Trinity Centre during the Festival of Light event in 2018 Photo Khali Ackford

This year Trinity will not be hosting our annual fireworks display.

Having run the popular free community event since 2004 this year we have decided to take a well earned break to focus on developing our Community Activities programme.

Our newly announced Community Kickstart project will launch on the Nov 3 during our very first Community Feast.

We are calling local residents who have an idea and the passion to start an activity (BS2, BS5) to join us for a hearty veggie meal (cooked by our friends at CoExist Community Kitchen) and to find out more about how to get support and small amounts of funding to get their ideas off the ground.

We also have lots of regular activities happening in our garden including Play & Learn Sessions for 0 – 5 and their carers, as well as regular volunteer work. You can always join us on the Nov 5 at our annual Heart & Soul Celebration as we welcome members, friends and supporters for an evening looking back at all the wonderful events, projects and activities that took place at Trinity in the last year.

This is a great opportunity to ask us any questions about getting involved with Trinity and how to get your own ideas or projects off the ground and out in the community.

During the celebration we will welcome resident artist Roxana Vilk who will be sharing her project 'Lullabies' and our Communities team will be running an easy drop in workshop to create bird feeders. Plus, there will be food from Pieminister who have kindly donated vegan and veggie pies.

Hype perform on the Trinity stage at Harbourside Festival 2019. Photo Alastair Brookes

Young female street dancers will be taking over Arnolfini as part of the Trinity supported 'Let Us Dance' project that runs alongside Arnolfini's 'Still I Rise' exhibition.

Running in the gallery space every Sunday, until Dec 15, 'Let Us Dance' is a celebration of young women. Street dancing teenagers, enter the gallery space, dance to soundtracks from their mobile phones playing their choice of songs and then leave the space. This is a simple act of resistance, defiance and tremendous skill.

Trinity have been working with Bristol-based dance groups to invite young women aged 13-19 to get involved. Some of the groups taking part already have strong connections with Trinity; HYPE meet weekly at Trinity and are supported by Trinity's Community Kick Start initiative and Rise Youth Dance have performed their annual showcase at Trinity. Also performing are BS13 / Storm who took part in Trinity's Dances Stage at Bristol Harbourside Festival last July.

Head down to Arnolfini every Sunday between 1pm and 4pm and you might just catch one of the vibrant surprise performances of young women taking ownership of a space they are usually denied.

Let Us Dance is presented by Arnolfini, with the support of Trinity Centre.

The Community Family Days are an opportunity for families to find out more about nature. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

Children explored the garden finding out about the trees and plants. Photo Paul Blakemore

They had the opportunity time to inspect bugs and worms and creatures living in the garden. Photo Paul Blakemore

At lunch-time children and their grown ups enjoyed a picnic in the sun. Photo Paul Blakemore

Inside the hut children learnt how to make fire by using flint. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

Others took a rest and shared a story-time together Photo @ Paul Blakemore

The children were on hand to help the garden team with planting and digging the flower beds. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

Trinity's music team came down to share some musical moments with families. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

There was wonderful storytelling from Dr Edson Burton. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

We all had a lot of fun making nature crowns. Photo @ Paul Blakemore

This Summer local families came along to our new Community Family Days in the Garden - and it was brilliant.

"I got to try fire lighting for the first time. It was really hard at first but then I managed to do it! I got to toast 5 marshmallows for me and my brother, so yummy!"

The sessions are an opportunity for local children aged 0-12 and their families and carers to take part in nature based play activities. Inspired by forest school our wonderful garden team support children to find out more about traditional heritage crafts - from fire lighting to natural sculpting to foraging alongside finding our more about organic growing.

Would you like to get involved with the garden? Click here to find out about opportunities for local schools, volunteering opportunities and information about taking part in our Community Kickstart project.

The Community Family Day is supported by funding through BBC Children in Need

Performances by young people marked the end of the two day sessions Photo by Jack Offord

Miss Tee taking a break from music production Photo by Jack Offord

Saffron Records hosted insightful conversations about the role on women in the music industry Photo by Jack Offord

Trinity staff hosted workshops in music making Photo by Jack Offord

Students joined in conversations hosted by Saffron Records Photo by Jack Offord

Young people have the opportunity to take part in 121's with music professionals Photo by Jack Offord

Making sound from found sound with Access Creative College Photo by Jack Offord

Over two days young people, who take part in the Making Tracks youth music project, came together to explore new musical possibilities and gain industry insights.

