7 minute read
CITYIST
THE CITYist
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Villagers from a remote part of Mozambique have said that a borehole part-funded by generous Bristolians has “changed everything for our village”. When Bongai Munguni, a University of Bristol and University of Cape Town joint PhD scholar, asked Bristol people to help get running water to her village for the first time, they stood up to help in their droves. With £3,500 raised – combined with a small loan and £4,500 of Bongai’s own money, saved from her university stipends – Bongai and her family were able to sink a borehole into the ground and connect hundreds of families to running water for the first time. Until now, the women had to walk two hours a day to fetch water from a dirty stream, carrying 20 litres of water at a time on their heads, often with babies strapped to their backs. Now they not only have safe drinking water but can spend more time harvesting their crop, looking after their children and planning ahead for the village. Bongai is part of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, where she researches the impact of poverty, particularly on women. As a child, she walked eight hours every day to go to primary school and did her homework by the light of fires in her Mozambique village. The courageous student and human rights advocate will graduate from Bristol and UCT in two years’ time with a PhD from each.
• Bongai and her village are still welcoming donations to help connect more families to running water and to help finance the school. Donate at: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/community -water
My BRISTOL
Meet the Volunteer and Member Coordinator at The Bristol Bike Project, Lucia Thompson
I have to be honest, I'm not very good at
settling down in a place, I’ve been here for five years. What I like most about Bristol is the variety of off-piste venues and events, and that I can cycle everywhere and there's a river I can swim in.
I'm the Volunteer and Member Coordinator
at The Bristol Bike Project: my day-to-day is a mixture of meetings with people inside and outside the organisation, strategic thinking and planning and day-to-day tasks. It's always having fingers in many pies.
Bristol Bike Project was born in 2008 when
two friends returned from their first cycling tour with a new-found love of bikes and a desire to help their community. James Lucas and Colin Fan had identified a need for affordable transport among asylum seekers in Bristol many of whom were struggling to get about the city to make important appointments and received very little support from the government. Having experienced for themselves the freedom a bicycle can bring, the solution became clear: help people get out on two wheels. They put up posters asking for unwanted bicycles, teamed up with Bristol Refugee Rights to spread the word among their members, and within days were spannering away and rehoming spruced up bicycles with delighted new owners.
We are a comprehensive community bike
project, repairing and rehoming unwanted bicycles. We aim to help people from all walks of life get out on two wheels and we empower people within our community by providing access to affordable and sustainable transportation, encouraging an ethos of DIY and DIT (Do It Together!). We also try to strengthen our community by providing a vibrant and supportive workshop environment for people from all backgrounds to come and work alongside one another. The Bristol Bike Project promotes sustainability by saving bicycles and their working parts from landfill and always encourages reuse wherever possible, offering an alternative to buying new.
Seeing the new sign up on the front of our
Stapleton Road shop entrance was a highlight for me because I know how many meetings, conversations, collaborations, time, love and commitment had gone into making it happen, all on a shoestring and it looks so great!
This year, we're bringing young people back
into the workshop for Friday's After School Bikes drop in, restarting Social Cycle and putting on an Open Day (watch this space) to welcome the local community into the workshop. We're also going to be creating a mural on the wall outside our workshop.
I think Baraka Café in Easton deserves a
shoutout. It has been providing food for people every week throughout the pandemic, and is run by Esther and a great team. Also Rising Arts Agency is a community of young creatives, mobilising others for radical social, political and cultural change.
I’m currently reading To Paradise by Hanya
Yangihara –I love her writing. I also just watched Can You Hear Me on Netflix and highly recommend it.
If I could have dinner with anyone from any
era, I would have dinner with Audre Lorde, an iconic Black lesbian feminist scholar and poet. I would be shy to talk to her but would love to hear her read or in conversation –I am in awe of her work.
My philosophy in life is: try to approach
everything with love and boundaries.
Immersive Van Gogh exhibition set to arrive at secret Bristol location
On 9 April, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, a 360-degree digital art experience, will launch in Bristol –at a location yet to be announced –following hugely successful runs across Europe, America and Asia.
The exhibit invites visitors to step into more than 300 of Van Gogh’s sketches, drawings, and paintings by using floor-to-ceiling digital projections, made possible by state-of-the-art video mapping technology. As well as a 20,000 square foot light and sound spectacular, featuring two-story projections of the artist’s most compelling works, the exhibition also includes a one-of-a-kind VR experience in a separate gallery.
The exhibition first premiered in a cathedral in Naples, Italy, in November 2017. Since then, it has travelled to Brussels, Beijing, Tel Aviv, Austria and Belgium before moving to New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Boston and Houston.
Animated visuals for Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience were created in collaboration with the world-renowned digital media artists Dirty Monitor whose work has been the centrepiece of events such as the Bordeaux Wine Festival, the Beijing International Film Festival, and the new year’s celebrations at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
• Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at: vangoghexpo.com/bristol
The Bristol 500 –a pioneering community group in which members pay £1 a week –has been handing out £500 to at least one different local cause every month. Hundreds have already had a say in which community group, person, family in need or charity should receive funds. Recipients so far include a family fleeing domestic violence, a forest school for children with disabilities and charity Suicide Prevention Bristol. The group has been such a success that its founders have now set themselves the ambitious task of maintaining their current rate of doubling handouts to £1,000 a month. Bristol-based friends Holly Maurice, Colse Leung, Beth Rowley and Dionne Rees run the group voluntarily, and have seen it grow to include members from all across the city.
“It gives people a brilliant way to help those in need on their doorstep,” said Holly. “We have given £8,000 so far to individuals, families and organisations finding themselves in financially challenging times. But we'd love to be able to do more. For the price of a bar of chocolate a week, you can make a massive difference in someone’s life.”
Holly, who set up Bristol Young Heroes Awards in 2013, said they were inspired by actor Joe Sims' 500 Reasons group, which has given away over £130,000 since it started in 2017 and is a massive supporter of this new group.
Live music at Rainbow Casino
This March and April, Rainbow Casino is supporting the best local talent from Bristol and the surrounding areas. From guitarists and jazz soloists to saxophonists and singers, the live music events every Friday and Saturday night are offering something for everyone. Music starts at 8pm, so make sure to get there early to get a good seat. On 12 March, Bristol based Luke Greenhalgh will be livening up audiences’ Saturday night with a bit of swing, jazz and pop.Elsewhere on the line-up, Chrissie Huntley –arguably one of the most exciting upand-coming vocalists in Bristol right now –will be appearing at the casino on 18 March. Having headlined Bristol’s O2 Academy and performed on BBC One, she is not one to miss. Jukebox James is also an exciting solo act from Swindon and will be performing a range of pop classics and rock favourites on 19 March. Ultimately, whether you’re a Bristol-based musician looking to gig at one of the city’s most lively venues or simply looking to ring in the weekend with some live music, these events are for you.
• For more information about the line-up at Rainbow Casino, visit: rainbowcasino.co.uk
