Culture in Bristol

Bristolis a city inSouth West England. As the largest city in the region it is a centre for the arts and sport. The region has a distinctWest Country dialect.
In summer the grounds ofAshton Courtto the west of the city play host to theBristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major event forhot air ballooningin Britain. The Fiesta draws a substantial crowd even for the early morning lift that typically begins at about 6.30 am. Events and a fairground entertain the crowds during the day. A second mass ascent is then made in the early evening, again taking advantage of lower wind speeds.
The annualBristol International Festival of Kites and Air Creations,featuring kite makers and flyers from around the world, takes place in September at Ashton Court.
From 1974 until 2007, Ashton Court also played host to theAshton Court festivaleach summer, an outdoors music festival which used to be known as the Bristol Community Festival. Torrential rain during the 2007 festival and mounting costs incurred as a result of theLicensing Act 2003led to the dissolution of the not-for-profit company which organised the event.
The annualBristol Harbour Festivalfeatures displays oftall shipsand musical performances. TheSt Pauls Carnivaltakes place in Bristol during the summer and features a procession and late night music.
TheSlapstick Festivalcelebrates silent film comedy every January and the organisation also promotes screenings throughout the year.In November the Encounters Short Film Festival offers a platform for new short films.The biennial Wildscreen Festival showcases wildlife filmmaking in the city that is home to theBBC Natural History Unit.
TheGreat Reading Adventurewas introduced in 2003 as part of Bristol's bid to beEuropean Capital of Culture 2008. It was inspired by an equivalent scheme inChicago, where they were reading Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbird. In its first year in excess of 15,000 people readTreasure IslandbyRobert Louis Stevensonas part of the scheme.The Bristol Art Library(TBAL) is an art performance project created in 1998 by British artist Annabel Other. It consists of handmade books in a library the size of a suitcase.
TheBristol Festival of Ideasis an annual programme of debates and other events, which aims "to stimulate people’s minds and passions with an inspiring programme of discussion and debate".It was first set up in 2005 as part of the city's ultimately unsuccessful bid to become theEuropean Capital of Culturefor 2008, and awards an annual book prize, worth £10,000, to a book which "presents new, important and challenging ideas, which is rigorously argued, and which is engaging and accessible".
The city's principal theatre company, theBristol Old Vic, was founded in 1946 as an offshoot ofThe Old Viccompany in London. Its premises onKing Streetconsist of the 1766 Theatre Royal (400 seats), a modern studio theatre (150 seats), and foyer and bar areas in the adjacentCoopers' Hall(built 1743). The Theatre Royal is a grade Ilisted buildingand was the oldest continuously operating theatre in England.
TheBristol Old Vic Theatre School, which originated in King Street as an offshoot of the Bristol Old Vic is now a separate company. Based in Clifton in a property bought with royalties fromJulian Slade's musicalSalad Days, the school trains actors, stage managers, directors, lighting and sound technicians, designers and costumiers for work in stage, television, radio and film productions. BOVTS is an Associate School of the Faculty of Creative Arts of theUniversity of the West of Englandand an affiliate of theConservatoire for Dance and Drama. Alumni includeAnnette Crosbie,Brian Blessed,Daniel Day-Lewis,Gene Wilder,Jane Lapotaire,Jeremy Irons,Miranda Richardson,Patrick Stewart,Pete Postlethwaite,Stephanie ColeandTim Pigott-Smith.
TheBristol Hippodromeis a larger theatre (1981 seats) which hosts national touring productions, whilst other theatres include theTobacco Factory(250 seats), The Brewery (90 seats),Bierkeller Theatre(400 seats),QEH(220 seats), the Redgrave Theatre (atClifton College) (320 seats) and the Alma Tavern (50 seats).Arnolfinistage a regular programme of experimental, physical and live art theatre and theUniversity of BristolDrama Department has a regular programme of visiting companies and in-house work at the Wickham Theatre.Other venues which have hosted theatre productions include Hope Chapel (Hotwells) (formerly the Hope Centre), the Hen and Chicken pub (Bedminster) and PACTS (Easton).
