CITYIST

THE CITYist

BLOOM & WLD LAUNCH FIRST EVER POP-UP

From May to July, Bloom & Wild will host a series of pop-up shops, for the first time. With locations across London, Bristol and Edinburgh, the pop-ups shops will allow customers to browse and purchase botanical treats and homeware.

With the concept ‘Bloom & Wild at home’, the shops will be full of exclusive plants (starting from as little as £2), bestseller dried flowers and a range of vases and pots.

In addition, a team of experts will be on hand to chat through and share sneak peeks of the upcoming bouquets within

Bloom & Wild’s new fortnightly flower subscription. This subscription will introduce customers to new, impactmaking stems for only £25 per delivery.

And as a bonus, Bloom & Wild will give everyone who arrives at any of the popup shops with a free ticket the chance to win a year of flowers too.

• Look out for Bloom & Wild’s pop up at Liberty House, 11-13 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3PY from 30 June to 3 July

My BRISTOL

Meet Carly Heath, Night Time Economy Advisor for Bristol

Like so many others, I moved to Bristol for

university and never left, that was 18 years ago now. I met some amazing friends whilst promoting music events. I started by standing outside venues flyering at 3am… I’ve been part of the fabric of the city ever since. Bristol is one of those magical places, where friendships can forge, connections are made, and the community comes together to help drive change and make things happen. It has a national and international reputation as a leading city when it comes to music and culture. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

The Mayor appointed me as the Night Time

Economy Advisor to represent that part of the city’s economy that’s active between 6pm to 6am. His ambition is to have a thriving, safe and diverse night time economy and has tasked me with the job of working with relevant sectors, to represent them and provide him with the advice and guidance needed to shape progressive policies that supports inclusive and sustainable growth. It means I sit somewhere between industry and policy. I help businesses embed best practices for their workforces and try to help the night time economy thrive.

My work touches on many areas, from safety, drug and alcohol harm reduction, mental health to skills and training. I work with colleagues in the council across public health, planning, licencing and economic development, and try to champion best practice on a local, national and international level.

This first year has been all about helping to

create a safer and more welcoming environment for everyone to enjoy Bristol’s amazing nightlife. Under the ‘Bristol Nights’ umbrella for all things night time, we’ve worked on a number of campaigns from the Bristol Rules, helping people returning to nightlife to have a safe night out after opening post-pandemic, or the Stop-Spiking campaign, embedding a city-wide response into 154 venues across Bristol. Since January 2022, we have been tackling misogyny and harassment, you might have seen our It’s Not Okay antisexual harassment campaign in Bristol. We’ve accompanied this with training for nightlife workers and the launch of a Women’s Safety Charter to help businesses design for safety.

The city doesn’t stop at 6 o’clock, and

through training and a coordinated approach, the night time economy can be part of the solution in making Bristol the best place to live, work or play in.

I want to shout out to the 100s of nightlife

workers that have engaged in our training to create a zero-tolerance attitude to harassment in our nightlife spaces, the venues for investing their time and energy to embed these policies into their own businesses. Also to the army of promoters, musicians and audiences who create such a welcoming environment in Bristol’s nightlife.

I religiously listen to Felix Joy on the SWU FM Breakfast show, and so many of their shows are an incredible snapshot of the Bristol music community. I am listening to the Greentea Peng album Man Made or Children of Zeus’s Balance. I am currently reading The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart.

Bristol’s food game is amazing. I can’t get

enough of the variety down at Wapping Wharf, my particular favorite is the Katsu Arancini Balls at Seven Lucky Gods. I’m really enjoying some of our newer spaces, such as Propyard, Lost Horizons and Strange Brew. I love so much of what Bristol has to offer, but Teachings in Dub at Trinity is fairly high on my list.

If I could have dinner with anyone from any

era I would have to choose Mansa Musa, the middle-ages Malian Emperor and possibly the richest person to ever live. He journeyed with a caravan of gold-laden camels through the Sahara Desert and gave away so much that it depressed the price of gold in Cairo for years after his visit. I reckon a feast at that table would be pretty spectacular.

My philosophy in life is: keep love in your

heart, every day is a brand new start.