Following on the success of last years sessions we invited Access Creative College back to deliver workshops in music production. This year was all about experimental sound and students went around the building, recorded found sounds that were then sampled and then used to create unique sounding beats.

We also invited Ngaio and Kayla Painter from Bristol based Saffron Records, who work to create more representation of women in the music industry, down. They hosted two motivational discussion based workshops exploring the current roles and opportunities available to women within the music industry.

"Coming here has given me something to look forward to and has helped me with my mental health especially interacting with others. It helps me have a voice." 
Kevin, Making Tracks Participant

Trinity tutors were also on hand to lead sessions in song writing and recording alongside supporting young people during the final live performances. 

Over the two days 28 young people came along – some coming "to meet other musicians and collaborate" and others well,  "because music is life".

These sessions form just part of the many music making opportunities available to young people as part of the Youth Music funded Making Tracks project.

If you are a young person or know a young person who would like to take part in the Making Tracks project then get in touch with Dave Thomas, Trinity’s Youth Activities Manager.

With Summer in full flow, our new Community Activities Co-ordinator Claire along with her assistant Fleur have been busy making the garden ship shape.

Activities Coordinator Claire Goulding briefs volunteers during the morning's induction. Photo @Alastair Brookes / KoLAB Studios

Coordinators, Claire (4th from right) & Fleur (bottom, left), with volunteers from AHMM

Volunteers digging weeds from the beds ready for new vegetables to be planted. Photo @Alastair Brookes / KoLAB Studios

The foundations to the poly-tunnel are laid by the strff from Allford Hall Monoghan (AHMM). Photo @Alastair Brookes / KoLAB Studios

We’ve received a massive help from Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) architecture practice who, not only kindly donated funds to fix the poly-tunnel, but also came down for a corporate volunteer day to help repair it and help with some much needed gardening.

The day was massively successful and the garden is looking fantastic because of their donation and visit!

The garden team have also been busy on working out the new programme for the garden - one of the first events to get back off the ground is our Monthly Garden Volunteer Days.

These will run every last Saturday of the month from 11am till 2:30pm starting on the 28th of September.

Bring a packed lunch and we’ll provide everything else, from tea and cake to practical information about organic growing.

For more information please check out our events page.

We are also developing a new partnerships with St Paul’s Nursery & Children's Centre, Julian House Domestic Abuse Children's Service, Barton Hill Academy, Community Kitchen and Age UK amongst other things - watch this space for more information about our developing programme of activities.

If you have any suggestions about what you’d like to see, want to find out more about how to get involved or our corporate volunteer days pop an e-mail to Claire or give us a call on 0117 9351200

We're what you make us so get involved! #MaketheSpace.

A roundup of images from the Bristol Dances Stage at Harbour Festival 2019, curated by Trinity's IGNiTE arts programming team.

All images © Alastair Brookes - KoLAB Studios

This was the first year Trinity programmed the Festival’s dynamic dance stage. We wanted to give a platform to and showcase the work of some of Bristol’s diverse dance communities.

Well done to everyone who performed on the day - everyone smashed it! Big shout out goes to Trinity's resident dance troupe Hype Dance who wowed everyone with their energetic performance.

Well done to everyone who took part. The audience was visibly impressed by the stellar performances and everyone was getting into the positive vibes of the day.

The stage returned to Millennium Square for its second year, with curation this year by Trinity - we were proud to offer the city an incredible programme featuring everything from street dance to swing!

We hope everyone enjoyed our programme - please get in touch with your images and comments from the day!

We're what you make us so get involved! #MaketheSpace.

Image @ Alastair Brooks / KoLAB Studios

Image @ Alastair Brooks / KoLAB Studios

Image @ Alastair Brooks / KoLAB Studios

Young performers from the Making Tracks project took part in a showcase slot at this year’s Bristol Harbour Festival.

A total of six artists performed in just over an hour as part of the Trinity curated, ‘Bristol Dances’ stage located in Millennium Square. These included: Delocx (ACE) Miss Tee (Trinity) Kevin McKechnie (Trinity) Sam Neal (Trinity) Xyzelle (ACE) Chel (ACE)

This year’s youth music performances proved to be a resounding success and we are all really proud of all our young people who took part. Each artist brought their own unique style and flair to the occasion.

Delocx performed 3 original streetwise hip-hop tracks engaging the crowd with confident stage banter and swagger all topped off with thought provoking lyrical content.

