronica has vivid childhood memories of watching her work, learning alongside her. But as life unfolded, first her nursing training and exam commitments, then raising a family, art gradually slipped out of view.

Now retired, Veronica is determined not to sit at home.

“There’s no way I’m going to sit down at home.”

Instead, she seeks out opportunities to be active, social, and creative. That’s what drew her to Trinity’s Art for Wellbeing programme.

Even though Trinity is outside her neighbourhood, Veronica chooses to travel here because she enjoys meeting new people in a fresh environment.

“I am just happy to get up in the morning and come over.”

For her, the social aspect is just as valuable as the creative one. Being surrounded by others inspires new ideas:

“You get ideas from people.”

Her daughter was initially surprised she was attending the programme, “I can’t believe you are going to this!” but after seeing her artwork, her family understands the joy it brings her.

Veronica vividly remembers her first visit:

“I was shocked!”

She now realises how much she had missed out on by not coming sooner, but is grateful to have found the group when she did.

About Art for Wellbeing

Launched in October last year, Trinity’s Art for Wellbeing programme is delivered in partnership with the Bristol School of Art. This free course invites adults of all abilities to explore art in a relaxed, supportive setting.

Participants experiment with a wide variety of mediums, including lino print, acrylics, clay, and collage, to build confidence, develop personal artistic expression, and support overall well-being.

No previous art experience is required. All materials, light refreshments, and bus travel support are provided, and participants simply need to be able to commit to the full course duration.

Finding Connection Through Creativity

Veronica’s journey is a reminder of how creative spaces can change perceptions, support wellbeing, and bring people together. Her experience shows how stepping into something new, even unexpectedly, has the power to lead to new friendships, rediscovered passions, and a renewed sense of purpose.

“I’ve learnt so much and met such lovely people.”

To support KS2 children from our Cultural Alliance schools, Trinity continues to deliver free, creative after‑school clubs and holiday provision funded by BBC Children in Need and Bristol City Council. While the after‑school clubs take place across four partner school sites, our Holiday Clubs are hosted here at Trinity, providing a vibrant, welcoming space for children to explore their creativity outside the classroom. Keeping creative thinking alive outside of term time is just as important as nurturing it within school, and our recent Half-Term Holiday Club is a brilliant example of that in action.

This February, we welcomed a fantastic group of children to our arty Holiday Clubs, bringing together young people from several local primary schools. With lots of new friendships forming and collaborative creativity buzzing around the room, the atmosphere was joyful from start to finish.

We were delighted to have Colourful Minds facilitating the sessions, guiding the children through the creation of giant Chinese dragons and beautifully delicate lanterns in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Thanks to our funders, the clubs offered free access to a trusted, inspiring space, somewhere our local young people could express themselves, try new things, and enjoy the freedom of creative play.

Colourful Minds on the Power of Shared Creative Spaces

Laura from Colourful Minds shared her reflections on the week:

“It was wonderful to see children from different schools coming together, mixing and forming new friendships. The holiday clubs seemed to create a relaxed, welcoming space where children who might not usually meet were able to collaborate, chat and socialise naturally through shared creative experiences. It was lovely to watch their confidence grow as they worked alongside each other and build connections. The room was full of music, chat and laughter.”

She also spoke about how the Trinity space shaped the creative experience:

“The space at Trinity worked brilliantly for the holiday clubs. Having room to spread out and move around meant the children could fully immerse themselves in the activities without feeling restricted. The openness of the venue really fed into the scale and energy of the art we created, allowing for bigger ideas, more experimentation and a real sense of freedom in their making.”

We’re already looking forward to welcoming everyone back in the April holidays!

As part of Trinity’s Cultural Alliance programme, this month has been full of workshops and rich reflective practice sessions with both students and teachers from our four partner schools. What follows is a reflection on what we learned, observed and experienced, and how these moments are helping us understand the growing impact of the programme.

A Month Immersed in Creativity and Reflection

This month I was able to fully immerse myself in the joy and real-time creative production that emerged from our feedback and reflective practice sessions. Working closely with Dr Harriet Hand, our Resident Researcher from the University of Bristol, we planned interactive and creative sessions designed to gather meaningful insight. We were also supported by Laura from Colourful Minds, who facilitated the artistic elements as we toured each school site.

These sessions gave us a valuable opportunity to understand how the programme is landing across the four schools, not only through structured feedback, but through candid, honest conversations and creative expression.

Reflective Practice with Teaching Staff

Our reflective practice sessions with teaching staff and SLT Leads invited them to spend dedicated time revisiting specific memories from recent dance and drama lessons. They shared poignant stories about individual young people as well as observations about broader group dynamics.

We held these sessions during the weekly staff meeting, arriving with muffins and fruit to help everyone over the final push of a long day.

Discussions went deep into what it "feels" like to be a teacher navigating ever changing days, shifting class groups and complex social pressures. It was inspiring to hear how passionately staff spoke about the experiences they try to create for their pupils, and how much they value creative input as a way to nurture confidence, imagination and blue sky thinking.