Bristol's theatre scene includes a large variety of producing theatre companies, apart from the Bristol Old Vic, includingShow of Strength Theatre Company,Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, acta community theatre, Myrtle Theatre, Cirque Bijou, Desperate Men, Theatre West and Travelling Light Theatre Company. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between Bristol City Council,Arts Council Englandand local theatre practitioners which aims to develop the theatre industry in Bristol.There are also a number of organisations within the city which act to support theatre makers, for exampleEquity, the actors union, has a General Branch based in the city,and Residence which provides office, social and rehearsal space for several Bristol based theatre and performance companies.
The University of Bristol Drama Department offers undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in performance and screen studies.The University of the West of England offers undergraduate and post-graduate drama and film programmes.Circomediais a training school for circus and physical theatre skills offering foundation degrees and BTEC courses.
In addition there are around 25 active non-professional theatre companies in the Greater Bristol area listed in Bristol City Council's Leisure and Culture database.Mayfestis an annual contemporary theatre festival that takes place for two weeks in May. It is best known for presenting contemporary theatre but also dance, site specific, experimental, interactive and participatory theatre as well as music events.
The music scene is thriving and significant. In 2010,PRS for Musicannounced that Bristol is the 'most musical' city in the UK, based on the number of PRS members born in Bristol relative to its population.From the late 1970s onwards it was home to a crop of cultish bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness, includingThe Pop Group, close friends of The Cortinas, who led the city's punk scene from 1976. Bristol's premier fanzine from this time through until early 1978 was Loaded. It featured all of the Bristol bands as well as those who visited the city, some of whom were promoted by the magazine.
Ten years later, Bristol was the birthplace of a type of Englishhip-hopmusic calledtrip hopor the Bristol Sound, epitomised in the work of artists such asTricky,Portishead,Smith & MightyandMassive Attack. It is also a stronghold ofdrum and basswith notable bands like the Mercury Prize winningRoni Size/ReprazentandKosheenas well as the pioneeringDJ KrustandMore Rockers. Theprogressive houseduoWay Out Westalso hails from Bristol. This music is part of the wider Bristol Urban Culture scene which received international media attention in the 1990s and still thrives today.
Other forms of popular music also thrive on the city's scene. In the 1980s the city gave birth to thrash metal bandOnslaughtwho became the first non-American thrash band to sign to a major label. Other notable rockers from Bristol include folk rock outfitK-Passa, Stackridge, Act of Contrition, Chaos UK, Vice Squad,Wushcatte, The Claytown Troupe,Rita Lynch, Herb Garden,Doreen Doreen,The Seers,Pigbag, andThe Blue Aeroplanes. More recently a new wave of Bristol-based bands have been promoting themselves across the UK underground, includingNew Rhodes, Santa Dog, Tin Pan Gang, The Private Side, Big Joan, You and the Atom Bomb, Riot:Noise, Two Day Rule,Alien Trash Bin, Osmium, Hacksaw, Bronze Age Fox and Legends De Early.
There is also a left field / experimental music scene in Bristol, which has built on the tradition of Bristol bands likeThe Pop Group,Third Eye FoundationandCrescent. These musicians are supported by record labels such as Invada, Farm Girl, Blood Red Sound and Super Fi, and promoters such as Qu Junktions, Illegal Seagull, Let the Bastards Grind, Noise Annoys and the, now defunct, Choke (music collective). Despite regular performances and the success of many of its members, this scene tends to be passed over in the national press' view of Bristol music which focuses on Trip Hop,which represents only one aspect of the city's musical culture. Active bands includeGravenhurst(Warp), Team Brick (Invada), The Heads (Invada),Gonga(Invada),Joe Volk(Invada),Fuck Buttons(ATP – now moved to London), Hunting Lodge (Yosada),SJ Esau(Anticon, Twisted Nerve),Bronnt Industries Kapital(Static Caravan),Zoon van snooK(Lo Recordings,Mush Records), Aut (Fällt), Geisha (Crucial Blast) and Defibrillators (Gravid Hands).
Bristol was also a home topost-rockmusic, with bands such asFlying Saucer AttackandMovietone.
Bristol is home to many live music venues including the 2000-seatBristol Beacon, formerly Colston Hall, named after Colston Street and the Colston School that once occupied the site, which can attract big names, theTrinity Centre(a community-run converted Church in the Old Market area of Bristol), theO2 Academywhich is part of the national touring circuit forrock bands, the Anson Rooms (part of theUniversity of Bristol Union), the Mothers Ruin,The Thekla, Fiddler's, the Bristol Folk House, Start the Bus, the Hatchet, the Fleece, the Croft, the Cooler and the Louisiana.  The Colston Hall was renamed in 2020, following three years of consultation, after protests regardingEdward Colston's ties to theAtlantic slave trade.
