In our first Your Trinity story, Dr. Edson Burton reflected on Trinity's role in giving Black artists, communities and emerging cultural movements space to gather, experiment and be heard. Read here.

That history isn't finished.

In this piece, Jamell Ackford reflects on what creating space for culture looks like at Trinity today, and why it still matters.

Answering the question: what excites you about the artists, sounds and ideas we’re platforming now, and why is creating space for this work still important?

Trinity's history is wrapped up in the birth of many beautiful genres, cradling heritage sounds from the rise of Soundsystem culture in the uk. Creating space for reggae and punk, which holds the space for emerging sounds such as Ska, Jungle, D&B.

What excites me most about the work we do, and the wider programming that happens across the building

What excites me most about the work we do, and the wider programming that happens across the building, is the possibility of creating those 'what the hell is this moment'. The experience of hearing something completely new that reshapes your understanding of music. Artists and sounds coming through Uganda's Nyege Nyege label are a great example of this. Seeing DJ Travella within our walls was an eye-opening moment, which doesn't happen too often.

For me, it's about keeping heritage at the forefront while creating space for the future to emerge in exciting and unexpected ways. Nights such as Teachings in Dub, Pangea (AnExperience), Accidental Meetings and Seedling Sessions, alongside artists like Grove, Batu and Omega Nebula and labels such as Deep Medi and Rupture, all play a vital role in keeping culture moving forward while remaining connected to its roots.

What Does That Look Like Today?

Seedling Sessions x Black Creatives

• Celebrating 50 years of music at Trinity and 10 years of Seedling Sessions with a special Black History Month edition in collaboration with Black Creatives.
• A genre-crossing lineup featuring KWAZI, TIA, iAM13E, MĀDŁY, SOULBEE, Cindy BlackBird and BLCK Stream.
• A celebration of Black creativity, culture and community from Bristol and beyond.

Adventures in Hidden History:

• A joyful, interactive adventure celebrating hidden histories, remarkable lives and Global Majority trailblazers.
• Live music, oral history and imaginative storytelling combine to bring untold stories to life.
• Exploring identity, colonialism and alternative histories through a family-friendly lens..

Teachings In Dub:

• Dub legends Iration Steppas bring their heavyweight Leeds soundsystem to Bristol for a highly anticipated edition of Teachings in Dub.
• Going head-to-head with Bristol/Birmingham sound system Concrete Lion in a powerful clash of roots, bass and sound system culture.
• Expect a full-force sound meeting drawing dub heads from across the country.

Omega Nebula:

• UK future dub duo OMEGA NEBULA bring their powerful blend of dub, reggae and electronica to Trinity.
• An immersive live show with added pressure from Sinai Soundsystem
• Pushing dub into new territory with a high-energy fusion of live and electronic performance.

Festus Market:

• A festive all-day market celebrating African Caribbean and Black British culture.
• Discover unique gifts, handmade products and local traders offering everything from jewellery to cosmetics.
• Enjoy family-friendly craft activities, storytelling and free badge-making workshops.

Soak up the festive atmosphere with hot sorrell, great music and community spirit throughout the day.

For Black History Month, Edson Burton looks back at the people, music and movements that have shaped Trinity, asking what that history tells us about the importance of giving emerging culture space to grow.

By Edson Burton

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” My mangled version of this aphorism can be applied to the Trinity Centre.

In the 1970s, with congregations falling and maintenance costs rising, the Diocese closed Holy Trinity Church. The building was acquired by Bristol Caribbean Community Enterprise (BCCE), one of several organisations formed by Caribbean migrants to respond to the needs of Bristol’s first and second generations.

Black Bristolians faced multiple levels of marginalisation, from unemployment and inequalities in education to exclusion from parts of Bristol’s nightlife.

Music captured the mood of the time. Creativity born of difficult circumstances was in abundance. Places to practise and express that creativity were not.

Creativity was in abundance. Places to practise and express that creativity were not.

BCCE saw in the cavernous former church an answer to some of the challenges facing the community. It offered skills training, meeting space and somewhere community groups could gather and rehearse. But a younger generation began to see another possibility for the building.

A space for reggae

Reggae was the voice of a younger generation. Heavily influenced by Rastafarianism, it spoke to the marginalisation of the Black poor in post-colonial Jamaica while also finding resonance in the experiences of a second generation of Black Britons.

