A Love Letter to Broadmead
A Love Letter to Broadmead wraps up with a free bank holiday weekend takeover across Broadmead and the Galleries.
Friday 1 May begins with the Crazy About You Street Party: tours of Broadmead Baptist Church, participatory art at the Climbing Hangar, a live broadcast from Unit Ujima, and Bristol Ballroom Community in Unit One. From 6pm, Broadmead comes alive with performances from Bristol Breakers, Strangebrew artists and Shredenhams skaters, followed by a party at Shredenhams from 7pm.
On Sunday 3 May, the Galleries hosts a free party from 2–11pm, with live electronic music, visuals and experimental sounds in Unit One, while Unit Ujima transforms the space outside Boots into an outdoor dancefloor.
Diaspora Festival events also run across the weekend, including Five Women One Show on Saturday and workshops on Monday 4 May.
All events are free. Book tickets via Headfirst.
https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/compass-presents
A Love Letter to Broadmead is funded by the UK government through UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
Crazy About You Street Party - A Love Letter to Broadmead
The Crazy About You Street Party kicks off the Bank Holiday Weekend of free performances and activities around Broadmead.
9am - 2pm: Broadmead Baptist Church Tours.
12pm onwards: The Climbing Hangar Participatory Art Installation.
4pm - 6pm: Performances from Bristol Ballroom Community in Unit One and special live broadcast in Unit Ujima.
6pm - 7pm: Break Dancing, Skateboarding Show and Activated Art Installations.
7pm - 11pm: Decks! Decks! Beats! (The Crazy About You Street Party: Afterparty).
Crazy About You Street Party Afterparty - A Love Letter to Broadmead
The Crazy About You Street Party: Afterparty
7pm - 11pm: Decks! Decks! Beats!
Love Letter to Broadmead x DIASPORA!: Five Women, One Show
Broadmead’s urgently in need of some TLC, and Compass’ community-focused takeover is here to deliver it!
In collaboration with this year’s towering Diaspora fest, they light up the Galleries with an afternoon showcase of heritage-celebrating female performers, including stand-up comedian Michelle Meredith, Old Vic storyteller-in-residence Muneera Pilgrim, and dance-theatre artist Ceci Opal.
Unit 1, first floor, The Galleries. Free entry.
No Bags, Just Bangers - Galleries Party! - A Love Letter to Broadmead
Drop the shopping bags at the door and get your best shapes out!
Produced by young people in partnership with groups from Strangebrew and Ujima, the No Bags, Just Bangers Galleries Free Party will transform part of the Galleries into a music event.
From 2pm, audiences will nestle alongside shoppers to enjoy the sounds of Unit Ujima, or immerse themselves in the audio-visual treats in a takeover of Unit One.
At 5pm, when the Galleries closes to the public, the space between the two units will become a dedicated dance floor, performance space, and hangout.
So, dust off your dancing shoes and be part of this city moment, as Bristol re-invents this most kitsch of urban spaces, and consumer units become corners of culture for one night only.
Unit Ujima Set Times:
5-7pm DJ Style
7-9pm Krazy / WordLife
9-11pm Dancehall Generals
Love Letter to Broadmead x DIASPORA!: Collective Dreaming with Many Minds
Join Many Minds, mental health and performance charity in an interactive and inclusive workshop that invites you to dream with others, of the future we are longing for in a collective act of imagination, care and resistance. Centring people’s experience of culture and identity we’ll use creative exercises dream boldly about what culture could become.
Unit 1, first floor, The Galleries. Free entry.
Love Letter to Broadmead x DIASPORA!: Miniature Worlds of Broadmead
Join artist and set designer, Alexia Dobre, for a playful hands-on workshop where everyday discarded materials are transformed into imaginative miniature worlds.
Participants will explore the basics of theatre design and storytelling through model-making, building their own tiny dream spaces. Rooted in the idea of “giving old objects a new life,” the workshop encourages audiences to reimagine Broadmead’s spaces, histories, and identities by creating small-scale sculptural worlds inspired by the neighbourhood.
Unit 1, first floor, The Galleries. Free entry.
A Love Letter to Broadmead: Community Crochet with Snapshot
Participants will be guided through making small crochet granny squares, with support available for people who have never crocheted before as well as space for more confident participants to experiment with colours and patterns.
Each person’s square will represent their own contribution to Broadmead, and all of the squares will be joined together to create a single community crochet cardigan. The finished piece will act as a wearable artwork that represents collaboration, belonging and the idea that a community is made up of many different individuals coming together.
Unit 1, first floor, The Galleries.
Free.
Summer film takeover - Illusions of Movement
An innovative film installation. Experience how humans explore animation and film to bring imagination and storytelling to life. This immersive projection uses multi-screen visuals, light and sound to celebrate the power of moving image. Brought to you by Limbic Cinema.
Waddelow Hall, First Floor, Broadmead Baptist Church, 1 Whippington Ct, Broadmead, Bristol BS1 3HY (Lift access)
Summer film takeover - Illusions of Movement
An innovative film installation. Experience how humans explore animation and film to bring imagination and storytelling to life. This immersive projection uses multi-screen visuals, light and sound to celebrate the power of moving image. Brought to you by Limbic Cinema.
Waddelow Hall, First Floor, Broadmead Baptist Church, 1 Whippington Ct, Broadmead, Bristol BS1 3HY (Lift access)
Summer film takeover - Aardman@Sparks
An exciting weekend of free Aardman workshops and film screenings taking place in Bristol’s new sustainability hub – fun for all the family! Brought to you by Global Goals Centre and Aardman Animations.
Summer film takeover - The 4 Pillars: 50 years of Hip Hop
Film, music and more... A day of free screenings and activities to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th birthday, exploring its four pillars – breakdancing, graffiti, DJing and rap – and how it has helped influence Bristol’s culture, leaving a lasting legacy. By Freestyle Bristol and Bris-Story.