Challenges Around Creativity and Engagement

A common theme was recognition of how screen-heavy home environments and limited access to resources can restrict children’s creative development. Many children share the same narrow set of interests such as online games or YouTube personalities, which has become their default space for downtime and play.

Teachers reflected that when the project began in September 2024, most KS2 children did not understand the arts as a form of active learning. Many had missed out on creative experiences earlier in childhood and struggled to see the value of drama or movement. This often led to low confidence, awkwardness and social pressure preventing them from fully engaging.

“It is really lovely to see just how intentional, resourceful and creative the team at Trinity are within their Cultural Alliance work. I have pointed out to the team that so many community workers and researchers would benefit from replicating the Cultural Alliance’s creative methodologies.

This project continues to be a success largely because it has been held with such care and commitment, and I specifically want to name Sarah and Adam here, and praise their efforts. I have done a lot of work across monitoring and evaluating various projects, and this is one of those I find myself telling people about aspirationally.”

— Dr Furaha Asani, PHF Consultant supporting Trinity’s Cultural Alliance

Breakthroughs and Growing Confidence

With clear relief and pride, staff shared how embedding weekly Cultural Alliance sessions into the curriculum has given children a sense of safety, continuity and permission to engage. Over time, they have begun to imagine more freely and loosen the grip of self-consciousness.

We heard moving accounts of breakthrough moments where children found their voices, overcame fears of performing, collaborated more confidently, formed new friendships and softened a previously entrenched gender divide in class. These stories are powerful markers of the programme’s growing impact.

Children’s Voices at the Heart of the Evaluation

Additional insight came from sessions we facilitated during the schools’ creative after-school clubs. Here, children built their own TV screens and microphones from cardboard and paint sticks, crafting interview questions to ask one another about their experiences of the programme.

This activity gave them freedom to shape the conversation in ways that felt personal and relevant. Hearing directly from the children has been essential in measuring engagement and understanding how the programme is supporting their self-efficacy and comfort with new ways of learning.

The Role of Our Creative Partners

Our partners, acta and Movema, continue to design bespoke termly lesson plans that align with each class’s curriculum themes. Their thoughtful preparation ensures that sessions feel relevant, inclusive and closely connected to classroom values. This preparation is key to making the work feel meaningful and accessible to every child.

What Comes Next?

Once all of this analysis has been brought together, we will be able to share detailed findings alongside some of the most moving and insightful vignettes collected so far. Together, they will paint a fuller picture of the programme’s impact and its long term potential.

Eleri is one of Trinity’s part-time music tutors, working closely with young people to help them explore, experiment, and grow through music. Her one-to-one sessions cover a wide range of skills, from singing and music production to learning instruments like drums, always with a focus on building confidence, creativity, and technical ability in a supportive, nurturing environment.

Alongside her individual tuition, Eleri co-runs Move On Music in partnership with Bristol Drugs Project. This weekly group is a progression from BDP’s Beginners Music programme and offers a space for participants to build on existing skills, connect with others with shared experiences, and enjoy making music in a relaxed, judgment-free setting.

And there’s more to come. Beginning in March 2026, Eleri will lead brand new after-school music sessions with Year 6 children at Easton CE Primary School. This marks an exciting next step in strengthening our partnerships with local schools and expanding opportunities for children and young people to get creative through music.

Earlier this month, we caught up with Eleri. Here's what she had to say:

Hey Eleri, what do you enjoy most about teaching music in our community?

I love connecting with people of all ages from all walks of life through the universal language of music. Everyone has something to say, and providing my community with the means to express themselves in their own way, as well as the chance to be heard, is the best part of my job.

What projects are you involved with at Trinity Community Arts?

I have fingers in many pies here at Trinity! I run a weekly session in partnership with BDP's Creative Communities called Move on Music, aimed at anyone with a lived experience of drug and alcohol who would like to build on skills already learnt at BDP's beginner music groups. I also regularly help out with Next Gen, our open-access music group for 14-25 year olds, where young people can do anything from taking part in live instrumental jams to DJing and recording beats. When I'm not taking part in these groups, then I'm facilitating 1:1 music sessions in our studios or working live gigs and events as a sound engineer.

What things are you involved with coming up in 2026 that we can look out for?

Trinity will now be putting on after-school music clubs for primary and secondary schools in the area, taking in some equipment such as our new Ableton Push and teaching children how to make music in a fun and interactive way. We also plan on hosting a school holiday club over the summer, which would be building on the same skills. I will also be involved in various BDP Creative Communities Concerts that will be happening throughout the year at Trinity Centre, as well as a couple more projects that we're still developing. It's looking like an exciting year for our music department

Art is circus, not economic gymnastics - Image by Khali Ackford

As Peter Holbrook, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, challenges the definition of the £428bn “impact economy”, our CEO Emma Harvey asks, what if we stopped counting?

Money Matters: Or why should we stop counting

A quiet shift’s been happening towards the language of economic impact underpinning most conversations about the value of arts, culture and civic life. It’s about maths right so it’s important, or so we tell ourselves. Only, it doesn’t hold any value to us or our people. A kind of gymnastics, only it's all contortion without a rhythm or flow and leaves us feeling hollow. If you’ve found yourself sleepwalking into measuring legitimacy through this lens and wondered, how did we get here? you're not alone.