As Richard Davis remembers:

“We still really didn’t have a lot of access to white clubs... West Indian party, that’s the main entertainment. Sound systems, Tarzan the High Priest, that was everything to us.”

Bristol’s reggae scene grew around sound-system culture. As audiences increased, pubs and blues parties could only accommodate so many people.

Trinity offered something those spaces couldn’t: room to grow.

Its 500 to 600-capacity hall provided a next step for Bristol’s developing reggae scene. Trinity outreach worker Roy De Freitas encouraged young people to use the building as a music venue and, from the late 1970s, Trinity became part of a network of grassroots venues providing a home for reggae.

Bristol bands including Black Roots and Misty in Roots performed here, alongside artists including Eek-A-Mouse and dub poets Linton Kwesi Johnson and Benjamin Zephaniah.

These venues were platforming reggae artists well before the music attracted mainstream interest. They gave musicians somewhere to develop their craft in front of audiences deeply connected to the culture surrounding the music.

When cultures meet

Trinity also became one of the spaces where Black and white artists could meet, share ideas and create music.

Out of encounters across Bristol’s music scene came what would eventually become known as the Bristol Sound. Artists including Smith & Mighty and Massive Attack drew inspiration from sound-system culture, bringing influences from reggae and dub together with electronic production.

This is perhaps where the importance of cultural space becomes clearest. Providing somewhere for an existing scene to perform is one thing. Providing somewhere different people can encounter one another can lead to something nobody predicted.

From reggae to rave

After closing in 1984, Trinity reopened in 1987 and again became a home for emerging music.

Audiences gathered around house, hip hop and jungle, while Trinity’s grassroots ethos chimed with the free-party and rave scenes of the period.

Club nights such as Ruffneck Ting brought artists including Roni Size, Krust and the Full Cycle crew to Trinity as jungle and drum and bass developed into major musical movements.

Live music evolved alongside club culture. The 1990s brought artists including Terry Callier, Galliano and Gil Scott-Heron, while hip hop acts including Public Enemy also appeared on Trinity’s stage.

Across different genres and generations, the pattern is remarkably similar. New sounds emerge outside the mainstream. People build communities around them. Those communities need somewhere to meet, perform and experiment.

Given the right space, they grow.

What does that history mean today?

Trinity reopened under new management in 2004. Since then, iconic sound systems have returned to the hall while new generations of artists have continued to reshape the musical influences that passed through the building before them.

But perhaps the lesson of Trinity’s history isn’t about any individual genre.

Again and again, cultural movements that were marginalised, dismissed or simply not yet understood by the mainstream found audiences in grassroots spaces. Reggae, sound-system culture, jungle and drum and bass did not arrive as established cultural institutions. People made them.

They needed somewhere to do it.

That leaves cultural spaces like Trinity with an important question today: are we prepared to make room for work before it is established, and give artists and communities space to experiment without already knowing the outcome?

Trinity’s history shows what can happen when we do.

Some of the sounds that once sat outside Bristol’s mainstream now form part of the city’s cultural identity. The challenge is creating the conditions in which the next generation can make something of their own.

Ten years after the first Seedling Sessions, founder MĀDŁY is marking the anniversary with a Black History Month special at Trinity.

This Sunday, 11 October, seven musicians take to the stage alongside visual artists showcasing and selling their work, as Seedling Sessions joins forces with Black Creatives.

Ahead of the night, we caught up with MĀDŁY about ten years of creating space for emerging artists, what excites her about Bristol’s music scene right now and what she hopes Seedling Sessions can make possible next.

Q: Seedling Sessions is turning 10 this year. Can you tell us a bit about this year’s event and what you’ve got planned?

Seedling Sessions is turning 10 to the day on Sunday, 11th October, and for the occasion I wanted a slightly different format than usual. Instead of having 3 acts from different genres of music, we are showcasing 7 Bristol musicians with different music journeys.

Q: You’re working with Black Creatives for this Black History Month edition. How did that collaboration come about?

I've been wanting to collaborate with Black Creatives for some time, and thought what better occasion to do so than during Black History Month. The Black creative community is very diverse and full of up-and-coming artists, which totally matches with the essence of the event. Being a black creative myself, it makes even more sense to use my platform to highlight fellow musicians.

We are delighted to be joined by artists mixing painting, photography, prints and litterature

Q: There’s a real mix this year, with music, visual art, food and community all part of the programme. What brought those different elements together?

