Bristol is often described as a hub of creativity, but behind the glitz and the glamour seen by the paying public, who are the real power brokers backstage?
The small print of this list would say that people included are those whose work is deemed important both in and outside the city, those whose work is culturally significant, those who represent the best of Bristol, and those who simply produce or are involved in great work, whether widely recognised or not.
Polling some of Bristol’s best-known practitioners across the arts, from cinema to circus, we have come up with a top-40 list, ordered alphabetically:
Matthew Austin and Kate Yedigaroff
The effervescent duo behind MAYK, producers of Mayfest and a myriad of other projects including 30-hour improvathons and city semaphore, “collaborating with artists and audiences to make exciting things happen in unusual ways”.
Geoff Barrow
Portishead’s erstwhile bassist and producer is also the founder of Invada Records, provided music for Exit Through the Gift Shop, and has a side project in krautrock outfit but not keyboard friendly Beak>.
Mike Bennett
Bristol City Council’s former placemaking director attracted criticism for that role, but whatever the term means, Bennett has helped bring big events to Bristol that defy definition, See No Evil and Eat Drink Bristol Fashion among them.
Daryn Carter
One of the driving forces behind Bristol Pride, Carter works tirelessly to put LGBT arts and culture on Bristol’s map. Under his stewardship, the Pride festival has grown in stature and he was also behind last year’s Day of the Dead Festival.
Chris Chalkley
If Stokes Croft has now become somewhere to go rather than somewhere to avoid, it’s due to Chalkley. He is regarded as a guru by many people, with Stokes Croft seen as a model of the way forward for deprived inner-city areas.
Helen Cole
The chief executive and artistic director of In Between Time, an international production company which every two years hosts a festival in Bristol. Also an artist, curator, writer and mentor for emerging producers.
Simon Cook
The former council leader is now in George Ferguson’s cabinet responsible for culture. Sits on the board of several organisations including Bristol Old Vic and At-Bristol, and has pledged support for £40m redevelopment of Colston Hall.
Sally Cookson
The innovative theatre director behind some of Bristol’s best recent productions, many of which with Travelling Light, including Peter Pan at the Old Vic, Cinderella at the Tobacco Factory and Treasure Island on the King Street cobbles.
Mark Cosgrove
Far more than just the man who chooses the films to be screened at Watershed, where he is head of programming. Cosgrove is also the creative director of the Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival and regular on festival juries.
Claire Doherty
The director of Situations, an organisation producing artworks, events and projects that can be seen in Bristol and across the UK. Lectures internationally and was a member of the Olympic Park Public Realm Advisory Committee.
Josh Eggleton
Chef-proprietor at the Michelin-starred Pony & Trap pub in Chew Magna. But for the purposes of this list, a driving force behind Eat Drink Bristol Fashion, which is returning to Queen Square for a fortnight in May.
Simon Evans and Simon Johnson
The two founders of SlingShot, who make games; from mass participation spectaculars such as 2.8 Hours Later which premiered at Bristol’s igfest and has since toured other UK cities, to mobile phone adventures.
George Ferguson
Our first elected mayor would feature on this list even if he had not won last year’s election. The red-trousered one describes himself on his Twitter account as a “social and cultural entrepreneur (and) establishment rebel”.
Julie Finch
Head of Bristol’s galleries, museums and archives, where she led the opening of M Shed, still finding its feet and purpose but now a well-liked and visited jumble of Bristol’s past. Also a committee member for SW Heritage Lottery Fund.
Doug Francisco
The incomparable force of nature behind the Invisible Circus, best-known for creating the brilliantly bonkers and staggeringly ambitious Carny Ville. Francisco is the group’s ring master and man of a thousand faces.
Jack Gibbon
The founder of nomadic art gallery Antlers, putting on temporary exhibitions in varying locations, which in Bristol have included the Christmas Steps and a Victorian toilet, with their only permanent base being online.
Phil Gibby
Arts Council England’s South West director, Gibby is in charge of the purse strings of one of the few organisations still dishing out large amounts of money to cultural projects.
Paul Gough
Officially deputy vice-chancellor at UWE, unofficially Gough is all over the place, at openings and on committees. Gough is particularly interested in visual arts and is known as a bit of a backstairs fixer.
Liz Harkman and Rich Warren
The managing director and operations manager at Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival, now the leading UK gateway to the world’s most prestigious short film and animation awards, including the Oscars.
Carolyn Hassan
Founder and director of the increasingly vibrant Knowle West Media Centre, which supports individuals and communities to get the most out of digital technologies, music, media and the arts.