Miss Tee performed 2 original tracks produced at Trinity. Although she was admittedly / visibly nervous Miss Tee managed to keep her composure and the crowd were right behind her all the way.

Kev McKechnie came out and proved his soulful pop voice could win over any crowd as he belted out 2 classics from Lewis Capaldi (Hold Me While You Wait) and John Legend (All of Me).

Trinity Youth Ambassador, Sam Neal wowed the ever growing crowd with a total of 4 songs. 3 original tracks and 1 cover, ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis. His strummed acoustic singer songwriter stylings certainly managed to get toes tapping and heads nodding.

Xyzelle performed 2 original tracks which proved to be a hit with the audience as the bass drops got heavy and the sass levels rocketed.

Chel finished off a triumphant hour of music by performing 2 uptempo original tracks that had the crowd moving to the perfect blend of summer beats and pop hooks.

Well done to you all - you smashed it!

Special thanks to Roseanna, Liz and Alexa at Trinity and all the crew for providing our young people the opportunity to perform on the ‘Bristol Dances’ and ensuring the smooth running of an absolutely fantastic event!

Making Tracks is a Youth Music funded collaborative partnership project between Trinity, ACE and Basement.

From my heart, I apologise for the terrible experiences our audience members had this weekend at the Thorny Summer Party.

I am absolutely mortified that our venue created such bad experiences for individuals from the LGBTQ+ community who were coming here to celebrate, find joy and make memories together.

I want people who come to Trinity to feel safe, supported and empowered so I feel sick to my stomach reading these statements. This just is not the venue that I have worked to create and I am sorry that our venue wasn’t the safe space it should have been and that we let the community down.

It’s not acceptable for anyone to be made to feel dis-empowered but even more so on this occasion, when we are celebrating Pride together. A community that have had to fight for the right to be respected and heard should not now be having to take this fight to Trinity.

Trinity is yours, not mine. I am just a caretaker for a building. I, the board and the core staff team here are devastated that this has happened to individuals from the LGBTQ+ community. We understand the severity and impact these experiences have had and we are working today to take direct action with all staff and security involved.

Please, if you do want to talk to me about your experiences, I can be contacted in person on 07517 427 557. I am available in the office all week if anyone wants to come in to talk with me in person – Tuesday all day, Wednesday all day and Thurs/Fri AM. I will do everything within my power to put this right in the hope that we can earn trust back again and so that the LGBTQ+ community might once again feel safe at Trinity.

Emma Harvey, CEO

Actions so far

Updated 16/07/19

We have met with the person who experienced sexual harassment and representatives from Thorny to involve them in shaping the actions we are taking. As members of Bristol Night Watch, we have also been liaising with them. It seems clear that there is a wider issue in the city in relation to a shortage of suitable staff for late night events.

This leads to inexperienced bank staff being used in venues during key events. The security guards usually sent to our venue were working for Pride this weekend.

As a result we were sent different guards who were unfamiliar with the venue (though this is no excuse their poor behaviour).

We have taken several immediate steps:

• disciplinary action with the member of Trinity staff involved, removing them with immediate effect from any future events
• meeting with our security company; the three guards involved were immediately dismissed
• we have been in communication with Bristol Night Watch and the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) who are in communication with SIA regarding the incident with a view to take follow up action in relation to the individuals involved (revoke badges/retraining).

Next steps

• further review and re-training needs to be carried out at Trinity. This will be something that we will involve Thorny in, to ensure that we are creating structures and processes that ensure people are kept safe and respected at our venue
• we will be conducting a full security tender process and will be interviewing teams with the view of appointing a company that is able to respect and uphold our values and policies
• all Trinity staff attending events will be much more clearly identifiable to members of the public i.e. to wear lanyards identifying them as staff with increased representation and presence at key events such as Thorny
• Emma Harvey, CEO will be attending How Do We Halt Harassment? event at The Loco Klub to help contribute to the wider discussions and solutions being developed in response to the shared challenges we face as the venues, promoters and communities of Bristol’s night-life.

This is an ongoing process therefore we welcome any other suggestions and input from members of the community and those who have been affected by the incidents that took place.

Young people performed at this years Trinity Garden party - you can catch more performances across Bristol this summer. Photo @Alexa Ledecky

Where you can find Making Tracks performances this Summer:

Bristol is always buzzing with Festivals over the Summer so it is great that the Making Tracks partners have teamed up with the three leading festivals to provide opportunities for young people to showcase their talents.

