The Bristol Commons - Spring Gathering at The Trinity Centre
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A event held at The Trinity Centre on Saturday 22nd March. The event starts at 10:00.


The Bristol Commons is a growing movement rooted in Community Power, Land Justice & Systemic Change.

With a focus on joy and creativity, our aim is to nurture a culture of collaboration and cultivate a network of reciprocity between communities and organisations across Bristol. By rebuilding the commons, we can reclaim our collective power and strengthen resilience in the face of unfurling crises.

See our website for more info!
https://thebristolcommons.org/

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We invite you to participate in a vibrant, community-powered gathering focused on Recommoning Bristol and Strengthening Community Power! Building on two years of collaboration, creativity, and commoning, let's bring into action a collective vision for change.

Join us for - a day and night of…

✨Connection:
Meet changemakers, grassroots groups, and organisations shaping Bristol’s future.
✨Collaboration:
The Bristol Commons and Trinity will be working in partnership to hold a people’s assembly. This is an opportunity to share your power and wisdom to help shape Bristol’s communities and futures.
✨Celebration:
Share in live music, collaborative performances, Incredible food from The Community Kitchen and powerful stories by the fire.
✨Evening Magic:
There will be stories, songs, fireside conversations and feasting. We will be hosting an open-mic as well as a dance powered by 1Relation Soundsystem, a local crew playing the best of roots dub & reggae.

~ Themes of the Day ~
The heart of the festival will be built around three pillar themes that will shape the day’s conversations, workshops, and activities. For this year’s festival, we’re focusing on

Music & Arts – Celebrate creativity as a medium for connection and social change.
Health & Care – Dive into community-driven solutions for well-being and mutual care.
Housing – Discuss how we can protect and empower fair, sustainable, and shared living spaces for all.

Whilst being the main focus, the day is not limited to these themes and there will be workshops on a variety of other topics.

In the spirit of commoning and co-creation, we have launched an open call-out for workshop/session submissions! The focus does not necessarily need to fit within the boundaries of the pillar themes and we are leaving plenty of space in the program for sessions to explore other themes that are important to you or your wider community.

Check out our instagram or website for more info if you would like to apply!

~ Kids Space ~
There will be a dedicated kids space as well as workshops on commoning designed to inspire and engage children with the principles and ideas of the commons.

~ Get Involved ~
If you are interested in helping to plan and curate this event, please contact [email protected] as we are currently looking to grow the capacity of our events team!

~ Values ~
We value everybody. That includes ourselves, each other, our city, our natural world, our relationships, our communities, our planet. This may sound silly or obvious, but we want to be explicit.

This event and this movement is rooted in social and ecological justice. We want to co-create fairer, more engaging, more creative, more effective ways to look after the spaces, places and shared resources that we all need to thrive.

We are a mixed-race, multi-faith, LGBQTI+ friendly movement, and we work in solidarity with people who are marginalised by our society. We practise tolerance, but stand opposed to discrimination of any kind. We strive to create safe and brave spaces where we can express our authentic opinions and concerns respectfully - so that we are careful not to harm or negatively impact others.

We take collective responsibility for this, and Coexist and the volunteer team will be on hand to help hold the space in a caring and proactive way.

~ Accessibility ~
We want to make sure that this event and movement is accessible and inclusive as possible. It is being hosted at Trinity which is an accessible venue, with accessible toilets and step-free access throughout. For more details please visit: https://www.trinitybristol.org.uk/accessibility

~ Cost ~
As well as physical accessibility, we wanted to make certain that no-one would be financially excluded from the event. We have therefore decided to host on a donation basis - with a suggested donation rate for individuals (£5) and those coming on behalf of organisations (£10). No-one will be excluded due to lack of finance. The lunchtime meal will also be by donation - ensuring everyone has something warm and tasty for their bellies!

~ Background ~
Since the eviction from our flagship project Hamilton House in 2018, Coexist has been reimagining its purpose. In this transitory phase we opted to take a supportive role in nurturing community spaces as opposed to offering front-line services involved in running a community hub. This included assisting the set-up and running of the mutual-aid network that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as re-launching the Coexist Community Kitchen in Easton. In addition, over the last few years Coexist has supported various community organisations including: Bricks (St. Anne’s House), PRSC, Docklands, St. Pauls Learning Centre and All Hallows Hall with resources, mentoring and advice.

This work has informed a new strategy - to protect, champion and nurture Bristol’s cultural and community assets. This involves safeguarding vital spaces and places - as well as organisations and community projects - from the multiple crises we currently face. Austerity, rising energy costs, the cost-of-living crisis, climate change, community trauma, poor mental health, staff burn-out, the education crisis, lack of youth services, the housing crisis - the list of pressures is a seemingly endless and painful reality to many people and organisations in our community.

Neither Bristol City Council or the government has been able to mitigate these issues. They are systemic, endemic and intersectional: Many converge and affect the most marginalised people in our city. We need a new, strategic, dynamic and collaborative movement to solve these problems. We need people and organisations working together - not competing with each other - to create a culture and build a movement for change. Most of all, we need the space and resources to be able to create a bright future - and to do this we must Rebuild The Commons!

Entry requirements: no age restrictions

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