Bristol Music Trust has committed to changing the name of Colston Hall, the city’s flagship concert venue, by the autumn following the removal of the Edward Colston statue in the city centre during last weekend’s Black Lives Matter protest.
Until the new name is announced, the trust has said the external signage on the building is being removed “as a demonstration of our commitment”. The trust has clarified that the venue was built in 1867, 146 years after Colston died, and not founded using his money.
In 2017, the trust announced plans to change the building’s name by spring 2020. Chief executive Louise Mitchell described the Colston name as “a toxic brand”. A consultation process involving 4,000 people from communities across the city was delayed owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
The venue, which stands on Colston Street, is currently closed for a multimillion-pound redevelopment “The current name does not reflect our values as a progressive, forward-thinking and open arts organisation,” the trust said in a statement. “We want it to be representative of the city, a beacon of its values of hope, diversity and inclusion.”
Bristol group Massive Attack have refused to perform at the concert hall while it bears the name of the slave trader, whose company transported more than 100,000 slaves from west Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas between 1672 and 1689, cramming them into ships to maximise profit.
The slaves, including women and children, were branded on the chest with the company’s initials, RAC. Unhygienic conditions, dehydration, dysentery and scurvy killed more than 20,000 during the crossings. Their bodies were thrown overboard.
The bronze statue of Colston, erected in 1895, was toppled by participants during the city’s Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June and thrown into the harbour.
