S.U.S.A.A.N the socially distanced robot toured the local area and collected responses from residents

Deadline for Proposals: 9am Friday 25th June

Earlier this year we asked the people of Bristol to respond to the sentence ‘What I Want to Be, What I Want to See’.

Over two weeks we programmed free-online workshops with Vanessa Kisuule, Rider Shafique, Gerry's Attic - plus more - to inspire people to creatively share what they wanted to see for themselves and others in the world around them, post-pandemic.

S.U.S.A.A.N, a socially distanced robot, toured the local area collecting responses from members of the local community. In Trinity's community garden Artist Amy May-Ellis welcomed people to take part in a socially distanced workshop to share their hopes and dreams.

On our social media platforms we shared videos from groups who use Trinity regularly, including Misfits Theatre Company and Dance for Parkinsons.

Responses came in from across Bristol - from wanting to be a marine biologist to hoping to spend more time with family, wanting to see more bikes and less cars and much more. People responded in many forms including poems and drawings.

We are now looking for an artist or collective of artists to creatively interpret the responses, capturing this moment and continuing the conversation with the many communities who connect with Trinity.  This is a paid commission with a fixed fee of £9000.

The call is open to a Bristol based (within a 20 mile radius of Trinity Centre) artist or collective that is reflective of Trinity’s diverse communities.  We’re open to people working in any art-form but you must have experience of co-creating with communities.

Please note:

All work carried out as part of the commission must adhere to current Covid-19 regulations and guidelines.

Timeline:

• Deadline for Proposals: 9am Friday 25th June
• Artists Selection Panel Meeting with Programming Forum: w/c 28th June.
• Successful applicant receive notification by: Wednesday 30th June.
• Residency Period: 1st July – 31st December 2021

How to apply

• Download the full artist commission brief here
• Download the application guidelines here
• When you have read the guidelines you can submit your application online here

You’ll need to attach or link to examples of your work and a budget detailing how you will spend the available commission (each question can be submitted as a video or audio recording if preferred)

We held an informal Q&A session about the commission and you can view the recording of that session here.

If you have access needs in order to join the Q&A session. Please let us know in advance by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk or telephoning 0117 935 1200

What I Want To Be, What I Want To See is supported through funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund

Gh0$t took part in a vocal looping workshop with performer and musician Keisha Thompson. Photo KoLAB Studios / Khali Ackford

Making Tracks is a life-changing music making project, delivered by Trinity and partners ACE and Basement Studios. The project supports young people to take their next steps in education or work through accessing music provision.

Gh0$t, aka Jack, joined Making Tracks when he was 23 - finding out about the programme through a suggestion by Access Creative College. The college have worked with Trinity for a number of years, often referring students who may benefit from an alternative education setting.

“Jack’s journey has had its challenges, but his passion for music and the support Trinity provided throughout this time has helped to keep him focussed and motivated. Jack has showed a consistent level of dedication and has seen the confidence in his own abilities and talent develop exponentially.” Dave Thomas, Youth Activities Manager

All young people who take part in Making Tracks have individual learning plan. This is created through conversations with students, highlighting what they may want to achieve and input from tutors, identifying key areas of development.

Jack showed an interest in developing his skills in writing original lyrics, rap and learning more about recording his own songs. He developed his music skills in regular 1-2-1 sessions and attended workshops and opportunities offered throughout the programme. This included workshops with touring artists Keisha Thompson, Making Tracks Summer Music Sessions, Q&A sessions with industry professionals and music events. Gh0$t also was active in promoting his own music made during his sessions on social media.

The final part of Jacks development was the opportunity to work as a youth mentor on an Anti-Knife Crime project. Organised by Avon and Somerset Police and delivered in partnership with local schools, Jack supported students to create a soundtrack for an animation. Jack was completely dedicated to the process taking part not only as lyric writer and performing artist but also as a consultant, offering musical advice to the students in the project.

“My main motivation … stems from my past. It actually drove me to write and work on this project because I felt I could relate to what these young people go through on a daily basis, but I also wanted to portray the message that you can still make a difference and become something that no one believed you could be.” Gh0$t

Since completing the programme, Jack is working on building his youth work CV and accessing further courses and youth work qualifications - proving his commitment to continue his professional journey.