St. Paul's Carnival - Sat July 6th

Youth Music 'Making Tracks' partners ACE have are managing the Unity Stage at this years St Paul's Carnival. St Paul's Carnival is one of Bristol's seminal events attracting a huge crowd across the day. Young people aged 12- 21 will have a 30min slots to perform on the stage presenting an array of talents spanning vocal and DJ sets.

Bristol Pride - Sat 13th July

Making Tracks partners Basement Studios will be managing the 'open mic sessions' at this years Bristol Pride Celebrations on the Downs int dedicated 'youth area'. Expect open mic performances from young people across the day.

Bristol Harbourfest - Sat 20th July, 2pm-3pm, Millennium Square

Trinity Centre are proud to be hosting the Trinity Presents: Bristol Dances stage at this years harbour festival. Harbourfestival is attended by over 300,000 so this is a fantastic opportunity for young people to showcase their talents. Performers on the day include: Miss Tee and Kevin McKechnie.

Good luck to everyone performing!

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders.

Trinity Presents: Bristol Dances, will include young people from Making Tracks performing. Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Older people dance group Gerry's Attic will perform. The group are supported by Trinity through the community initiative scheme. Supporting community groups with over 4000 hours of free or subsided hall hire. Photo @ Gerry's Attic

 

Award winning youth urban dance outfit Hype will perform alongside other Bristol performers. Here they perform during Trinity's Annual Garden Party. Photo @ Jessica Bartolini

2 O'Clock Beauty Queens

BollyRed Dance Company: Bollywood with a twist

Swing  Dance and Bristol Swing Dance

Trinity Presents: Bristol Dances Stage

Head to Millennium and get ready to experience dance in its many forms this year at the first-ever Trinity Presents: Bristol Dances Stage (Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July 2019).

The programme offers an exiting selection of performances and workshops from some of the best dance companies and communities thriving in Bristol - from Hip Hop, street dance, Bollywood, swing, salsa, Brazilian styles, funk, cabaret and drag.

Not to be missed moments include a swing dance party hosted by both Bristol Swing Dance and Bristol Swing Riot, a Ceilidh Dance with Mr Medler, and a cabaret and drag extravaganza curated by Eat Sleep Drag Repeat.

Gerry’s Attic, an older peoples dance company who are known for their Dance festival Full Bloom, and the award winning young people’s street dance Hype Dance Company feature on this year's programme. Both are community groups that use Trinity to run regular activities - supported through our Community Initiative a scheme that offers over 4000 hours of free or subsidised hall space each year.

There is also an opportunity for young people who take part in our collaborative music making project Making Tracks to showcase their talents on the Making Tracks Showcase. The project is a partnership between Basement Studios, Aspiration Creation Elevation (ACE@Docklands) and Trinity who offer young people in Bristol who are struggling with challenging personal circumstances life changing music making experiences.

There will also be plenty of chances for younger visitors to move their feet thanks to family-friendly sessions each morning.

Check out the full Harbourfest programme here.

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders.

People gather in the main hall for this years drumming workshop Photo @Alexa Ledecky

Families taking part in the craft workshops in the Main Hall Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Almatic's lead singer Katie during their set on the Main Stage Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Children taking part in Cirque De Silk's aerial workshop Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

All the enjoyment early on in our community garden Photo @ Alexa Ledecky

Miss T, who attends sessions as part of our music making project plays the Making Tracks showcase Photo @Alexa Ledecky

Families enjoying the spring sun and vibes with Trinity and her iconic towers in the background Photo @ Khali Ackford

Wecil Collective perform in the Main Hall, including an cameo from Trinity's Engagement Coordinator Dr Edson Burton who MC'd on the mics Photo @ Khali Ackford

Bristol artist, DJ and producer Dutchie during her set Photo @ Khali Ackford

Rider Shafique and Sam Binga played the end set at this years Garden Party Photo @ Khali Ackford

Trinity T's everywhere! Photo @Khali Ackford

And it ends ... with Lottie Ball & Edson Burton hosts of this years Garden Party Photo @ Khali Ackford

Benjamin Zephaniah poses with young people from Making Tracks, Dave Thomas, Trinity Youth Activities Manager, Roseanna Dias, Assistant Producer and Emma Harvey, Trinity CEO. Photo @Khali Ackford

Benjamin Zephaniah: Poet, writer, musician, actor, Rastafarian and proud vegan, anarchist and political campaigner / activist kindly agreed to take part in an exclusive industry insight session designed to better integrate Trinity’s live event programme with our in house music training provision.