The city also has a popular jazz and blues scene withThe Old Dukepub being a popular venue for bands such asFortune Drive. Internationally recognised jazz and blues musicians active in Bristol include Eddie Martin,Jim BlomfieldandAndy Sheppard. Other notable supporters of jazz include theBristol Jazz Society, the Be-Bop Club and theEast Bristol Jazz Club.St George's Bristol, onBrandon Hill, Bristol, is notable for itsjazzalong withclassicalandworld musicperformances.
The International Classical Season at theColston Hallfeatures regular performances by theBournemouth Symphony Orchestraas well as other leading British orchestras such as thePhilharmonia Orchestraand visiting orchestras from abroad, including theMoscow Philharmonic Orchestra,Warsaw Philharmonic OrchestraandBerliner Symphonikerin the 2011–2012 season.Bristol Choral Societyalso stages at least three concerts annually at the Colston Hall, as it has since its foundation in 1889.TheOrchestra of the Age of EnlightenmentandBrodsky Quartet, among other internationally renowned ensembles, as well as local groups such as Bristol Bach Choir and theBristol Ensemble, regularly perform atSt George's Bristol, which also hostsBBC Radio Threelunchtime concert series. Bristol University'sVictoria Roomsalso have a seasonal programme of classical concerts, and other concerts are frequently staged atBristol Cathedraland various Bristol churches.
TheBristol Museum & Art Galleryhouses collections of natural history, local archaeology, local glassware, Egyptology,Chinese ceramicsand art, including theBristol School. Touring exhibitions from other galleries are regularly hosted.
The City Museum is also responsible for
Arnolfinispecialises in contemporary art, live performance and dance and cinema.
Spike Islandis an international centre for the development of contemporary art and design, home to a gallery, café and working space for artists, designers and creative businesses.
TheWatershed Media Centreexhibits digital arts and cinema. The formerIndustrial Museum, housed in former warehouses at Prince's Wharf has been extensively rebuilt and, now calledM Shedopened as a museum of Bristol life in 2011.
Bristol ArchivesinHotwellshouses the extensive city archives. TheRoyal West of England Academyin Clifton was founded in 1849 and exhibits works byWilliam James MüllerandFrancis Danbyamongst others.
The Alexander Gallery, F-block at theSchool of Creative Arts, Bower Ashton,Bristol Architecture CentreandGlenside Museum. TheBristol Guild of Applied Artalso had a small gallery. Science interests are catered for by theAt-Bristolcomplex at Canon's Marsh, which includes 'hands-on' exhibits and a planetarium.Antlers Gallery, a gallery nomadic by design produces temporary exhibitions across varying locations in Bristol.
A variety of youth clubs and day and residential activities, includingNational Citizen Service, are run byYoung Bristol.
From the early twentieth century, Bristol had a number of cinemas including theWhiteladies Picture House,Academy,Bedminster Hippodrome,Ashton Cinema,Prince's TheatreandColiseum Picture House.
Bristol's architecture includes many examples of mediaeval, gothic, modern industrial and post-war architecture. Notable buildings include the gothic revivalWills Memorial Building, and the tallest building in the city,St Mary Redcliffe. The city is noted for its Victorian industrial architecture of theBristol Byzantinestyle, characterised by deep red and polychrome brickwork and Byzantine style arches.
The city has examples through the changing styles ofBritish Architecture,mediaeval eraonwards. Little remains of the old walled city and castle fortifications while multiple 12th century churches have survived. TheTudor periodsaw large mansions and estates built for wealthy merchants outside the traditional city centre; in contrast topublic housesand oldAlmshouses. In the eighteenth century, squares were laid out for the prosperous middle classes filling in land between the city and the immediate surrounding villages. Afloating harbourdeveloped to provided a focus for industrial development and the local transport infrastructure including theClifton Suspension BridgeandTemple Meads railway station, the original part of which was designed byIsambard Kingdom Brunel.
The early and late twentieth century saw further expansion of the city. TheUniversity of Bristolwas formed. An aircraft industry grew shortly before and duringWorld War II, post-war this led to the creation ofBristol Airport. Thecity centreand harbour suffered from extensive bombing during theBristol Blitz; with planned shopping, leisure and office complexes replacing lost parts of the centre while housing and port were displaced onto the city's outskirts.