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 Youth Sector Support Fund.

Peaches, Trinity, 2016 Credit: Jessica Bartolini

Resonators, Trinity, 2018, Khali Ackford

Alesandra Seutin I Vocab Dance Company, Trinity, 2018, Jessica Bartolini

Kiesha Thompson, Trinity, 2018, Jessica Bartolini

This gallery is part of Art of Resistance, a two year project documenting creative responses to resistance movements in Bristol. The women featured in this exhibition are known for their creative power and for their commitment to changing society.

Using music as their platform, Peaches takes a bold and unexpected approach to the topics of sex, feminism, queerness, gender, and new millennium politics. Fronted by Faye Houston and Kassia Zermon, Brighton reggae band, Resonators, draw influences from original Jamaican sounds and riddims.

Keisha Thompson and Alesandra Seutin both use performance to explore race, identity, and gender issues, often creating highly personal and thought provoking work.

Protest history and the art it has created is both formal and informally documented. It is held within memories, private collections, people’s art, posters, music, and poetry. We hope these pictures inspire you to remember your own creative acts of protest, large or small, to share them with us and be part of building a people’s archive.

Art of Resistance is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund

Trinity is thinking about the future, & we want to hear from the people that matter - you.

From March 25 we are asking the people of Bristol to share their hopes and dreams for the future as part of What I Want To Be, What I Want To See. To inspire you, we have teamed up with our extended Trinity family of artists and community groups to create 11 days of free activities, content and workshops.

#GetInvolved

Online - follow us on our Social Media channels for scheduled activity and a daily TikTok challenge. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Sign up to a daily Assembly Monday - Friday by heading to the Facebook group here.

Sign up - click through below for our free workshop programme:

25 Mar - Writing Workshop With Vanessa Kisuule,

29 Mar - Intergenerational Dance Workshop,

30 Mar - Body Percussion Workshop,

31 Mar - I-Dentity Workshop.

Take part - join us on site for our Socially distanced community artwork, Mobilise, in Trinity Community Garden

If you live close to Trinity look out for our freepost leaflet, along with a free, specially created, print by Andy Council, coming through your letterbox. Please add your own responses and post them back to us.

If you live in Newtown or St Judes, keep your eyes open for the newest team member of Trinity - S.U.S.A.N.N the socially distanced robot - who will be out on the streets collecting your responses.

Want to share your dreams for the future? Click here to find out how.

The project is supported through funding from the Cultural Recovery Fund helping Trinity still #behereforculture

What would you do if you had no limits? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you spend time with? And what are the changes you would like to see, locally or globally?

Trinity is thinking about the future, and we want to start by hearing from the people that matter - you. We’re asking the people of Bristol to respond to the sentence ‘What I Want to Be, What I Want to See’.

We are asking you to get involved writing, drawing, making or recording something as a way to share what you want to see for yourself and the world around you, post-pandemic.

From 25th March our extended Trinity family of artists and community groups will be sharing their responses to help inspire you including Misfits Theatre sharing their ambitions for a utopian future and top tips on getting creative with artists Grove and Pete Warner.  We’ll be running a series of free workshops with artists including Rider Shafique, Vanessa Kisuule and Gerrys Attic to help you get creative in response to the theme. There will also be an opportunity to take part in socially distanced workshops in our community garden with artist Amy May Ellis to create an art-installation.

Find out more about the project and the events coming up by visiting trinitybristol.org.uk/arts

Ways to #GetInvolved

• Share any content you create with us by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk
• Get in touch by emailing info@trinitybristol.org.uk to find out how to drop off any physical responses at Trinity.
• Submit your content online
• Share with us directly on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter
• Share on your own social media using the hashtag #WhatIWant

If you’re located in BS2 look out for our freepost leaflet, along with a free, especially created, print by Andy Council, coming through your letterbox and post them back to us.

If you live in Newtown or St Judes, keep your eyes open for the newest team member of Trinity - S.U.S.A.N.N the socially distanced robot - who will be out on the streets collecting your responses!

