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Meet the founder of Bristol Academy of Voice Acting (BRAVA), Melissa Thom

200-year-old venue receives funding for performance area

A music venue in Bristol can create a second performance area and hold more events following a grant from the charity Music Venue Trust (MVT). Louisiana received £4,855.28 from MVT’s Pipeline Investment Fund to pay for speakers and a new mixing desk. “Running a venue, especially one that is over 200-year-old, is very expensive. With running costs increasing daily, it means that we no longer have the funds to put aside for reinvestment into projects such as this. The funding received means that we can fit a second stage in the bar area, and will now look to host more weekend events over two floors. This will mean an increase in the amount of artists we can book in to play,” said venue owner Mig Schillace. Schillace turned to Music Venue Trust following the announcement of the charity’s Pipeline Investment Fund, a major new funding initiative which provides grants of up to £5,000 for UK Grassroots Music Venues. The Pipeline Investment Fund was established with the support of members of the Music Venues Alliance and was primarily funded by donations from ticket sales of MVT’s recent Revive Live programme of gigs around the UK, which was a partnership with The National Lottery. The first recipients of the grants are 11 Grassroots Music Venues who have received almost £40,000 in total for a range of lighting, sound and associated equipment purchases, air conditioning units and building work.

I’ve lived in Bristol for 18 years and there’s so

much that makes the city unique. For me, it’s the people and the feel of the place. I love that we have so many large green spaces that are all walkable from the centre.

I started my career in commercial radio – on

Brighton’s Surf 107.2 as station voice in 1999, then weekday breakfast presenter for GWR’s Gemini FM; weekends on Bristol’s Galaxy 101. I’ve been voicing for brands in the commercial and corporate sector for many years and a bit later got involved in gaming, which I absolutely love. I’m also experienced in marketing, digital agencies and startups. In 2016, I spent nearly two years in California working as a voice actor, which was a blast. I worked with some of the best in the industry and established my career in America, signing to a number of US agents, who I continue to voice for today. When I came back to the UK, I started teaching voice acting at drama schools, including Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and LIPA, alongside my full time role as a VO. Lockdown was a difficult time for many professional actors, while the voice acting industry continued to thrive. It was at that point I thought about setting up something more established, and it made sense to pass on some of my knowledge and experience in a meaningful and useful way, as well as bring in some of the master coaches from America that I’d met along the way. During the pandemic, actors were coming to me to help them add VO to their skillset and BRAVA was born out of that need.

BRAVA offers personalised training in the art and

business of voiceover and is aimed at anyone interested in adding voice acting to their skillset. We bring together performance experts from the UK and US to deliver high quality training and advice about the industry. Much of our offering is 1-1, as well as group sessions, and cover a wide range of topics, including Getting Started in VO, Corporate, Commercial and Narration, Performance Techniques, Auditions, Vocal Health and Presentation Skills. We also invite master coaches from the US to run in-person sessions.

BRAVA is made up of some really lovely people, so it’s a genuine joy when we come together. But people tell us it’s about so much more. We really help to build confidence in performers, as that’s often the barrier to entry, and we provide consistent support.

We’ve got a lot going on at BRAVA this year,

delivering our core teaching and training and we’ll be heading back to San Francisco in late March to showcase our talent, which I’m really excited about. We’ve got a whole roster of events including talks from industry professionals, masterclasses, our advanced character summer workshop and more –and we’ll continue to work with our incredible partners across the city to support our talent every step of the way.

When I’m looking to be entertained in the city, I either head to The Everyman or Watershed to watch as many films as possible. Chandos Road is where I pop out for a drink or a bite to eat. I love going to St George’s to listen to some music or Bristol Old Vic to catch a play when I can.

At the moment, I’m reading Katherine Rundell’s

The Transformations of John Donne and I’m savouring every single sentence. She is an incredible writer. I’ve recently started watching Tokyo Vice, which I’m loving. I’m mainly listening to Agnes Obel and local artist, Billy Nomates, on repeat. Even the kids know all the words. And Radio Paradise when I want to feel like I’m back in sunny California.

If I could have dinner with anyone from any era,

it would have to be Nina Simone. I met her while I was hosting the Bishopstock Blues Festival in 2001. I think her art is something quite unique. Meeting her briefly was something I’ll never forget and I would love to sit down and have dinner with her for a longer conversation.