Since it is BHM, we decided to not only focus on music, but put the spotlight on other art forms. Rider Shafique, one of the founders of Bristol's Black Creatives, has put out a call for artists wanting to have a stall to exhibit and sell their art. We are delighted to be joined by artists mixing painting, photography, prints and litterature; Celebrating Black Culture featuring artists including Yum Yum Art, Jodi Hunt and Rider Shafique.

Q: Some of the artists on the line-up, including KWAZI and TIA, are getting a lot of attention through projects like Steeze Factory. What’s exciting you about Bristol’s music scene at the moment?

Bristol's music scene is so eclectic and diverse, it's mind-blowing. I love how a lot of artists are not sticking to only one genre of music and explore a wide palette. I admire how independent the scene still is and how supportive the Bristol community is.

Just like the artists it has promoted over the years, the night developed and got bigger.

Q: Seedling Sessions has been going for 10 years now. What do you think its role is in Bristol’s music and creative scene?

I would like to think that Seedling Sessions is a grassroots showcase that has helped some independent artists and has seen the start of great acts like Holysseusfly or Snazzback. Just like the artists it has promoted over the years, the night developed and got bigger. Since 2024, it has moved to Trinity, which is an iconic independent venue in Bristol. Celebrating 10 years in a grassroots venue, celebrating 50 years only feels right. Trinity being legendary in Bristol, offering an opportunity for up-and-coming artists to play there is a bonus.

Q: And looking ahead, what would you like Seedling Sessions to keep building or making possible?

I would like Seedling Sessions to become a renowned space for emerging talents to get on the radar of bigger promoters, using the space as a stepping stone for their careers. Offering off-stage roles opportunities is also an important part of the programme, as musicians are not the only ones facing challenges breaking into the industry.

See Seedling Sessions Celebrating Black History

Seedling Sessions celebrates its 10th anniversary at Trinity on Sunday 11 October, with seven musicians performing alongside work from Black visual artists available to explore and buy on the night.

Book tickets from £7

Around 250 people came together at Trinity’s Community Day Celebration for a free programme shaped by the communities who use the space. Through live performances, workshops, exhibitions and shared food, the day celebrated local groups, individuals and organisations that make Trinity special.

Each week, Trinity offers a safe and welcoming daytime space where local people can meet, socialize, learn new skills, enjoy the garden, and be creative.

Planning for this year’s Community Day Celebration began in the spring. We welcomed a group of people with different connections to Trinity, including local residents, volunteers, attendees of weekly groups and artists, to understand their experiences of Trinity and hear how they would like to shape its future.

Together, we explored what Trinity’s annual Community Day Celebration should be. We explored who it is for, what it celebrates and how we can best support people to attend.

Suggestions included collaborations between groups sharing the stage; opportunities for people to lead and participate in poetry, craft and dance workshops; access for grassroots collectives to highlight their community messages; safe spaces for asylum seekers and refugees; space for brown- and black-led events; and a day with no cost to participate.

On the day, we welcomed around 250 people for a free programme of live performances, creative activities, heritage tours, workshops and exhibitions. Performers included Bristol Samba, Gerry’s Attic, Gentle Dance, Sober Spaces, Next Gen Sounds and City Academy’s music group. Colourful Minds and graduates of Borderlands’ Creative Leadership Training programme led workshops and shared skills in embroidery and flower making. Baraka Community Cafe provided delicious soup and samosas.

Young people were not simply invited to perform at Community Day; they also helped shape their involvement. Through Trinity’s youth groups, drop-in music sessions and after-school clubs, participants spent the weeks leading up to the event deciding what they wanted to present, how they wanted to perform and how they would work together. This approach reflects Trinity’s wider commitment to listening to young people and co-creating programmes around the opportunities they say they want and need.

Jake Mensah, Trinity’s Youth Service Manager, said a highlight was seeing young people’s confidence grow as they shared their work with hundreds of people, supported by friends and family. Community Day gave them a safe and welcoming platform to express themselves, try something new and see their ideas valued, an experience summed up by one participant: “I learned that it’s not scary to perform.”

Feedback from the day was overwhelmingly positive:

The whole atmosphere felt joyful, welcoming, relaxed

the range of food offered was really great

the tour ... (was a) sparkling feature of the event. So important to offer this. I learnt a lot about Trinity.