Once we've gathered enough content to represent the diverse communities of the city, we’ll be working with talented local artists to create their own responses inspired by you, to be shared as part of a celebratory event later in the year and to build a lasting legacy of our shared ambitions for the future.

Image: Nathalie Codsi in Arnold's Big Adventure by Tessa Bide Productions, photo by Kai Taylor

Spilt Ink Theatre Company have been awarded Trinity’s Young Audiences Commission to develop a new piece of work for 3-10 year olds. The £6,000 commission has been made possible through the support of the Cultural Recovery Fund.

Spilt Ink are a physical theatre company who create playful, joyful and fun work with and for communities and children. During their development commission they will be exploring the themes of home and identity.

“We will create a fantasy ‘home’ rooted in real stories of our multicultural community. It will explore both the physical sensation of home and the cultural meaning of home.  We will question what home means to ourselves, as diverse artists, and to the multicultural local community of East Bristol.”

They will work with Trinity and local community partners to deliver creative and playful workshops with local children and families; sharing and exploring the stories of the many communities living in Lawrence Hill and Easton.

Spilt Ink were selected for the commission following an open call out that received 20 project proposals. Their project, Home, stood out to our parent-led selection panel - made up of staff, volunteers and community reps - for the way it placed co-creation at its core and young people at the centre of deciding where the project journey would take them.

Between its members - Lebanese/Italian actor and theatre maker Nathalie Codsi, Bristol-based international theatre director, community arts facilitator and performer Hester Welch, and British actor, puppeteer/ theatre maker Sarah Cribdon, Spilt Ink have a wealth of experience of working with diverse communities across the world and we look forward to seeing where Home will take them.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get involved with the Young Audiences Commission as it emerges, please get in touch or sign up to our mailing list.

Find out more about Moving Bristol’s Producer Deborah.

Deborah Baddoo MBE is the Producer for Bristol Dance Future’s Moving Bristol project. The project focuses on developing dance practice for new and existing audiences and developing an ecology of dance across Bristol.

Drawn to the opportunity by a desire to galvanise action and create a legacy for Dance in the city, Deborah brings her extensive experience in the dance sector to the role.

Passionate about her long-term vision to raise the profile and support the development of Black choreographers nationally and internationally,she was awarded an MBE for service to dance in 2010. In 1986 in partnership with musician Steve Marshall, she set up arts production company State of Emergency. The company produces shows, projects and events and works with world-class artists and creates opportunities for emerging artists. The charitable arm, State of Trust works to use the arts to promote social cohesion.

Deborah has also worked as an Arts Council Agent for Change with Bristol Old Vic and Sailsbury Playhouse, was Diversity Consultant for Bristol Museums and has worked with many renowned dance and arts organisations across the UK including Rich Mix, DanceXchange, Stratford Circus, Swindon Dance and East London Dance.

As well as a planned programme of industry events - such as the upcoming Dance and Health Conference 2021 - Deborah has collaborated with the Dance Futures Steering Group, independent artists and organisations to select the Dance Connect residencies. The residencies are an opportunity for practitioners, organisations and communities to collaboratively develop a programme of dance activity. Artists will explore and develop ways that dance can be enjoyed and experienced by new and existing audiences and participants across the city.

Deborah has also supported the creation of three Dance Hubs across the city to focus on the development of Dance for Health, Young People and Audiences. Organisations on board are Arnolfini, Creative Youth Network and Trinity. Trinity will be working with dance practitioners Lerato Dunn and Rachel James to programme activity in our role as the Arts & Health Dance Hub for the project.

Find out more about Moving Bristol here.

About Bristol Dance Futures

Bristol Dance Futures, is a consortium of Bristol organisations and independent artists, that nurtures talents and provides professional development opportunities for dancers, with an aim to create a vibrant dance ecology, so people of all ages can engage with high-quality dance.

Dance Connect is supported by funding from Arts Council England

Image Colin Moody

Art of Resistance is a 2-year project exploring 100 years of social activism, protest, and civil disobedience in Bristol, and the art that underpinned each movement.