My philosophy in life is: keep it simple, focus on

the next step and surround yourself with people that make you feel good. Travel and read as much as you can and be genuinely interested in other people. That approach has saved me many times whenever I’ve encountered difficulties on my travels.

Belly Laughs returns to Bristol

Belly Laughs is returning this month to once again banish winter blues. If you’ve not heard of it before, Belly Laughs is a comedy and food festival that brings smiles to faces, punters to independent venues, and money to local grassroots charities. Now in its fifth year, the team have recently announced that they’re adding Bath and Birmingham into the mix. Since being founded in Bristol by comedian

Mark Olver in 2018, Belly Laughs has raised over £100k for local and grassroots charities and put an estimated £120k into local hospitality.

This year, with three cities under their belts, they’ll be running over 100 gigs and expecting to raise a bumper amount for their chosen charities.

In Bristol, they’ve partnered with the charity Caring in Bristol, which supports homeless and vulnerable people across the city. The festival will also be supporting other local charities including FareShare South West and Julian Trust. What’s more, to make their events as inclusive as possible, Belly Laughs have dropped their ticket price from £10 to £5. Founder Mark said: “We’re really excited to have our January gigs running across three cities with an amazing range of comedians and know that this year will be fantastic and bigger than ever before. I’m slightly nervous but in the usual chaos of Belly Laughs I know we’ll pull it off. I’m always blown away by people’s generosity at these events and am sure we can raise some money for these great causes whilst having a bit of a laugh at the same time”

• Tickets are on sale at: yuup.co/belly-laughs

Upfest to take a break in 2023

Europe’s largest street art festival, Upfest, will move to a biannual model, taking a break in 2023, following the rise in infrastructure costs. Organisers have made the tough decision to not hold the festival in 2023 as they focus attention into planning ahead for 2024 with another stellar line-up of artists.

Upfest is a highly anticipated event on Bristol’s cultural calendar, which attracts over 50,000 visitors to the festival across the weekend. As one of the city’s largest free-to-attend festivals, it is important to the Upfest team that it remains a free festival for everyone to attend. Previous editions have brought phenomenal, large-scale murals to Bedminster.

Due to the increasing costs related to putting on such a large-scale event, bringing world-class street artists from across the globe to the city of Bristol, festival organisers need to raise at least £180,000 to stage the free event in 2024. The Upfest team will focus on other projects and interventions throughout 2023 including artist exhibitions at their North Street Gallery, as well as getting a head start on 2024 planning.

Upfest 2022 saw the festival move to a brand new location at Greville Smyth Park, as well as Ashton Gate Stadium and the Tobacco Factory, and saw over 400 artists from 70 countries congregate for a weekend of street art magic. World-class artists such as Aches, Inkie, Kashink, L7m,

Sabek and Goin are amongst the many talents to have picked up a can of spray paint and unleash their unique talents onto the blank canvas of Bedminster’s high streets.

Bristol Sounds announces 2023 line-up

Bristol Sounds has revealed the first acts on the bill for the return of this harbourside gig series, with Jacob Collier, James and Leveller’s Beautiful Day Out making up three nights of the action at Lloyds Amphitheatre. The event returns from 21 –25 June. Dubbed one of the most innovative musicians of his generation, Jacob Collier will hit the stage on Thursday 22nd June. Since his self made Youtube videos achieved legendary status in the music world, he has been renowned for his stellar collaborations with the likes of John Mayer, Lizzo and Mahalia. Expect the ultimate singalong when James plus Guests take over the stage on Friday 23 June. The legendary Manchester rock band follow a huge pedigree of artists who have graced the stage at Bristol Sounds over the years including Noel Gallagher, Elbow and The Kaiser Chiefs. Saturday 24 June will see an all day festival take over the Lloyds Amphitheatre. A Beautiful Day Out with Levellers will feature The Selecter, Black Grape, Peat & Diesel, Goldie Lookin Chain, Gaz Brookfield and Emily Breeze perform thoughout the day, with a second acoustic stage to be revealed in the new year. An additional two nights of shows are still to be announced for Bristol Sounds, as well as support artists across al the shows.