Southbank Arts Trail - 8 an 9 May

The 2010 Southbank Bristol Arts Trail takes place this weekend, 8 and 9 May. This year, over 55 venues will be opening to show the art, performances and other such things of over 150 artists.

Wander the happy streets of Southville, Bedminster and Ashton, pop into homes, churches, bars, cafés, community centres and all kinds of other spots and see some interesting and diverse work.

Trail brochures, with a map, venue details, events listings and the like are available at several venues, including the Southville Centre, which acts as the main hub of the Trail. There you can see over 30 artists, musicians, makers, and all sorts under one roof, grab refreshments and contribute to a message to the future.
It's highly recommened!

Art for art's sake

Our local Arts Trail will take place on the weekend of 8 and 9 May 2010. You'll be able to see a range of arts and crafts in public places as well as private homes in and around Southville, Bedminster and Ashton.

Banksy, but without the queue

Simply Southville has eventually got round to visiting the Banksy exhibition at the city museum and can highly recommend it. However, based on the 'three-hour queue' stories got up there at 1pm and waited for about an hour and 45 minutes to get in. Not too bad I thought.

However, as I waited it became clear that the overall queue was dwindling. When I'd looked round the exhibition and came out at 3.45pm there was only about 30 or so people waiting to get in. I'm sure they'd all be in within a quarter of an hour.

The exhibition has a last entry at 4.30pm and closes at 5pm. I walked past the museum again at 4.25pm and guess what? No queue, you could walk straight in.

So if you've been put off by the stories about never-ending queues, go late in the day and if today was a good example, you'll get in pretty quickly. One word of warning though, Wednesday is late night viewing so the 4pm(ish) quick entry might not work so well.

Zambia comes to Southville

Local project Creative Kids International is bringing a bit of Zambia to BS3 this weekend with a fundraising show at the Tobacco Factory. There's a Zambian-themed fashion show at 7pm, followed by afro-jazz group Helele at 9pm. Tickets are available from the Tobacco Factory box office - 0117 902 0344. There's also a free part to the event from 4pm where you can browse stalls selling clothes and accessories.

Creative Kids International links children in Bristol and Lusaka, Zambia through visual art workshops in both countries.

Arts Trail Triumph

Congratulations to everyone involved with this year's Arts Trail (9-10 May). The sun shone and the streets of Bristol were filled with people clutching maps, seeking out the 50+ venues on the trail. Simply Southville HQ has two new prints and a fine teapot. All bought in the community from the community. Great stuff

Get ready for the Arts Trail, 9-10 May

The seventh Southbank Bristol Arts Trail is a weekend of arts and performance in homes, churches, community centres and public houses around Southville, Bedminster and Ashton. Venues will be open on 9 and 10 May 2009, between 11 am and 6 pm. The first venue on the trail is the Southville Centre.

For more details of the trail, venues and a route map check out the Southbank Bristol Arts website.

What is Spring Froward?

On the weekend that the clocks go forward (27-29 March), ‘Spring Forward’ will transform the windows of disused shop fronts and businesses into picture frames by using light and projected images from within. The films are viewed from the outside and therefore can be seen by the public outside the normal art gallery setting. More information at http://www.illuminatebristol.co.uk/

Deadline looming for 2009 Arts Trail

The 2009 Southbank Bristol Arts Trail is coming in May and the deadline to take part has been slightly extended, to 28 February 2009.

The seventh Arts Trail will be a weekend of arts and performance in homes, churches, community centres and public houses around Southville, Bedminster and Ashton on 9 and 10 May 2009. More information on the Southbank Bristol Arts website.

Thespians in Southville

I didn't realise we had an amateur dramatic group in Southville, But we do! St Paul’s Players has been based in Southville for over fifty years. The club generally has two main productions a year in the spring and autumn. Check out its website.