We're looking for people who have artifacts or stories they would like to share to help build this picture of Bristol as a city of art and activism.

Whether your #resist story or art relates to Workers Rights, Women’s Equality, Anti-Racism, Anti-Fascism - or something else we haven't thought of - we'd love to hear from you.

In particular, we're really interested if any artwork, including poetry, textiles, posters, banners and ephemera, music and performing arts that were used to support and capture the spirit of different movements throughout the ages.

#GetInvolved

If you have digital material you can upload it here: Art Of Resistance Submission form.

If you have a physical item or would like to discus taking part in an interview to tell your own story, please contact info@trinitybristol.org.uk

Keep up to do with the project and other Trinity news and event sign up to our mailing list here.

The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Trinity has been working to create opportunities for children and young people in our local community of Old Market, The Dings and Lawrence Hill to access to arts and well-being activities during the COVID19 pandemic.

“Many families we support don't have gardens, computers or printers to benefit from online resources many organisations created. It is important to remember about this digital inequality and therefore packs like those prepared by Trinity Centre are particularly valuable. They contain colourful booklets with inspirational ideas ... to cheer up those who can only dream about their own gardens”.

Pat Pinkowska, Community Engagement Officer, Up Our Street

As part of this work we have created two activity packs full of creative ideas, ranging from make your-own Bird Feeders, to singing Lullabies to learning more about Resistance Movements in Bristol - all devised to do in the home.

Working with our community partners including local primary schools and Eastside Community Trust we have delivered over 900 activity packs to local children and young people.

Trinity's Summer and Winter Activity packs are also available as a free download . They have been devised by the Trinity team and designed by Group of 7.

The packs have been made possible thanks to grant funding from Children in Need, Power to Change and Quartet.

The Beach is by Stephen Lightbrown, was presented as part of our inclusive cabaret What Words Are Ours? originally live streamed via Zoom and Facebook, Nov 2020 as part of Trinity Presents Online, funded by The Culture Recovery Fund.

Funds have been made available by the Government to support organisations like Trinity to weather the impact of coronavirus and come back even stronger, whilst also providing a much needed arts offer.

What Words Are Ours? was an exciting D/deaf inclusive poetry cabaret performance, featuring BSL interpreter Becky Barry.

Keep an eye out on our website and social media channels for other upcoming performances as part of #CultureRecoveryFund.

#TrinityPresents

#HereForCulture

Uchenna Dance deliver a dance workshop at Trinity in 2018. Photo @Khali Ackford

Trinity is pleased to announce that, as part of the Bristol Dance Futures ‘Dance Connect’ programme, five Bristol-based dance practitioners will be funded to undertake year-long residencies in organisations across the city.

The residencies are an opportunity for practitioners, organisations and communities to collaboratively develop a programme of dance activity. Artists will explore and develop ways that dance can be enjoyed and experienced by new and existing audiences and participants across the city.

'It was great to see such high-quality applications and be part of the selection process with a different perspective from the health sector'

Karen Lloyd, Active Ageing Bristol

To ensure a wide range of voices and perspectives helped select the Dance Connect Residencies, the project's Producer Deborah Baddoo invited Karen Lloyd from Active Ageing Bristol and Zannah Chisolm, Artistic Director and CEO Pavilion Dance South West to sit on the selection panels, alongside members of the Dance Futures steering group including independent artist Deepraj Singh.

With the COVID-19 pandemic likely to exacerbate impacts of pre-existing health conditions, two projects will look at the importance of using dance to improve and support good emotional wellbeing and health:

Lerato Dunn will work will work with Southmead Development Trust and Sirona Care to explore how dance can contribute to the physical and emotional health, with the aim to develop a ‘Dance on Prescription’ model that can support vulnerable people.

Rachel James, who leads Dance For Parkinson's at Trinity, will be working with Fresh Arts to create a high-quality dance programme supporting the recovery of elderly and frail patients, designed to help them to get home quicker.

Trinity will be working with both Lerato and Rachel to programme activity in our role as the Arts & Health Dance Hub for the project.