Bristol is the home of two major football clubs –Bristol City FCandBristol Rovers FC, theGloucestershire County Cricket Club, andBristol Rugby Football Club. It also hosts an annualhalf marathon. The city has a large number of amateur football, cricket and rugby clubs and many active participants in a range of sports from tennis to athletics, and rowing to golf.
Bristol has 15Michelin-starredrestaurants as of August 2022,including Casamia, winner ofRamsay's Best Restaurantin 2010. Bristol also hosts the UK's largest restaurant,Za Za Bazaar. In close proximity to the orchards ofSomerset, Bristol has acquired a reputation as "England's mostcider-friendly city",and is also home toHarveys Bristol Creamsherry. Other foodstuffs claiming Bristolian heritage include the Clark's Pie, and Mothering Buns.Bristol was named the top city in the world for vegans in 2020 according to aGoogle Trendsanalysis,and the world's best culinary destination in 2019.
The oldest pub in Bristol is claimed to be the Hatchett Inn, situated on Frogmore street since 1606, although The Bowl Inn and The Rummer descend from even earlier pubs on their sites.
Bristolians speak a distinctive dialect of English. Uniquely for a large city in England, this is arhoticdialect, in which therin words likecarandparkis pronounced, usually nowadays as apostalveolar approximantbut more traditionally as aretroflex approximant.Once common across England, this feature has now receded to Bristol and the ruralWest Country, as well as parts of Lancashire.
The most unusual feature of this dialect, unique to Bristol, is theBristol L(orTerminal L), in which anLsound is appended to words that end in the lettera: a common illustration of this is the sentence "Africal is a malarial areal". Additionally,-alis drawn out as-awl, and anlmay be added within a word with anaw, or anaw,in a word withal. Thus "area" becomes "areawl", and "drawing" becomes "drawling" etc. This may lead to confusions between expressions likearea engineerandaerial engineerwhich in Bristolian sound identical. Another example is when unsure of the answer "I have no ideal" is the response. In the same way, the SwedishIKEAis known by some as "Ikeawl", andAsdasupermarket as "Asdawl". The city's own name may have evolved in the same manner, as it transformed fromAnglo-SaxonBrycgstowto modern "Bristol."
Another feature is the addition ofSto verbs in the first and third person.  Just ashe goes, in BristolI goesandthey goes.  As with other west country accents,His often dropped from the start of words,thmay becomef, and-ingbecome-en.Bristolians often add "mind", "look" or "see" to the end of sentences: "I'm not doing that, mind." Another Bristolianlinguisticfeature is the addition of "to" in questions relating to direction or orientation. For example, "Where's that?" would be phrased as "Where's that to?" and "Where's the park?" would become "Where's the park to?" This speech feature is predominant inNewfoundland English, where many of that island's early European inhabitants originated from Bristol and otherWest Countryports. They lived on the island in relative isolation in the centuries to follow, maintaining this feature. These linguistic features can also be heard inCardiff.
The linguistJohn C Wellscodified the differences between a Bristol accent andReceived Pronunciationin hisAccents of Englishseries in the following way,which resemblesGeneral Americanmuch more most other accents in Britain:
There are severalgraffitiartists active in Bristol; one of whom isBanksy, who produced the album cover forThink TankbybritpopbandBlur. Other Bristol graffiti artists includeNick Walker,Sickboy,Inkie, Stars,Lokey,cheo.
Massive Attack'sRobert Del Najawas the first strongly active graffiti artist in Bristol in the early 1980s, with the nicknames of "3D" and "Delge".He appeared in the UK documentary called "Bombin'" alongsideWolverhamptonartist and later DJ and producerGoldie.
Children of the Can: 25 Years of Bristol Graffitiby Felix Braun (FLX) and Steve Wright, is a book illustrating and documenting the street art scene in the city.
900,000 people visited an exhibition of Banksy's work at the Bristol Museum in 2009. In August 2011 Bristol City Council finally recognised the importance of graffiti to the city's culture by allowing an entire street to be painted by various international street artists. In August 2011 theSee No Evilpublic art event was installed in Nelson Street, transforming it into a walk-through graffiti gallery. Among other works, it includes a 20-metre-tall (66 ft) mural.