Funded by Youth Music and partner funders, ‘Making Tracks’, is a dynamic city wide partnership between Trinity, Basement studios and Aspiration, Creation and Elevation (ACE) providing 121, small group music sessions, workshops and performance opportunities to young people in challenging circumstances. The focus of this provision is to build confidence, develop and support talented young musicians providing them with realistic progression routes leading them to reengage back in to education, work, tapprenticeship or meaningful activity.

"If you want to be a musician, artist or poet you need to act and think like a musician, artist or poet. Just do it." Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin was in good spirits and smiling broadly. After a brief informal meet and greet / book signing session with 12 students he hopped up on to Trinity’s main stage to join his band, The Revolutionary Minds, finishing off the soundcheck in preparation for the evenings performance. Shortly afterwards Benjamin rejoined our students and spent well over an hour of his own free time to answer questions providing the young people we work with a rare, informative and truly inspirational insight into his life and professional working methods.

From reminiscing about his early years, as a small child disinterested in the usual kids stuff like toys and action figures he would spend hours upon hours amusing himself quietly in the corner, ‘playing with words’, as he describes it. In fact, he became so obsessed by words and the different the ways in which they can be moulded, shaped and misinterpreted depending on context, that his worried mum took him to a psychiatrist at the tender age of 7!

Benjamin spent over 1 hour chatting with young people, answering questions and sharing his story. Photo @Khali Ackford

It wasn’t too long after that his burgeoning rebel spirit coupled with severe dyslexia got him into all kinds of scrapes, which, unfortunately led to him being expelled from school and placed into a pupil referral unit, in which, at that time, the teachers would regularly punish the children and shamefully tell him he would never achieve anything in life. As he got older, his behaviour worsened and he ended up in a Borstal prison for young offenders. It was here that he had a lot of time to think about his life and began to change his ways. Determined to prove the prison officers who taunted him by saying he would be back behind bars within 3 months wrong, he set about changing course in order to focus more seriously on his poetry and performance.

"I could have hung out with these cats all night. I love them. I hope they all stay creative. We need to hear them." Benjamin Zephaniah

He regaled us with often hilarious anecdotes and hair raising tales of performing at Northern miners strike benefit gigs in the early 80s. He talked about being confronted by shocking levels of racism, ignorance and bigotry through to receiving praise from Nelson Mandela to nostalgic recollection of an old much admired tutor who taught him how to build and deconstruct a car engine, for which he is still grateful.

Benjamin chats with Dave Thomas, Trinity Youth Activities Manager and young people from Making Tracks. Photo @Khali Ackford

Benjamin’s main piece of advice to our music students wanting to progress within the music industry was to, ‘think for yourselves’, he could not stress enough how important this is. He also said that despite sounding cliched, it is vital to ‘believe in yourself. If you want to be a musician, artist or poet you need to act and think like a musician, artist or poet. Just do it.’, he enthused. He also went on to talk in great detail about the importance of, ‘understanding how the industry works’, surrounding yourself with the right people (managers / band members, etc) his approach and methods to songwriting, ways to counter creative block and last but by no means least, the ritual of ensuring his teeth are thoroughly cleaned before each and every live / public performance!

This was a truly exceptional and inspirational industry insight and on behalf of all at Trinity, Making Tracks and our partners ACE and Basement, we would like to once again thank Benjamin, his management, band, live engineer and especially his booking agent for helping to make this incredible opportunity a reality.

Written by Dave Thomas, Trinity Youth Activities Manager

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Area of Effect play Garden Party in 2018 photo @Jessica Bartolini

Garden Party is one of our most popular events - each year we programme family friendly workshops and some of Bristol and the South West's best bands and DJ's.

Our Making Tracks Showcase is an opportunity for young people, from our music making project, to showcase their talent to a 3,000 person Garden Party audience! The Showcase will be on the main stage from 12:00 - 12:30 then, in the main hall from 3pm - 6pm.

Students will join an awesome lineup including Sam Binga,  Rider Shafiue, Dutchie + Indra and Almatic.

We wish them all the luck x

Singer-songwriter Holly Miller performing in Making Tracks Christmas Showcase in 2018

Holly Miller

Holly has been attending the Making Tracks programme for 8 months and has used this time to hone her singer-songwriter craft to create intimate acoustic songs covering universal themes of love, loss and life.