Summer film takeover - 100 Years of 16mm
Lovers of analogue, immerse yourself in the sensory splendour of 16mm, in its centenary year! Enjoy free workshops in splicing, dicing and projecting, alongside short film screenings and live score performance activations from a very special guest. Brought to you by Compass Presents and Cinema Rediscovered.
Summer film takeover - Summer of Soul: expanded screening and afterparty
Party like it’s 1969! An expanded screening of Sundance award-winner Summer of Soul, followed by an underground funk and soul party. Experience the musical revolution of 60’s NYC beneath a Bristol glitterball! Brought to you by Compass Presents and Cinema Rediscovered.
Summer film takeover - Windrush 75: Stories Through Film
A dedicated film programme to mark the 75th anniversary of Windrush. Come aboard the Vintage Mobile Cinema Bus in Broadmead for a specially curated collection of screenings. Plus, on the evening of 22 June, join us for the premiere of award-winning filmmaker Clive Smith’s Bristol’s Afrikan-Caribbean Legends of Martial Arts at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Queens Road BS8 1RL). Brought to you by Bristol Museums.
Invisible Circus - Weekends of Wonder
Invisible Circus will present Weekends of Wonder (WOW), throughout May and June. The street theatre festival in Broadmead will include an array of vibrant acts performing circus shows and interactive walkabouts to entertain and wow with unexpected happenings, larger than life costumes and awe-inspiring skills.
Invisible Circus - Weekends of Wonder
Invisible Circus will present Weekends of Wonder (WOW), throughout May and June. The street theatre festival in Broadmead will include an array of vibrant acts performing circus shows and interactive walkabouts to entertain and wow with unexpected happenings, larger than life costumes and awe-inspiring skills.
Save the dates:
• 27 and 28 May
• 3 and 4 June
Invisible Circus - Weekends of Wonder
Invisible Circus will present Weekends of Wonder (WOW), throughout May and June. The street theatre festival in Broadmead will include an array of vibrant acts performing circus shows and interactive walkabouts to entertain and wow with unexpected happenings, larger than life costumes and awe-inspiring skills.
Save the dates:
• 20 and 21 May
• 27 and 28 May
• 3 and 4 June
Invisible Circus - Weekends of Wonder
Invisible Circus will present Weekends of Wonder (WOW), throughout May and June. The street theatre festival in Broadmead will include an array of vibrant acts performing circus shows and interactive walkabouts to entertain and wow with unexpected happenings, larger than life costumes and awe-inspiring skills.
Save the dates:
• 13 and 14 May
• 20 and 21 May
• 27 and 28 May
• 3 and 4 June
Picturing High Streets
The outdoor exhibition Picturing High Streets tells the stories behind our shopfronts. It celebrates our high street heroes, captures familiar scenes and invites audiences to consider the value and role of their local high street. The free exhibition is free, on Bristol’s Merchant Street, Broadmead.
Bristol is the first host city, showcasing a collection of more than 60 photographs selected from thousands submitted by the general public, documenting and celebrating the high street of today.
Better Sundays at Broadmead
Local, sustainable and diverse, the Better Sundays at Broadmead summer market will be on the third Sunday of the month. Come along for workshops, entertainment, and exciting market stalls from small businesses based in Bristol and the South West.
Better Sundays at Broadmead
Local, sustainable and diverse, the Better Sundays at Broadmead summer market will be on the third Sunday of the month. Come along for workshops, entertainment, and exciting market stalls from small businesses based in Bristol and the South West.
Bump in the Night
People of all ages are invited to join in and celebrate Bristol's historical and cultural heritage through a spectacular lantern carnival on Sunday, October 30th. Spooky stories steeped in Bristol’s rich history and mythology, from ghost ships to giants, will come to life with a parade of illuminated giant puppets starting in Broadmead and finishing on King Street.
To help bring these giant lanterns to life, workshops aimed at all ages and skill levels will be held in October at Bristol Old Vic, The Galleries and in Bristol’s Old City and will include family-friendly half-term dates. Participants can explore the free-to-attend workshops online, choose a lantern, help build it and join the procession.
Better Sundays at Broadmead
Local, sustainable and diverse, the Better Sundays at Broadmead summer market will be on the third Sunday of the month. Come along for workshops, entertainment, and exciting market stalls from small businesses based in Bristol and the South West.
Better Sundays at Broadmead
Local, sustainable and diverse, the Better Sundays at Broadmead summer market will be on the third Sunday of the month. Come along for workshops, entertainment, and exciting market stalls from small businesses based in Bristol and the South West.
Overstory
Overstory, a free-to-attend summer art installation from leading contemporary artists Ivan Morison and Heather Peak, brought to Bristol by The Natural History Consortium, the charity behind the city’s Festival of Nature. Visiting Overstory will make for the perfect family-friendly activity in the centre of Bristol during the school break, with a range of environmental organisations sharing ideas on how to create, protect and explore woodlands and forests in the region running alongside the artwork.
The World Reimagined
The World Reimagined is a national art education project to transform how we understand the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on all of us, so we can make racial justice a reality, together. Bristol is one of seven cities hosting a trail of 10 large globe sculptures, one for each of the nine themes of the Journey of Discovery, and a tenth designed by an artist in collaboration with local community groups.
Better Sundays at Broadmead
Local, sustainable and diverse, the Better Sundays at Broadmead summer market will be on the third Sunday of the month starting on 19 June 2022. Come along for workshops, entertainment, and exciting market stalls from small businesses based in Bristol and the South West.
The Galleries Christmas Pop-Up Cinema
The Galleries Pop-up Cinema showing FREE family films every Saturday and Sunday from 13th November to 19th December