CITYIST

THE CITYist

A world first?

My BRISTOL

Meet digital designer and creative Okori S. Lewis-McCalla

My mother moved to Fishponds from St Pauls when I was born. I liked that it had variety;

Vassals Park, the high street, an after-school club called Harry Crooks (if I remember correctly). Eastville Park wasn’t far either.

Okori is working on decentralising police data

Bristol could soon be host to the world’s first augmented reality zoo, based within Bristol Zoo’s historic 12-acre gardens, which currently appear to be destined for private housing development.

OurWorld Bristol –a collective of organisations and people including the Eden Project and universities of Bristol and Exeter –is committed to creating an inspiring educational visitor attraction space, and convinced the site’s future should be as a resource for discovery via immersive experiences.

They want visitors to experience animals in their natural habitat, even going back millions of years, plus a city garden full of birds, bees, bugs and butterflies; a viewing tower offering sights across Clifton Downs; augmented reality for visualising the distant past and possible future; and a ‘wild island’ where no humans can go, to allow nature to take its course.

The brainchild of film director Stephen Daldry; architect George Ferguson, founder of the Tobacco Factory; and Stuart Wood, executive director at boomsatsuma, OurWorld would be a ‘an oasis of learning of global significance and international reach, forged from Bristol’s long-established place in the world as the Hollywood of natural history film-making’. It would make the most of the city’s capacity for digital innovation, its ‘restless appetite for radical social change’ and international leadership in creative storytelling. There is “no better national or, indeed, global destination more suited to this project,” said Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project.

“We want to create something that brings together the UK’s best qualities –creative, collaborative, spirited and environmentally conscious – to create a place for people to learn about the world around them, just as the zoo has done for generations,” said Stephen.

“We believe it is deliverable if the support exists for it to happen.”

I’ll read before starting work, which will likely involve wireframing/designing/building a

website or web application. Then I’ll go for a walk, do some work for my start-up Voicera, probably try some puzzles, chess or maths, write a little, lift weights and go to bed.

I’m working on decentralising police data, starting with complaints, and creating a platform to facilitate public participation in the

police decision-making process. We have been meeting with police and want to engender a culture of collaboration on community issues, of accountability, of accessibility, and make the UK a safer space.

If I was mayor I’d work with police to make

police data more accessible. I’d look to our tech sector to explore the potentialities of blockchain, and decentralised finance –I’d ask in what ways these nascent technologies can foster new opportunities to better the lives of Bristol people, bolster our creative scene and allow more people across the UK more access to non-custodial financial markets, and those across the world insurance against inflation.

My good friend Nasra Ayub has done nothing but brilliant work ever since we left sixth form.

An award-winning activist, writer, speaker and campaigner, receiving a Diana Award in 2020, she’s put in extensive work safeguarding against FGM, honour-based violence and extremism on national and international levels. Having had the pleasure to grow up with her, it’s been amazing (yet no surprise) to see how far she’s come. Stacey Olika is another bright, talented star; a multi-disciplinary artist in film, photography and graphic design. Channel 4’s recently appointed her as a creative diversity coordinator which has her responsible for increasing representation on and off screen –something she’s always been passionate about and, no doubt, will give her best to achieve.

I recently stumbled upon Idles and Birthmark.

Idles’ sound and message is great. Their latest album Mono is my favourite. They speak to unity, the plight of immigrants/minorities, the power in standing with what you say and believe in. They’re also pretty humorous and get you pumped up! They’re in my top five bands. Birthmark is a cool underground artist I found through a Boiler Room System Restart show at Bristol Museum. The guy was performing the coldest, hard-hitting, introspective spoken word to these ambient beats, with a saxophonist. I needed to know more. I also found out about talented collective Young Echo who, I think, Birthmark has worked with. He served as a gateway to a sound that I never knew existed.

The best Italian meal I’ve had? Prego, near Westbury on Trym. I also like Aluna and the Everyman; I spend way too much time there.

I launched a newsletter called Think Again to share fresh points of view and ideas. It serves to introduce interesting ideas, topics, books and links. I plan to drop occasional think-pieces of my own in. I just love to share. I’ve been interviewing people from all types of academic fields, creative practices and backgrounds: mathematicians, artists, scientists, philosophers, dancers, pianists, authors, computer scientists.