Miss Tee is prime for a summer hit, watch out for her.

Miss Tee

Miss Tee is a multi skilled singer, songwriter and producer who has progressed in leaps and bounds through taking part with our Making Tracks programme, developing her awesome writing capabilities and finding her own distinctive sound.

Sam Neal has been honing his distinctive sound during 121 sessions at Trinity

Sam Neal

Sam Neal is a Making Tracks veteran. This uplifting singer-songwriter's soulful summer sounds are guaranteed to get the crowd moving.

Meghan

Meghan is a multi-discipline drummer / singer. As a performer she is a ball of energy, that can't be ignored - whether it's rocking out on her drum kit or serving fierce vocals Meghan always packs a punch.

Rob B

Rob proves it's never to late to pursue your passion. Having joined 18 months ago his Drum and Bass DJ stylings have thrived producing a mature sound. Area of Effect - Making their return to the Trinity, Garden Party stage Area's of Effect are a young Indie-Rock band - with oodles of talent and buckets of energy.

Making Tracks is a collaborative partnership between Trinity, ACE and Basement Studios. Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

In early April 2019, we welcomed Roxana Vilk and her creative team to Trinity for a workshop and sharing of her new piece Lullabies. Roxana is one of the four artist residents we have been supporting this year as part of our IGNiTE programme. During her time with us, she has worked on gathering and showcasing traditional lullabies from the diversity of cultures that have come to call Bristol home.

Roxana (far right) and Lullabies producer Katy Noakes (far left) surrounded by children from the Rosemary Nursery @ Alexa Ledecky

Trinity neighbours Rosemary Nursery came along for a workshop in the afternoon. They were welcomed in a cosy space that really reflected the warm and intimate feel of the Lullabies project. The children and carers sat comfortably on colourful cushions and carpets and watched an audio-visual piece that showcases the Lullabies gathered by Roxana and her team.

The Lullabies rickshaw created by Designer Ruth Ramsay @ Alexa Ledecky

They then learnt to sing a Somalian lullaby with two project participants before having their photo taken on the Lullabies rickshaw. The rickshaw was created by Designer Ruth Ramsay with the idea to involve further communities by cycling around more cities to gathering more lullabies.

Trinity Engagement Office Edson Burton reading his poem amongst an audience of adults and children @ Alexa Ledecky

The workshop was followed by an evening sharing attended by a larger, mainly adult audience. The audio-visual piece was screened again and followed by a live Kurdish lullaby singing and a poem reading.

Adults and children interact after the screening and live performances before a Q£A with the Lullabies creative team @ Alexa Ledecky

It felt particularly special and soothing to have children and adults come together as part of the sharing. During the feedback session, an audience member said: “Loved having kids around made it beautifully relaxed, comforting and accessible”.

Lullaby contributors serve home made Somalian food to audience members @ Alexa Ledecky

Everyone was able to enjoy freshly cooked Somalian food as part of the sharing, which was kindly prepared and served by local project participants. This brought a particularly heart warming touch to the evening and allowed everyone to engage in informal conversations.

Two audience members sit with colourful pieces of bunting and pens on their knees @ Alexa Ledecky

As well as discussing the project with Roxana and her team in a Q&A, the audience could give written feedback about the sharing, of which: “Beautiful songs, images, words and feelings. Thank you to all who shared. It has inspired me to explore my own heritage through song” and “So much love down the generations. Singing of fears and making them less”.

The IGNiTE and Lullabies teams pose together in front of the Rickshaw @ Alexa Ledecky

Read more about the Lullabies project on Roxana’s website and about our other artists in resident including Ania Varez, Viki Browne and Vicki Hearne.

About IGNiTE

IGNiTE is Trinity's in house programme of world-class, innovative theatre and dance about issues that matter to people now, starting conversations and sparking debate. IGNiTE is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by Bristol City Council.

Trinity's ten pledges, setting out our standards for cultural delivery 2019-22

We shall:

1. Pay artists and workers fairly; senior staff will not receive a pay-scale this is disproportionately higher than those on the lowest pay scale within their organisation.

2. Push for change; we will use our position, influence and connections to lobby and advocate for the benefit of the wider sector, because we value a diverse arts ecology.

Number 1: Trinity is committed to paying artists and staff fairly. Here Baast play at the annual free Garden Party. Photo @Khali Ackford.