Profit isn’t a dirty word. Many charities are social enterprises in some form and should absolutely measure profitability. We know what makes a surplus and what that surplus has to carry. Whoever you are - and especially if you have less of it - financial literacy is survival. Money matters.

But it is also reductive. It flattens complex human work into numbers never designed to hold it. And we’ve seen what happens when this logic hardens. Take NEET contracts reengaging 16-18 year olds. Early on at Trinity we were able to make contacts like this work, to give intensive support to those young people whose needed it most. But over successive contract cycles, payment-by-results milestones became unattainable for smaller providers, shifting provision towards volume. Quietly, young people were sorted into those who were fixable and fundable and those too costly to help. If value’s only defined economically, what becomes of us unviables?

Economic impact does little to convert minds not already convinced. The economic case for culture has been made repeatedly by folk with far more letters after their names than me. We know about local economic multiplier effects and how vibrant cultural spaces animate high streets. When art makes a place thrive speculative investment often follows. That movement of money is all the proof you need.

Getting small organisations to count what doesn’t matter all that much to people distracts and detracts, pulling scarce energy towards chasing ghosts. Time is spent proving, calculating and modelling experiences into metrics to services decision-makers we may never meet. It shapes programmes around what can be counted rather than what is needed. Measurement isn’t neutral; it consumes time, attention and worst of all our spirit. And like any beast, we’ll never fully sate it.

Economic impact language blurs the boundary between profit and purpose. Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK, recently warned of this risk, with the £428bn “impact economy” defined in a way favouring investor-led models over ones built explicitly for public benefit. When everything is framed within the same metrics it’s a game we can’t win. It allows those primarily driven by profit to say, “Oh yes, we also care too”. And then carbon offsetting permits continued extraction and recycling bins in clothing stores capture our sense of doing good while production patterns remain unchanged. Language that - if we also adopt it - softens the edges of power structures to allow them to remain unchallenged.

Community organisations cannot outcompete on terrain designed for capital and conquest. Adopting this language without challenge collapses extraction and reinvestment, shareholder return and community accountability. The promise that continued growth will eventually lift everyone impact rests on a fading ideology and many communities have lived long enough through iterations of that promise to treat it with scepticism. That’s dangerous especially right now because it deepens disenfranchisement of those who already have lost trust and faith in decision-makers' intentions. Growth is happening just not for you. You don’t matter to us.

When we centre growth as proof of value we risk reinforcing the same scarcity logic that traps minds and builds conflict. Someone else out there is winning whilst I’m losing. We risk aligning ourselves with a world that many already experience as failing them. When growth doesn’t translate into feeling better off, people look sideways to see who is benefitting. And then we're in cookie cartoon territory, where the dude sits behind a plate piled high pointing at the one due opposite the other whilst saying, He's taking what's yours. It's data to stoke tension between those who feel they’re losing out because of a notion of a transaction happening elsewhere that’s making someone else better off. And as we're all butting heads, deeper extraction continues unchecked.

Money matters for most only in the direct transaction sense. Pay people to do the work that needs to be done as well as you can afford. Don’t ask artists to work for free. Pay young people for their time. Pay communities for their advice. Do not ask people to do more with less while citing economic impact. Don’t push the boulder up the hill by exploiting your team or yourself. If a claim made somewhere doesn’t translate to wages if folks’ pockets it’s a story that rings hollow. I can’t pay my bills with your data.

None of this means abandoning accountability to funders. We should measure what keeps us afloat and be transparent about our finances. When asked to show GVA, it might be worth asking what they’re looking to understand from those numbers, who needs to be assured and whether the absence of economic data lessens the legitimacy of the work. If their response is to scratch their heads and say they don't know and that someone further up the chain is asking, that might at least give us pause for thought. Provide the data and still ask the questions, because following instructions unquestioningly is how we uphold bureaucracies at the expense of ourselves until we all wind up doing more work for less meaning, trapped in a system that rewards compliance over change.

There is no reason for thinking

That, if you give a chance for people to think or live

The arts of thought or life will suffer and become rougher

And not return more than you could ever give

Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal (1939)

From Use or Ornament, Comedia’s report on the social value of the arts, 1997

At Trinity, I cannot promise folk I’ll make them rich. What I hope we offer is a place for people to come to find connection and build meaning together. A place where stories are shared, mistakes are made and power is practised differently, even if it doesn’t always work out. People come at times at a crossroads in their lives and often move onto bigger and better things. Like that old slouchy jumper, you love it till you wear it right through. It’s a place where value is measured by knowledge, energy and commitment to making things as good as possible with what we have.

The only real arbiter of wealth is the money in my pocket. In what I can give that I don’t need paid back. In the time that it affords me to worry about it less and care about what gives me meaning more. “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?” said Stephen Hawking. Is the arbiter of our worth counted by pounds and pence or the smile on our face at the end of the day and the energy we find to get up again tomorrow. In this world of the now that’s rich with data yet poor on trust, culture’s the fuel for growth, turbo charging connection, courage and conviction. Right now, that may be the more honest thing to count.

This is an opinion piece by Emma Harvey, CEO