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Charity launches bid to buy Trinity Road Police Station and transform it into a thriving arts and community hub

The bid highlights the social value the centre would deliver to the wider community.

click here for proposed front view
click here for proposed aerial view
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Bricks, a new charity launched by leading figures from the arts community in Bristol and beyond, has launched a bid to buy Trinity Road Police Station in Old Market and transform it into an arts and community hub.

Bricks has emerged in response to the critical need for spaces for the city's artists and community activities for the benefit of the local area.

The initiative brings together artists, social enterprises and community members to reimagine what the building could become. It also sets out a new, sustainable financial model to support artists and the wider community in one of the most deprived areas of the city.

The charity is calling on people to pledge their support and share ideas via its new website.

Avon and Somerset Police previously announced Trinity Road Police Station would be put up for sale this year, with the police continuing to have a presence on the site.

Ideas for the building developed through consultation with artists, community members and community organisations include: a community nursery, cafe, garden area, community meeting and workshop spaces, a bike workshop, exhibition and event spaces, affordable artist studios and accommodation for artists, as well as an outdoor market and office space for creatives and social enterprises.

Bricks' bid to buy the site was submitted last week to the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner, setting out a clear plan for the future of the site, the social value it would create and the partnerships it would deliver.

Kim Wide, chair of Bricks, who is also the CEO of Take a Part, leaders in socially-engaged arts practice, says: "This is an exciting opportunity for the artists and community to work from the very start together to create something that is meaningful and sustainable for everyone involved.  It supports talent development, community cohesion, and placemaking in the local area, and an interdependent network of artists. So the centre will be an incredible shared asset. We need your support and to hear from you, as artists and residents, as we go on this journey to ensure that the space that is created is really for everyone."

In 2017, Jack Gibbon from Antlers Gallery - now Bricks director - made the first step towards creating Bricks by securing a grant to research and develop a new non-profit, sustainable model to deliver spaces for artists.

At the start, it was about looking at how locally-based artistic talent could be supported through providing project space, artist development programmes and studios - but Jack soon realised that by coming together with other social enterprises Bricks could generate social value for wider communities.

Jack Gibbon said: "When Trinity Road Police Station became available for purchase, it made obvious sense as the focus for a new type of arts and community space. The location could potentially join the dots in the visual arts ecology of Bristol, as well as supporting and connecting the local communities of Old Market, Newtown and St Judes.

"By coming together with other artists, social enterprises and community members, we are greater than the sum of our parts and can deliver a resilient, sustainable model for the future. As such, rent paid would go towards paying off the charity's mortgage, rather than to an external organisation that has shareholders to serve.  This model aims to keep the building for Bristol forever."

Too often, artists and community groups transform a space into a community asset, boosting social and economic prospects for an area, only to find the space is sold on and the asset is lost - as we have seen elsewhere in Bristol, for example with Stokes Croft's Hamilton House. In buying the building, which Bricks would do by using mortgage, grants and crowd funding, it can avoid the cycle that keeps artist and community groups in a transitory, unsettled state and often sees them displaced once the property has become more valuable as flats or offices.

Alongside Jack Gibbon and Kim Wide, other key people involved as trustees in Bricks include: John O'Connor, co-founder of Spike Island and Artspace Bristol; Lucy Ward, artist, senior lecturer at UWE Bristol and former director at Jamaica Street Studios; Dean Coates, artist, director at Coates & Scarry and Faction Arts Projects, USA; Jo Lathwood, artist, and co-founder of foundry Ore and Ingot; Kieron Gurner, creative technology designer and queer performance artist; and Russell King, corporate lawyer, formerly a trustee for Peckham Platform.

Bricks is calling on the Bristol community to support its vision by visiting  the website www.bricksbristol.org,  joining  the list of supporters and contributing ideas for the site on the Feedback page. Partnership discussions are already at an advanced stage with a number of organisations including Rising Arts Agency, Raised in Bristol, Bristol Bike Project, Up Our Street, Trinity Centre, and Rise Youth Dance.

Clare Reddington, CEO Watershed, has pledged her support for Bricks' bid, saying: "We see Bricks as an important part of Bristol's future arts ecology and look forward to collaborating with them in this exciting new space."

Bricks has been selected to be part of GUILD 2019-2022, an Arts Council England supported Organisation which explores new models to sustain artist led practice.

Gaynor Seville, GUILD manager, East Street Arts, added: "Bricks offers an entrepreneurial, socially conscious and locally grounded approach to enabling communities through creativity. Their model has great potential and is one of the most exciting ventures for artist and community practice nationally. Bricks has great professionalism, initiative and ambition in their proposed development of Trinity Road Police Station."

Visit https://www.bricksbristol.org to find out more and show your support.

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