3 minute read
MUSIC
Beacon of hope
The venue formerly known as Colston Hall asks the city to embrace its new name – positioning the concert hub as a focal point and source of inspiration – and absorb it into its entertainment lexicon
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The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix are among the many music legends who have raised the roof of Bristol’s historic concert venue on Trenchard Street at one time or another. Given they were the forward-thinking creatives of their generation, we don’t think it’s too much of a supposition to suggest they’d probably have got behind the venue’s latest headline-making happening too.
One of the most controversial projects in the country is reaching its conclusion as its physical transformation gets closer to completion, and with the new name for the venue formerly known as Colston Hall now announced as the Bristol Beacon.
Images of Bristol flashed all around the world on 7 June when protesters pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston, rolled it through the streets and dumped it in the harbour. While a name change for the music venue that bore his name has been in talks for years, the statue’s toppling, and the global attention on the city which ensued, brought the issue into even sharper focus.
Branding agency Saboteur worked with the community to develop the new name as part of the venue’s most radical transformation in its 150-year history. Local schools and creative organisations took part along with the strategic research consultancy Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, and the Bristol Music Trust. Bristol’s mayor, Marvin Rees, took a personal interest in the project.
The name was chosen because it describes a focal point, a gathering place and a source of inspiration – a place that will be visible beyond the boundaries of the city – which everyone involved in the project felt encapsulated what the venue means for the city. The idea is to ‘set music free’.
“The more I see ‘set music free’, the more I like it and the more it makes me think that is exactly what this process is doing for us,” said Andy Boreham, head of marketing at Bristol Music Trust, while Louise Mitchell, the Trust’s chief executive, said: “I couldn’t be more pleased with this outcome and it’s been a complete delight to work with Saboteur, who taught me loads about branding but also a lot about ourselves, which I’m sure will stay in the organisation for a long time to come.”
In addition to the big stars and bands, Bristol Beacon hosts a diverse variety of events and education workshops and it was felt that the new name would better represent the content of the shows and performances it puts on for the multicultural audience in Bristol.
“This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Nick Eagleton of Saboteur. “This project is about much more than renaming a venue –the conversations around it have been about the identity of the city itself. We had to set this great venue free; free from the murky clouds of a name with a dark history. Free from the assumption that this was exclusively for the white, middle-aged, middle class. And we had to allow it to be free to soar like music itself. Free to challenge, provoke and seduce. Free to be the place where everyone in the city could find something that they loved.
We had to plunge into the heart and soul of Bristol... It was a joy, because Bristolians don’t hold back
“We had to plunge into the heart and soul of Bristol and we did that with a huge collaborative group that spanned the whole community, from schoolchildren to the mayor himself. It was a joy, because Bristolians don’t hold back – if they’ve got something to say, they say it. This was a great, inspiring project. What wonderful, uplifting people to work with. And what a start for our new branding studio. We feel as if we landed a part in a great blockbuster show. How often do you get the chance to make history? And how often do you make new friends for life?” ■