By the end of 2021 I want to have launched the Voicera MVP, have grown my newsletter to 500 subscribers and officially launched the podcast.

I want to end the year a better friend, family member, and leader for my team.

I have two or three swimming awards from junior school lying around in my mother’s house –and yet I cannot swim.

The local community has been invited to have their say on the future of the name of Colston’s School, with the launch of a survey as part of the consultation.

The school is keen to hear the views of all stakeholder groups and individuals, including staff, parents, former pupils and the wider general public. All can access the survey, review the resource materials available and submit their views through the school’s website.

Current pupils will be submitting their views in a manner appropriate to their age, given that this ranges from three to 18.

“We are very keen to hear the views of as many people as possible to help drive the decision around the future of the school’s name,” explained headmaster Mr Jeremy McCullough. “We understand that there are numerous viewpoints on this complex issue, and hope that the range of resources and research materials our pupils have had the opportunity to engage with, and that are available on the website, will also help the community form their own thoughts and opinions.” The survey will be available until Friday 16 July. Following this, the data will be collated, verified and analysed, and then passed onto the school governors who will meet to consider the responses in September. The governors will then make a decision on the future of the school’s name. For a paper copy of the survey and a pre-paid return envelope, contact the school on 0117 965 5134 or email them via Pupils will also nameconsultation@colstons.org. submit their views • colstons.org/name-consultation

Big win for Bristol animators

Local independent animation studio A Productions has scooped a national TV industry award for a series that has broken new ground in pre-school programming.

JoJo and Gran Gran: It’s Time to Go to the Hairdresser’s is the first UK pre-school animation to centre around a Black British family and is based on books by Laura Henry. Created by BBC Children’s In-House Production in collaboration with A Productions for CBeebies, it won the Best Pre-School Programme category at the recent Broadcast Awards.

A Productions is an internationally recognised, creative-led, multi-discipline studio with a track record for making award-winning children’s content for broadcast.

The studio’s 150-strong team is immersed in the hotbed of TV and film production that Bristol is renowned for, and specialises in traditional and digital 2D stop frame, CGI, AFX, Flash and live action, both in studio and on location.

They undertook extensive research and interviews in Bristol, creating a panel made up of a range of voices from local communities that worked closely with the creative team on JoJo and Gran Gran. “This fantastic recognition is testament to the entire team who have thrown their hearts and souls into this important show,” said Katherine McQueen, joint managing director of A Productions. “For us, it was crucial that JoJo and Gran Gran had an authentic voice and truly told the stories and experiences of the communities and characters it portrayed. We hope this series will help to pave the way for better representation in pre-school programming and beyond in the future.”

Creators interviewed Bristol folk to inform the making of the show

MAKING A B-LINE

For National Meadows Day (3 July), Avon Wildlife Trust is turning the spotlight on wildflower-rich habitats –vital, precious parts of our landscape which have fallen by a staggering 97% since the 1930s.

The impact on wildlife has been devastating: a recent report identified the loss and fragmentation of flower-rich habitat as the likely cause of the recorded decline in diversity of wild bees and other pollinating insects. Tragically, half of the UK’s 24 bumblebee species are in freefall, while two-thirds of our moths and over 70% of our butterflies are in long-term decline.

But there are solutions, and the B-Lines project, with the charity Buglife, is identifying and delivering 3km-wide ‘corridors’ of restored wildlife-rich habitat across the Avon area. These insect pathways will weave across the countryside and towns around Bristol, linking existing wildlife areas and creating a network, a bit like a railway. This will provide large areas of new habitat benefiting not only bees and butterflies, but a host of other wildlife.

Already, more than 150 hectares of wildflower-rich grassland have been restored within Avon, with 24 bee banks created – areas of marginal land in both rural and urban areas which are managed to attract bees.

The dream is that, in time, B-Lines will help to deliver a ‘nature recovery network’ across the region –interconnected across the four counties of Avon and beyond, where wild plants and animals don’t simply survive in diminishing numbers but thrive, moving from place to place, living, feeding and flourishing into the future.

• avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/what-wedohow-we-manage-natural-landscapes/ west-england-b-lines-project

Marsh fritillary were once widespread