Competitions

Win a festival in your workplace – launching May 22!

Next week we’ll be launching an exciting competition to win a festival in your workplace, open to any organisation – including businesses, charities, clubs and community groups – in the Bristol area. We’ve teamed up with Pieminister and Bath Ales to bring the festival experience to one lucky winner this July. Stay tuned for more info!

Share your memories of Ashton Court Festival and win tickets to Brisfest 2012

In July, Brisfest, M-Shed and Venue Magazine will stage an exhibition charting four decades of community music festivals in Bristol.

Sounds Like Bristol – an interactive, audio visual installation – will open on July 11th in a disused public space in the city centre as yet to be confirmed.

Brisfest, Venue and M-Shed are now appealing to the tens of thousands of people who have attended Ashton Court Festival and Brisfest over the years to share their memories.

“We’d love to hear from people who want to share their memories,” says Brisfest coordinator Poppy Stephenson.  ”Whether it’s a funny anecdote, a tale of true love found, a photo, a poem, a song, a painting or an old programme…we’ll find a way to include as many of them as possible in our Sounds Like Bristol exhibition in July and there’ll be free tickets for the most interesting submissions.”

The story began in 1974 when a group of friends got together to stage a small music event at Ashton Court Estate. They wanted to create a platform for local musicians to entertain the local community. Over four successive weekends in July 1974 local bands played from the back of a flat bed truck to a small crowd of festival goers at Ashton Court. Bristol City Council donated £50.

This marked the beginning of four decades of community music festivals, organised by the people of Bristol, for the people of Bristol. Ashton Court Festival, and its successor Brisfest, would become the city’s biggest, and most important musical events with thousands of local acts entertaining crowds over the years.

“There’s no doubt that Ashton Court Festival holds a very special place in everyone’s hearts,” says Poppy Stephenson. “We really want to do something that will celebrate the history of Ashton Court Festival and also mark the beginning of a new era for community music festivals at the Estate. Community music festivals have been incredibly influential in terms of establishing Bristol’s musical identity so let’s celebrate that!

If you would like to to contribute to the exhibition please share your memories by calling Aisling at Brisfest on 0117 328 1492, emailingaisling@brisfest.co.uk or sharing on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/brisfest.