Andrew Hilton
Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, of which Hilton is artistic director, is an unsubsidised Bristol company which the Guardian’s Lyn Gardener says offers “the most consistent and enjoyable programme of Shakespeare in the country”.
Graeme Hogg
The Cube microplex in Kingsdown is currently raising funds to buy the building from its present owner. Hogg is an artist and one of the few people left at the Cube who were instrumental in founding the organisation in 1998.
Tana Holmes
The arts development officer at Bristol City Council is a good person to know if your organisation wants arts and culture funding. Holmes looks after the Creative Seed Fund, Community Festival and Event Fund and Key Arts Provider funding.
Inkie
A contemporary of Banksy (who does not feature on this list), Clifton-born Tom Bingle, better known as Inkie, has taken Bristol street art across the world and was one of the primary organisers of the See No Evil festival on Nelson Street.
Andrew Kelly
Spending almost 20 years at the helm of the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, Kelly missed out in securing European Capital of Culture status for Bristol, but his Bristol Festival of Ideas now has a national reputation.
Helen Legg
Director of Spike Island, where she has shaped the exhibitions and residency programmes, deepened relationships with audiences and forged strong national and international connections.
Peter Lord and David Sproxton
Aardman’s leading duo began their partnership while still at school. The rest is history, with a unique brand of film alongside broadcast and advertising work, with ten Oscar nominations leading to four gold statuettes.
Bim Mason
Bristol is a leading world centre of circus, and Mason is at its heart. As well as training new performers, the artistic director of Circomedia has been instrumental in incorporating traditional circus skills into theatre.
Louise Mitchell
The chief executive of Bristol Music Trust has steered the Colston Hall from council-owned to an independent venture with the dual aims of managing the operation of the venue and driving forward music across Bristol.
Tom Morris and Emma Stenning
Bristol Old Vic is in immensely safe pairs of hands under artistic director Morris and executive director Stenning, a formidable duo who are steering the theatre through development and re-establishing its world-beating credentials.
Steve Parkhouse
Bristol’s Mr Music is director of Jelli Records, a director of BCFM, promotes gigs, runs stages at festivals, and is concert manager at St George’s where he also programmes the annual Bristol Acoustic Festival.
Dick Penny
Bristol’s cultural landscape might be very different without Penny. The managing director of the Watershed received an MBE in 2011 for services to the creative industries and was instrumental in reopening the Bristol Old Vic.
Tomas Rawlings
Founder of the Bristol Games Hub, a non-profit organisation that runs shared office space where game development studios, freelancers and academics share resources, skills and expertise, while they create and study games.
Clare Reddington
With fingers in more pies than Paul Hollywood, Reddington is director of iShed and the Pervasive Media Studio, where she works with industry, academic and creative partners on anything their imagination can come up with.
Ali Robertson
The director of the Tobacco Factory Theatre has made it a consistently engaging space, with a programme of theatre, music, opera and comedy, alongside the recent addition of the Brewery just down the road for more of the same.
Mark Slater and Chiz Williams
The founders of Qu Junktions, “a musical adventure operation” which tour, produce, curate and dream up ways of making musical as alive and enthralling as possible. Now with the addition of John Stevens to the team.
Suzanne Rolt
Starting as promotions coordinator for St George’s, Rolt is now director of a venue said by many to have some of the best acoustics in the country, and now known for more than solely its classical music offering.
Poppy Stephenson
The CEO of the Bristol Festival Community Group saw BrisFest spread its wings last year and move from the Lloyds Amphitheatre to its spiritual home of Ashton Court. Also a trustee of the Bristol Music Trust.
Gavin Strange
Aardman Digital designer Strange is not unlike many colleagues with plenty of side projects. He is the director of fixed gear documentary Boikzmoind, goes under the alias of Jam Factory and will soon be painting a giant Gromit.
Tristan Sturrock
One of Bristol’s foremost acting talents, Sturrock was last seen on stage playing the title role in Peter Pan at Bristol Old Vic. Even near paralysis when falling off a wall didn’t stop him, instead leading to one-man show Mayday Mayday.
Tom Trevor
The Arnolfini may not have the cultural impact that it once had, but director Trevor is still in charge of one of Bristol’s leading arts organisations, encompassing an art gallery, work space, cinema, cafe-bar and more.
Do you agree with this selection? Who has been left out? Who should not have been included? Please comment below.
What, no Banksy?!