3. Fundraise beyond our own needs; we will use our available resources to support and up-scale others, because we want to take others with us on the journey.

4. Not censor; we will support artists in the pursuit of freedom of expression and we will not remove or omit legitimate content in order to protect our institutional reputation.

Number 4: We support artistic freedom of expression. In this image Viki Browne's performs her work-in-progress Hyper Fem, part of our IGNiTE Theatre and Dance programme. Photo @ Khali Ackford

5. Take risk; in our practice and programming, advocating for that which is responsive and relevant, encouraging arts funders and commissioners to also take risks.

Number 8: 'Listen to someone who doesn't sound like you and seek out those who do not think the same as you.' Image here taken from IGNiTE artist Ella Mesma's performance of Ladylike. Photo @Jessica Bartolini

6. Empower others; collaborate and connect with others for the benefit of artists, creative practice, participants, audiences and the sector, because we want to be inspired.

"We will be prepared to give up our own seat at table for someone else"

7. Be an open door; we will develop entry points for people to experience a wide range of art forms, alongside avenues for people with different voices to pursue careers in the arts - because we understand the intrinsic value of diversity.

8. Listen and be challenged; we will seek out those who hold opinions that are different to our own to build a broad perspective of arts, informed by the widest possible range of voices - because we want to be better and more inclusive.

Number 6: Be inspired and empower one another to work together, to collaborate and to celebrate. Image from Uchenna Dance's workshop delivered as part of our IGNiTE o Photo @Khali Ackford

9. Give freely; we will give some of what we have - time, space, support, advice - for free, because we want to empower people to make things relevant to themselves and their peers.

10. De-construct privilege; we will challenge systems, situations and processes which uphold and protect institutionalized power and we will be prepared to give up our own seat at table for someone else.

Darren Pritchard’s Rent Party was programmed as part of our IGNiTE theatre and dance Spring Season.

Maya Ilogu, aspiring actor and Bristol resident has been blogging about coming along to our IGNiTE performances and workshops this Spring. Read her latest instalment on Darren Pritchard’s Rent Party, that we like to call ‘come dance at Rent Party, even though you’ve not done this type of thing before’.

Over to Maya:

On the 16th March I attended both the workshop and performance of Rent Party. When I arrived I went straight into the main theatre; which was where the workshop was being held.

"As a person of colour living in the UK the show was relatable and they talked about a lot of issues in the UK"

During the workshop I learnt some choreography which I found out was going to be a part of the performance. This is something I didn’t expect to be doing and I don’t have a lot of experience but it was really fun to learn and to be a part of. We learnt the choreography step by step and rehearsed with the performers. The performers were doing it with us and so we had someone to follow if we were unsure of the steps. It was all fun and not taken serious. We had to keep the fact that we are going to be a part of the performance a secret to make it look like a flash mob.

I really liked the choreography - it wasn’t too complicated and was fun to learn and do. we went out to the main entrance just before the show was about to start. The performance began; it was set out like a rent party, party games, music and dancing which meant you couldn’t help but want to join in.

In the show they each told their own story and experiences of growing up in the UK as a person of colour and the issues they had to overcome. We were given play money which we would give to the performer we thought deserved the money at the end.

The show in general was inspiring and gave me motivation to get to where I want to be. Something I really like about the performance was that it was really energetic, fun and everyone could get involve. As a person of colour living in the UK the show was relatable and they talked about a lot of issues in the UK but they didn’t always say them in a serious way which meant they kept to the theme of their performance.

This performance was appealing to everyone and was nothing like I had ever seen before. Before I came to the workshop and performance I didn’t know what to expect other than it was going to have a party vibe and there was going to be music and dance. So I was excited to see what was going to happen.

From a young person’s perspective, who wants to get into acting and performance, it was great to take part in and learn from. I learnt new choreography and gained confidence in performing infront of others. I got a better understanding of different types of performances.

You can read more of Maya's blogs over here.

IGNiTE is supported using public funding by Bristol City Council and by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Oli  Cocup is a Making Tracks Drum / Music Production / Live Performance Tutor

Oli has been drumming for 17 years and has been teaching music at Trinity for five of those years. Working with such a diverse group of young people Oli has helped forge a teaching style which focuses around the student having the freedom to explore what they want to do in any genre with any instrument.

He became a professional musician in 2017 and has toured Europe extensively with various bands covering thousands of miles. He has also recorded several sessions with solo artists, covering many genres of music from Industrial metal to Lo-Fi Hip Hop.