The following collaborations will see artists connecting with new communities strengthening dance participation beyond the city centre:

Penny Caffrey and Helen Wilson will be collaborating with Filwood Community Centre to create a number of different ‘dance happenings’ to promote a positive sense of place within communities.

Katy Noakes will be working with Knowle West Media Centre explore ways to bridge the gap between street and contemporary dance in Bristol.

Dance Connect is an initiative by Bristol Dance Futures - a consortia of Bristol arts organisations and independent artists, that aims to create a vibrant dance ecology across the city, so people of all ages can engage with high-quality dance.

Dance Connect is supported by funding from Arts Council England

Applications are now open for a brand-new £6,000 Research and Development commission

Thanks to the Cultural Recovery Fund we are inviting Bristol based organisations or artists to apply for a new commission  to support a Young Audiences Research and Development project. The successful company/artist will work toward creating a live performance or experience made for Young Audiences aged 3-10 years. We welcome artists of any practice and working in any art-form to apply.

Trinity is a cultural-hub for the city, where people of all ages and backgrounds come together. As well as hosting 600 capacity live music performances we also programme theatre and dance in our flexible studio space.

Our building sits at the meeting point of three distinctive and diverse Bristol wards - Easton, Ashley (St Pauls) and Lawrence Hill - whose residents make up Trinity’s local community. In these difficult times, we believe that the arts can bring together communities and we want to commission a piece of work that will do just that.

We’re looking for a Bristol based (within a 20 mile radius of Trinity Centre) artist or organisation, who will Research and Develop/ Create an experience for young audiences that is welcoming and accessible to people from all walks of life including young audiences who may not speak English as a first language and young audiences with disabilities.

The Research and Development period must take place before 12th March 2021.

This commission is for R&D but we expect that the results of the R&D will be shared or showcased in some form.

We will provide:

-£6,000 commission fee (Please note that you must have a bank account in your organisation’s name or be registered as self-employed)

-Opportunity to use our Trinity building space as in-kind support to develop the project

-Advice and guidance from relevant members of staff at Trinity and relevant partners

-Opportunity to share progress of the project with community members, industry professionals and other artists. We particularly welcome applications from artists whose experiences are less visible in 'mainstream' arts programming.

Please note.

All work carried out as part of the commission must adhere to current Covid-19 regulations and guidelines.

We will be hosting a Zoom call on 8th December at 4pm for an informal Q&A session around the commission.

This opportunity is now closed

Making Tracks is a life-changing music making project for young people, aged 16-25, delivered by Trinity in partnership with ACE and Basement.

The first Steering Group meeting was held on Thursday 15th October. The Steering Group gives Making Tracks participants a chance to share their opinions to help shape the programme and opportunities to connect with others on the programme.

The meeting was led by Steering Group Producer, Amber Watsonn, who is on a work placement through BE IT - a radical leadership programme run by Rising Arts Agency.

Amber is dedicated to improving representation in thearts sector and is bringing her passion for empowering and championing young people's voices into the steering group.

With the help of project intern, Thomas Meadley, Amber invited four young people to take part in this meeting that aimed to be an accessible space and allow for all voices to be heard.

The first part of the session focused on understanding the purpose and aims of the steering group. The session was briefly joined by Dave Thomas, Trinity’s Youth Activities Manager. His contagious enthusiasm for Making Tracks and Youth Music helped spark young people to share their love for the programme.

Young people shared their thoughts on how the Making Tracks project is accessible to them; how it caters to everyone no matter their skill, home life or musical interests. The group shared how much taking part in the project helps support mental health and confidence building. They also commented on the supportive staff that show how much they want to be there and help in any way they can.

Amber then supported the group to share how they may want to shape the project in the future. This included:

- an online forum for young people to network, share their music, and see news and project updates

- more studio access to record music

- more online resources

- how they can help support the project

The meeting ended, as all good meetings should do, with pizza and an opportunity to discuss the next meeting's agenda.

Want to get Involved?

The steering group is always open to new members. Please email amber@trinitybristol.org.uk if you would like more information or have any questions.