And where’s Mike Tobin? This prominent Bristolian has been involved with the Bristol music scene for over fifty years, from the late 50s, with his group Mike Tobin & The Magnettes (once support act to no less than The Rolling Stones), through many other musical aggregations such as The Franklyn Big Six, Originn, Les Watts and many others.
Not content with playing and singing, Mike was and again is, manager of Stackridge, the West Country’s foremost ‘undiscovered’ band, who are currently touring the UK at this very moment. Mike has set up his own management/promotion company, Krown Elektrik, with the aim of promoting young talent from the Somerset area.
Feel free to contact him on mikeboppintobin@aol.com. If you don’t, your list will be sorely lacking, believe me.
The Ink is the man
Suprised at no inclusion for Team Love. Between the InMotion project which is the biggest project for good club music in Bristol and Love Saves the Day festival I’d say they’ve contributed quite significantly to Bristol culture..
and not forgetting Team Love being one of the main forces behind See No Evil festival.
I do agree Team Love for sure should have been included.
So true Tom Pain and Dave Harvy should be on this list! They are the Bristol music scene at the moment!
Ummm… Martin Parr? Mariele Neudecker?
I think it’s a great list. I would add Nia from Ujima Radio and Jay Wilcox who organised Adhesive Live.
Where anyone from the fleece, exchange, croft etc? Tim bailey has done a ton for this city in terms of musical acts not only been bought in to this city but also allowing local acts to flourish. Same goes for exchange/croft teams!
Again, bit surprised Team Love aren’t included in this list??
They’re all good folk doing excellent work in the city BUT I can think of another ten or twenty at least from the BME community – So the list……well it’s a bit *white* isn’t it? ……..where’s the diversity guys shape up huh?? ….its not 1980 anymore
This is badly researched. Love Saves the Day is an outstanding festival that warrants a mention for Team Love. Trap Magazine and Crack Magazine are two national music / lifestyle magazines that are based in Bristol and heavily support Bristol based artists and help put them on a national / international stage. No Ujima FM as well ? Seriously guys a little research next year.
Great list glad to see that Daryn Carter is on here for all his great work on LGBT events in the city especially as he gets hardly any funding and has to raise it with his team.
Great to see poppy on here to as Brisfest is a true Bristol born project and supports all creative communities.
I do agree with Paul Hassan as it would be good to see the likes of Cleo Alberta Lake on here and an even more diverse list of people.
But I know how tough it must have been to choose so its great start but remember some people from the BME communities too as those communities enrich our city in so many ways.
A good start but a bit light on literature and publishing. What about John Sanson of Redcliffe Books? Or Richard Jones of Tangent Books who consistently pushes the boundaries of publishing. Or Jari Moate the Director of the Bristol Festival of Literature. Agree with Paul Hassan, its not that inclusive.
It’s the luvvie list!
Voted Top Soul Night outside of London
http://www.soultrainuk.com
Now in our 21st year the longest running club night in Bristol
Quoted by massive attack as early influencers on Bristol sound
No community choir maestros? I’d have Sam Burns or Ali Orbaum for Huge Gurt Lush and influential Gasworks.
Agree the energetic & inspirational Sam Burns should be on the list for Gurt Lush
I’m with Paul Hassan….the cultural gifts to this wonderful city spread further than the tightly constrained white cultural influences this list reflects. Researchers and compilers, your inadvertent, non deliberate racism shines through by the conspicuous lack of BMEs on the list. Shame on you. Do better next time when selecting the compilers! It’s 2013 for goodness sake!
I find this list totally infactual, dreamlike and actually quite offensive. ALL WHITE people on this list.
you quite obviously don’t know WHAT you are drivelling abotu compiling this list….! how do I know? You have missed out some pretty key people
Team Love and also 3D from Massive should most definitely have been on this list… not sure who compiled it… along with several others…
Hmm… 32 men and 14 women (and several of those women only included ‘thanks’ to their association to men). Only one LGBT person, and one person of colour.
Please remember that not all the arts and culture generated in this brilliant city are thanks to the wealthy, white, middle-aged men who spearhead some big organisations. They’re also thanks to the diverse and exciting lowly paid people (including, shock, plenty of fabulous WOMEN!) who do the bulk of the slog and grind, and in plenty of small, un-Arts Council-founded organisartions.
Time to wake up and realise it’s 2013, Bristol Culture. And remember that your mayor signed Bristol up to the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life in March.