As a live drummer Oli currently works with: My Octopus Mind, Stanlaey and Ogives Big Band.

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as support from match funders.

Scottee's workshop explored making art about 'issues'. Photo Alexa Ledecky

Our Spring 2019 season of theatre and dance presented innovative artists who spoke from the heart and asked: How do we strip away the layers of expectation placed on us by society to find the truest version of ourselves?

Shows included: Fat Blokes from Scottee; Confessions of a Cockney Temple Dancer by Shane Shambhu; Rent Party by Darren Pritchard Dance; Windows of Displacement by Toussaint To Move.

All shows included ways for audiences to get involved, from Scottee's workshop Getting Things Off Your Chest to Rent Party's post show disco.

We also welcome and supported four IGNiTE artists in residence -Ania Varez developed and shared her project 'Guayabo' (Venezuelan slang for 'heartbreak').  Read her thoughts on taking the project to Spill festival and an honest and brave interview about the reasons and importance of the project with the BBC online.

Vicki Hearne, creative director of Untold Dance Theatre an all female intergenerational company, created a new piece ‘Practically Perfect’, a project that focused on the idea of perfectionism, the journey to strive for this unattainable goal and how this affects women in particular.

Audiences take a short break during Roxana Vilk's sharing of Lullabies. Photo Alexa Ledecky

Roxana Vilk's  'Lullabies' explored heritage migration and identity though collecting lullabies sung to children by families and parents across Bristol.

Sharing Hyper Fem - Viki Brown. Photo Khali Ackford

Viki Browne's 'Hyper Fem' asked whether the performance of femininity through Drag can be as powerful, political or subversive when performed on a female identifying body.

IGNiTE is programmed in collaboration with our Programming Forum.The forum is made up of members of the communities who regularly use Trinity and they help advise our programme.

IGNiTE is supported using public funding by Bristol City Council and by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Jack took part in Making Tracks Summer Music Session Aug 2018 (photo @ Alastair Brookes)

I was 16 when I dropped out of college. I didn't do well at my GCSCE's and ended up on a course I didn't want to be on. I lacked focus and was depressed within that environment. I grew up on a poor estate and the idea of never achieving anything in life was kind of drummed into me.

I was NEET for about a month until I was picked by an agency (LPW) who advised me to start looking at mini courses and apprenticeships. It was through these opportunities that I was eventually referred across to Trinity to take part in the Making Tracks Project.

I really enjoy making music and after some time on the Making Tracks course I ended up taking part in a work experience placement going in every Wednesday for a couple of hours and sitting in on various 121 sessions and even in some cases leading sessions with other students (with Trinity's support).

During these sessions I helped other young people to record vocal tracks, produce original beats and assist live rehearsal sessions. I have also attended professional training as part of the team and gained a safeguarding certificate.

Making Tracks is a collaborative project between Trinity, Basement Studios & Aspiration Creation Elevation (ACE@Docklands) and is supported by Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Click here to find out more about our projects, helping ensure that everyone in Bristol has the opportunity to access and shape arts and culture.

You help secure Trinity's past, now play your part in Trinity's future

Scottee is a performer and writer who creates work that tackles challenging subjects head-on. We kicked off our IGNiTE Spring season with his show Fat Blokes and added to it an afternoon workshop that gave participants the opportunity to discover more about Scottee's creative practice.

During the afternoon prior to performing his show as part of Trinity’s IGNiTE, Scottee gave a workshop titled “Making Stuff About Stuff”. The session was delivered in an open-minded, safe space, allowing all participants to exchange ideas freely.

Those who attended were able to share amongst one another and with theatre maker and performer Scottee himself. They discussed ways of finding inspiration for creating new work through different exercises.

Scottee introduced ways of finding new themes to develop new meaningful work. He started off by encouraging the participants to create a list of words that reflects their identity in their own eyes and the eyes of others.

In the second phase of the workshop, Scottee invited the participants to create a list of what makes them angry and to choose one of these particular ideas and write a “rant” about it.

"It felt like a really safe and generous moment. I liked having less 'showing work' and more talking about creative process in an interactive way" - workshop participant

There are plenty more IGNiTE workshops around the corner. Why not join Shane Shambhu (Confessions of a Cockney Temple Dancer,10 Mar) or Akeim Toussaint in the day time (before Windows of Displacement, 23 Mar), or drop in just before Rent Party (16 Mar) take to the stage for a dance workshop?