Reflecting on the day Jen Farmer, Trinity's Arts Engagement Manger said: "The next step is to consider who was missing from the day and how to ensure they have a place next time, as we continue our shared journey from collaboration to co-creation.

We hope you will join us next time."

Tesco Groundwork funded the soup and samosas provided on the day.

Thank you to Cakesmith and Extract Coffee for the delicious complimentary treats.

Photos by Ciara Hillyer

Deadline: This is a rolling recruitment process, and applications will be reviewed as they are received.

As the first point of contact for visitors, this volunteer role offers the opportunity to gain experience in reception, administration, and customer service while supporting the work of Trinity. You'll help welcome visitors, answer enquiries, provide information, and support the smooth day-to-day running of the building.

Location: Trinity Community Arts, BS2 0NW

Availability: Flexible hours Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. Suggested contribution is 2 to 8 hours per week. Actual hours will be agreed between the volunteer and their line manager.

Main Activities

• Covering reception duties and being the first point of contact for visitors
• Answering phone calls, taking messages, and connecting people with the right member of the team
• Directing people around the building to relevant activities and events
• Providing occasional event support
• Contributing to a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for everyone who uses the building

Skills and Experience

No specific skills or experience are required for this role. We are looking for people who:

• Are friendly and approachable
• Feel comfortable communicating with a wide range of people
• Are reliable and willing to learn
• Are enthusiastic about supporting their local community

Full training and ongoing support will be provided.

Benefits of Volunteering with Trinity

• Be part of a creative, inclusive, and community-focused organisation
• Gain experience in reception, administration, customer service, and event support
• Work alongside an inspiring mix of staff, artists, and community groups
• Reimbursement of travel expenses (up to £10 per day)
• Guestlist tickets to live music and club events
• DBS check provided, supporting future employability and career development
• Discounts at selected local restaurants, pubs, and cafés
• Professional references available to support future employment, education, or training opportunities
• Tea, coffee and biscuits provided!

How to Apply

1. Read the Reception Volunteer role description.
2. Please write a brief statement telling us why you are interested in the role and what you would bring to the volunteer team.
3. Email your statement to info@trinitybristol.org.uk with "Reception Volunteer" in the subject line.

Please note that recruitment is ongoing and applications will be considered as they are received.

Trinity is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and actively encourages applications from people of all backgrounds and communities.

We will make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process if you have a disability or long-term health condition, or if you need something different or additional as part of the application process. To discuss your requirements, please contact info@trinitybristol.org.uk, call 0117 935 1200, or visit the Trinity Office between 9:30am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

A year ago, 51 citizens from across the West of England came together to explore a big question: what would culture and creativity look like if they were for everyone?

Selected through a civic lottery, they brought different experiences and perspectives. They listened, challenged assumptions and worked together to create the Citizens’ Cultural Plan – a shared vision for creativity and culture across the West of England.

A new independent documentary, commissioned by Citizens for Culture, tells that story from the citizens’ perspective: why they took part, what happened when they came together and what they wanted to change.

Assembly members talk about wanting culture to be “available for as many people as possible”, about seeing their communities better represented, and about the value of bringing different voices together to find stronger solutions.

The film follows their journey through to the moment the Citizens’ Cultural Plan was shared with the Mayor of the West of England – and how the shift from Assembly to Action began.

A year on, Assembly members remain involved through a Citizens’ Panel which will oversee delivery of the Plan over the coming three years. Communities, cultural organisations, artists, freelancers, educators, local authorities and other partners across the region have also been exploring how the ideas in the Plan can be turned into action through a series of Citizens for Culture Roadshows.

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said:

From festivals and theatre to sport, film and TV, culture is a huge part of who we are in the West. Everyone across the region should have the chance to enjoy it, feel part of it and have a say in what comes next.

That’s why I was so pleased to see 51 people from across our region come together through the Citizens’ Assembly to help develop a shared vision for culture here. Their work has given us a plan shaped by the people who live here, for the people who live here - and I’m delighted that they will continue to have a voice through the Citizens for Culture panel. I hope this film encourages even more people to get involved and play their part in the cultural life of our region.

How would you like to be involved?

Citizens for Culture is asking people and organisations across the West of England to watch the film and tell them how they would like to be involved in what happens next.

Watch Citizens for Culture: 
https://youtu.be/5h9hiRjcHs4

Get involved: 
Tell Citizens for Culture how you or your organisation would like to be involved