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

Trinity's Dave Thomas and Noods Radio's Leon Patrick and Jack Machin take a socially distanced delivery of the new equipment

Noods Radio, the independent radio station broadcasting from Bristol's Stokes Croft, have raised money for new equipment for Trinity’s life-changing music making programme, Making Tracks.

The release of the 11 track Hypha compilation CD, earlier this year, saw all profits being donated to the youth music project; with South West cider Thatchers providing match funding for the purchase of mic stands, mics and other technical equipment.

The new equipment means the young people who take part in the project have access to professional equipment to gain skills and confidence through music making.

We are really grateful to Leon Patrick and Jack Machin, owners of Noods Radio, who contacted us to offer their support to the project.

Making Tracks is supported by Youth Music, using funds from the National Lottery

Lullabies is a project by Associate Artist Roxana Vilk, connecting people around the world through lullabies.

Inspired by singing traditional Iranian lullabies to her children at night, Roxana wondered how many other families where singing lullabies in the many languages spoken across Bristol. In 2018, Roxana began to collect lullabies with local families, during her IGNiTE residency at Trinity.

In 2020, the project was selected to be part of the Nationwide Here & Now project, celebrating 25 years of The National Lottery. Roxana continues to collect, record, and share lullabies from around the world, using them to find common ground between different communities and cultures.

You can take part in the project and be part of an online exhibition sharing Lullabies from across the world.  Submit yours online here.

Lady Like by Ella Mesma, programmed as part of IGNiTE at Trinity.  Photo @Jessica Bartolini

Bristol Dance Futures are offering £8,000 for four Dance Connect Artist residencies. The residencies will see artists work in collaboration with Bristol based organisations, with the aim to see how dance practise could enrich a working environment and to exchange learning.

Dance Connect is an initiative by Bristol Dance Futures and aims to nurture talent, provide continuing professional development opportunities for dancers, and create a vibrant dance ecology so people of all ages can engage with high quality dance.

The Dance Connect initiative will embed four dance artists in Bristol’s arts, cultural and community organisations for 40 days, over a period of up to 11 months from November 2020

To apply now* please complete the Full Partnership Application form addressing the aims and the assessment criteria below.

(*Please note applications will only be accepted from those who have completed an Expression of Interest form. You can also download the Full Partnership Application form as a PDF here and the Guidelines and Assessment criteria here)

For more info please contact Deborah Baddoo - dancefutures@theatrebristol.net

Dance Connect Aims:

• Raise the profile of dance within individual organisations and more broadly within the cultural sector
• Embed the value of dance and the contribution dance artists can make within and across organisations - strengthen Bristol’s dance ecology and lever more support for dance
• Better equip organisations to work with dance artists
• Create opportunities for critical dialogue between organisations, dance artists and audiences
• Provide opportunities to test, grow and change the practice of individual dance artists, people working within organisations and the wider sector
• Create models of working which can be sustained beyond the period of this initiative

Criteria for Assessment:

• Experience in working within their chosen field of activity
• Imaginative and ambitious nature of the application
• Specificity of ideas
• Potential for impact of the residency
• What difference the residency will make to the artists' and organisations' practice
• Potential for legacy after the residency has ended
• Ideas on how they might share the impact of the Dance Connect residency

Full Partnership Application deadline 5pm 13th November 2020

Students and professionals take part in a Making Tracks sector sharing day. Making Tracks is a  life changing music making project delivered by us, in partnership with leading youth services providers Basement Studios and ACE. Photo Paul Blakemore

With the DWP's announcement of the Kickstart Scheme, Trinity explores what such jobs might mean for the Creative industries

People from lower socio-economic backgrounds make up just 12% of the workforce in the creative industries, despite being 44% of the UK population and the Creative Industries Federation highlight the inherent inequality within the creative and cultural workforce across almost every protected characteristic.
Covid-19 will mean high unemployment for young people, as well as having profound impact on the cultural and creative industries.Diversifying the creative industries remains high on the agenda with the Creative Industries Federation citing lack of diversity still a persistent failing across the sector.

Possible redundancies may only serve to harm representation through the loss of junior workforce.

