A major charity drive has been launched to turn one of Bristol’s biggest police stations into a new arts and community hub.
Leading figures from the city’s arts community have come together to create a charity called Bricks, which hopes to raise enough money to buy and then transform the Trinity Road police station in Old Market.
Those behind the charity said they are trying to provide more spaces for artists to work in Bristol - at a time when there are increasingly fewer.
The launch referenced the saga of what has happened at Hamilton House, in Stokes Croft, where a large number of artists left when the building’s owners took control back from the artist-focused group running the building.
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Avon and Somerset police revealed earlier this year that they were looking to dispose of the large Trinity Road police station complex, but maintain a smaller presence in the building. Supt Andy Bennett said it was Bristol police station ‘too large and expensive’ to run is being sold.
The building is due to go up for sale later this year, and it remains to be seen who will buy it and what their plans for it are.
But the people behind Bricks said there is a feeling in the community that it should be kept as a community asset.
They said the project would bring together artists, social enterprises and community members to ‘reimagine what the building could become’.
It also sets out ‘a new, sustainable financial model’ which will support artists and the wider community.
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The chair of Bricks is Kim Wide, who is also the CEO of Take a Part, leaders in socially-engaged arts practice.
“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,” she said.
“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,” she added.
Jack Gibbon, from Antlers Gallery, founded what has now become Bricks back in 2017, when he was awarded a grant to research and develop ways of creating spaces for artists.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
How would it work?
A Bricks spokesperson said: “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,” she added.
Who is involved?
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.
What happens next?
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.
Bricks has launched a campaign to get people involved, with ideas and support to back the project.