SHAKESPEAREAN MASTERCLASS

Melissa Thom from the Bristol Academy of Voice Acting (BRAVA) is empowering and supporting others to join the voice acting career path. Melissa and her team create regular classes and workshops for those interested in this specialist and increasingly popular career. As part of the regular workshops from the team at BRAVA, there is now a new three-week programme surrounding the widely-loved play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

These Shakespearean sessions are for anyone. You don’t need any prior experience in reading or acting Shakespeare, just a desire to learn more about the playwright as a voice actor and discover why he is as alive and as relevant to our lives today as he was in Elizabethan times.

This three-week masterclass will be led by renowned Shakespeare actor and master coach, Chris Donnelly.

Chris has worked as an actor for twenty-five years, playing various roles on TV in the UK, upwards of thirty radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and a wide array of roles in theatre, nationally and internationally. He's played the title role of Macbeth, Prospero in The Tempest and Iago in Othello.

• Book tickets to the Shakespeare and The Voice Masterclass at: brava.uk.com

DINOSAURS LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE

Featuring an original Tyrannosaurus rex and juvenile score by multiple Academy Awardshown in Prehistoric Planet Courtesy of Apple TV+ winner Hans Zimmer, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and produced by the worldrenowned team at BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit based in Bristol, an enthralling exploration of ancient earth has been released on Apple TV+.

Prehistoric Planet is a five-episode groundbreaking series that transports viewers 66 million years in the past to discover our world – and the dinosaurs that roamed it –all in stunning detail. It presents littleknown and surprising facts of dinosaur life set against the backdrop of the environments of Cretaceous times, including coasts, deserts, freshwater, ice worlds and forests. From revealing eye-opening parenting techniques of Tyrannosaurus rex to exploring the mysterious depths of the oceans and the deadly dangers in the sky, Prehistoric Planet brings Earth’s history to life like never before.

The series combines award-winning wildlife filmmaking, the latest palaeontology learnings and state-of-the-art technology to unveil the spectacular habitats and inhabitants of ancient earth for a one-of-a-kind immersive experience.

The BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit worked in conjunction with the photorealistic visual effects of MPC (The Lion King, The Jungle Book) and brought together huge names from across the industry including the executive producers Jon Favreau, who was involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and Mike Gunton, whose previous credits include the BAFTA and Emmy-winning documentary Planet Earth II.

ROCKHAMPTON FOLK FESTIVAL RETURNS

Bristol is renowned for one of the most lively and eclectic music scenes in the UK. But in the countryside around our city it’s often harder to find opportunities to hear topquality live music. In the small Gloucestershire village of Rockhampton, 15 miles north of Bristol, two professional musicians are working hard to bridge the divide and have created the Rockhampton Folk and World Music Festival. Flautist Nicki Woodward is the artistic inspiration behind the festival. She studied at the prestigious Royal College of Music, but her heart has always been in folk and world music. “We pride ourselves on bringing top-quality performers to our village,” says Nicki. “As well as traditional music and dance from the British Isles this year we’re going more global.” The line-up includes Palestinian Nay flute master Faris Ishaq, a group from São Paolo in Brazil who were voted best street band of the year in the city, and Indian-inspired folk duo Mishra who have been shortlisted for BBC Young Folk awards. “I know from my own experience how tough it is for young musicians to get started in their career, and that’s harder now than ever.” Nicki works in partnership with Live Music Now, a charity started by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, to connect young performers with local communities. “Our festival gives young talent a platform to perform and supports them in those crucial early days of their career.” Nicki's partner in organising the Rockhampton Folk Festival is Chris White-Horne. Chris used to live in Bavaria on the doorstep of the Alps. “Folk music is at the heart of the Bavarian culture,” explains Chris. “I played in a traditional Lederhosen-clad band and really wanted to bring them to the UK when we returned to this country. So we teamed up with the village community choir and Rockhampton Folk Festival was born.” Since that first festival in 2014, the event has grown in reputation but Chris and Nicki have no desire to create a big commercial event. “Small is beautiful. There are no commercial stalls, it’s simply about top notch music, local food and drink and a family-friendly safe atmosphere.” Making a difference to their community is at the heart of what Nicki and Chris do. “Many people in our community don’t have the opportunity to experience live performance,” explains Nicki, “so we bring music to them.” The team have secured support from the Arts Council festival musicians perform in local schools and care homes. The focus is on young people, special needs settings and groups such as those with dementia. “It’s perhaps the most rewarding part of the whole thing,” enthuses Chris, “to see the smiling faces and the joy that music can bring.”

• The Rockhampton Folk Festival takes place on Saturday 18 June. Find out more at: rockhamptonfolkfest.org.uk