At a time when we need to do more to create alternative pathways, the challenge has been compounded by the pandemic with more experienced people willing to volunteer time or remain in lower-paid roles and less job-mobility at senior or executive level.

The announcement of more detail about the Government's Kickstart Scheme in September 2020 offers some hope - with opportunities created for paid employment for unemployed 18-24yr olds.

But it is by no means a magic bullet and must be accompanied by strong youth provision to ensure that those who stand to gain most from such placements are given every opportunity to access and succeed in any roles created.

Though many will know Trinity as one of the most loved and iconic music venues in the city, what many don't know is that Trinity has delivered youth arts training since 2005, providing creative courses for young people, with a focus on working with those Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET), in partnership with Education Unlimited, City of Bristol College, Weston College, as well as Bristol’s wider youth sector.

Personal development through creative expression can be a critical factor in a young person's success.

Since 2018 we have led a Youth Music funded consortia with Basement Studio and Aspiration Creation Elevation working with 250 young people from challenging circumstances annually, giving them a chance to realise their potential through participation in arts and culture, giving access to free music-making which has truly been a life-changing opportunity for those who come through our doors.

Through our a decade of delivery, we are now part of a network of specialist providers who support with referrals, pastoral care and progression. Being part of this network who work to support the needs of NEET young people is a combined effort it is clear that, in most cases, multiple cross-sector agencies are involved in supporting a young person on their journey. The success of Kickstart in really changing the lives of those who need this chance the most rests on the ability to mobilise a cross-sector approach and support employers to help them realise the potential of a diverse young workforce.

Trinity has been part of a number of youth education and employment schemes historically, including The Future Job Fund, cited by NIESR as one of the most successful back-to-work schemes in history. Schemes such as FJF and the Creative Employment Programme have meant that we have been able to provide 33 young people aged 18-24 through with paid-internships since 2009, providing alternative pathways into creative industries.

Though not always perfect, they show us that this investment can provide a critical pathway into the creative workforce - over 1/4 of young people taken on via an internship remained employed at Trinity beyond the grant-funded post, including our Venue Manager Jamell, who started with us in 2010 on a 6mth FJF placement.

Read more about Jamell's story, here.

Making Tracks Intern and musician Thomas Meadley introduces some of Bristol's rising stars, in this Making Tracks Showcase. The Making Tracks programme is brought to you by Trinity, ACE and Basement Studio.

This is brought to you by Trinity Presents. Click here to see more arts, community, well-being and education content or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Trinity are working with external artists, partners and organisations as part of Trinity Presents Online to provide exciting content, relevant to Trinity's diverse audiences and in line with our Equal Opportunities and Free Speech Policies. Click here for more information about our Policies. While we endeavour to ensure content we share is relevant and appropriate, Trinity is not responsible for individual content created by third parties.

In the Summer the garden welcomed local children and families for activity days. Photo @Paul Blakemore

Local children, including Tate, received activity packs during Lockdown. Photo via Twitter courtesy of Tate's Mum

"@HannahMorePri huge thanks to you and @TrinityBristol for the fantastic kit for the windowsill grow challenge! Tate really enjoyed potting them. We will keep you posted on their growth" Charlene L. Twitter

Since the Covid-19 lockdown, we have been working closely with local primary schools and Up Our Street to find ways to reach out to young people in the community who can no longer access our community garden and may have limited access to green spaces during this time.

The first batch of activity packs, filled with simple DIY windowsill gardening ideas and craft activities for families, children and carers to get busy with at home, went out in May/June 2020. Activities include sowing seeds, making bird feeders, scavenger hunts and more. A digital version of the pack is downloadable from our website.

“I think the biggest benefit is that it gives children and families who might not be able to get outside, the chance to engage in nature-based activities. Being around nature and doing tasks like planting and looking after plants are great for mental health and well-being and get children engaged in the world around them!”

Natalie Barker, Deputy Head, St Nicholas of Toletine Primary, June 2020

The garden team are also creating videos on everything from handy gardening tips to fun activities you can do at home - keep up-to-date with these on our social media channels or catch up here.