Thanks for the comment, Jane. As a Bristol resident, Ferguson is also “your” mayor as well regardless of your feelings about him. I was actually the only reporter at his signing of the equality charter and covered the event on Bristol Culture here: http://www.bristol-culture.com/2013/03/09/bristol-first-uk-city-to-sign-women-charter/
As for the debate on numbers, I see it as irrelevant. The list was compiled by myself following suggestions from other people. Those on the list have been included for the great work that they do, with me not once thinking of whether they are a man or a woman or black or white or straight or gay. The only criteria was that they make Bristol a better place to live.
Would an artificial 50/50 split have been a better idea? Perhaps next time.
But Martin you haven’t addressed the race equality/representation dimension despite the fact I was not the only person to raise it.. I reiterate virtually ALL the people on your list have considerable merit …many are long time collaborators and supporters of what we’re doing @ujimaradio BUT the fundamental issue remains why are the Bristol BME art/culture communities excluded from these (not just yours) lists? Are we 1) Invisible? or 2) Without power/influence? – if its either of these answers we need to address this matter with urgency… I am organising a radio discussion next week on Ujima and would welcome your contribution to this debate (I do think your site and blogs are very good btw) twitter @cymyem look forward to hearing from you Paul Hassan a director @Ujima Radio
This is a prime example why Bristol’s elitist ‘arts and culture’ scene blows.
Let us disregard for a moment the fact that the very idea of an ‘arts and culture power list’ is laughable, not to mention nauseatingly sycophantic – who do they think you are, Forbes magazine?
Let us ignore all your clichéd descriptions of ‘backstairs fixers’ and ‘forces of nature’. Let’s ignore too, all your references to ‘driving forces’, er, ‘steering’ things, having ‘fingers in pies’, working with ‘industry’ (fig-leaf for any old dodgy doings) and generally being ‘instrumental’ (bunch of tools!) Let’s shrug, also, at the use of ‘erstwhile’ to describe Geoff Barrow when ‘former’ would have done. And let’s just smile wryly at the fact you’ve included someone who FAILED to secure European Capital of Culture status for Bristol.
Skip gaily on, then, here to the comments section where you offer the most abject, mealy-mouthed and patronising response ever to the fairly valid criticism(s) that every single person on the list is white! Apparently when you compiled the list you were ‘not once thinking of whether they are a man or a woman or black or white or straight or gay’. So that’s cool then.
How do you know there’s only one LGBT person on the list? I’m on it, and I’m gay. And I think the person who I’m on it with, who is a woman, would take umbrage with the suggestion that she’s only on it because she’s associated with me.
And I can see quite a few people on the list who aren’t part of large organisations, who do slog and grind with no regular funding (ourselves included).
Wow, what a ding-dong! I repeat my very first comment: “What, no Banksy?!” Round 2: Fight!
A list like this should provoke discussion, and fair play to those suggesting other people with reasoning. Those who’re simply commenting to complain about the list overall – or just arguing it doesn’t represent ‘their’ idea of bristol culture – give suggestions and reasons! Discussion is great, simply slamming the article – less so (and this isn’t in response to you particularly – just seemed an apt place to make my comment)
Also I’m assuming the list is representing those working toward Bristol culture in 2013 as opposed to people who’ve had great influence on building Bristol culture to where it is now (although that’d be a very interesting idea for an article..)
Why wasn’t Hitler on this list? He has contributed in many different ways to British and European Culture. Adolf Hitler.
where is mark stewart. ronnie size and 3D on this list
Great stuff! Martin is on Ujima Radio 98 fm Ujimaradio.com Monday 29th April 12.30 to debate What the list tells about power & influence in the Bristol arts/cultural scene twitter @cymyem @ujimaradio
Just listening to the debate on Ujima Radio about this list – so many names missing! Not least Edson Burton – Pick of the Week on Radio 4, a string of successful radio and theatre plays, a highly acclaimed poetry collection plus countless community and arts projects – who is choosing these people and how can someone who has lived and worked in this city for 17 years be missed off the list? It’s a travesty. Lists like these are dangerous things. They should be consulted upon far more widely across the community and beyond.
Agree with Paul Hassan – it isn’t a very diverse list – a bit too white & middle class for me
Diversity…..long standing contribution to music culture in Bristol….where’s DJ Derek on the list?!
[...] Bristol Culture Blog’s recent Bristol arts and culture power list 2013 brought back memories of the last time a meejah luvvies list was compiled in this city as the [...]
Having read the list and the wannabe comments it’s clear that the list is a biased bunch of tosh. However, having personally encountered some of the “power brokers” in the list, I’d say the list title is a fairly accurate list description. To all those that didnt make it in the “Top 40″ well done you is best off out… What’s the odds this comment doesn’t get printed?