6. VIBRANT BRISTOL Excellence: Temporary or Touring Exhibition of Art, culture and leisure the Year award for its Banksy exhibition. The exhibition attracted more than 300,000 visitors Bristol is a city with a rich and diverse cultural over three months, boosting the city's economy landscape. It is home to outdoor street art by an estimated £15 million. It also made it into galleries, a leading centre for the contemporary the top 30 of a list of global exhibition and arts, the UK's oldest working theatre, Britain's museum attendance figures, compiled by The foremost centre for new media and the South Art Newspaper. West‟s largest TV and film production space. With annual theatre, live art, galleries, festivals Bristol Zoo Gardens has received two top and events, location filming, museums, awards from the annual British and Irish attractions, major sport events and facilities, Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) culture can be seen to have a vital role to play awards (2011). The Zoo has won Best in Bristol being a vibrant, creative and Research Project and Best Education Project. prosperous city. In 2010, SS Great Britain rated as first in the Museums, galleries and attractions top 10 museums in the world by ID magazine. Bristol has 6 museums and many other cultural It is visited by between 150-170,000 people attractions. These include: every year. In addition, the SS Great Britain • Arnolfini was also awarded the first ever Winstan Bond • City Museum and Art Gallery Trophy for Entrepreneurial Museum of the Year • The Royal West of England Academy for its work creating the Brunel Institute and the • M-Shed SS Great Britain Endowment Trust. The Trust's • Blaise Castle House and Museum vice-chairman was also awarded and the Trust • Georgian House and Museum secured a £3.5m endowment fund to help • Kingsweston Roman Villa towards the cost of conservation and • Red Lodge maintenance. • At-Bristol • Bristol Zoo Parks, Open and Green Spaces Bristol • SS Great Britain has 4,500 acres of historic estates, parklands, woodlands playgrounds and open space. With Recent awards and accolades include: 450 parks and green spaces, the city has proportionately more parks and green spaces At-Bristol, - Attraction of the Year at the Bristol than any other UK city, and over 25 million Tourism and Hospitality Industry Awards 2011. visits are made by 83% of our residents each year. Our Parks and Green Spaces Strategy MShed has won a number of awards since was specifically cited as a key factor opening, including: Learning Outside the in our European Green Capital Award for 2015. Classroom Quality Badge (2011); Jodi Mattes Parks include: Trust Award for Digital Access onsite for their • Ashton Court Estate PenFriend audio access project in 2011;The • Blaise Estate Sandford Award for Heritage Education (2009); • Hengrove Park A 2012 Bristol Building Excellence Award. • Oldbury Court Estate • Queen Square The City Museum and Art Gallery won the • Stoke Park 2010 Museums and Heritage Award for 1 • The Downs This involved a youth engagement project with • Many other local parks some of our hidden local history treasures, and an exhibition celebrating local writing Three public open spaces in Bristol have won complemented by related items loaned from prestigious Green Flag awards for the first time the British Library. The library service has in 2012. Canford Park, Greville Smyth Park worked with colleagues in Museums creating and Redcatch Park have all been recognised on line access to historic illustrations which with the status this year. They join eight other have supported work with schools and parks in the city – Ashton Court and Blaise developing new teacher training resources, Castle Estates, The Downs, Netham Park, St using our specialist collection of Braikenridge Paul's Park, Troopers Hill Local Nature Illustrations, and a Bristol 400 year celebration Reserve, Queen Square and St Andrew's Park art installation (Book Hive), of moving – who have successfully retained their awards. responsive books in the Central Library will be Established in 1174, Brandon Hill is the oldest on show from December 2013. Bristol is only municipal open space in the country. The Hill is the third library service to reach a 400 year home to Avon Wildlife Trust and recently anniversary. The service also co-hosted the reopened Cabot Tower, built in 1897 second Yardstick Festival celebrating the best commemorating the 400th anniversary of in contemporary Black Writing with a wide Cabot‟s voyage. range of authors, funded from the Arts Council. For two years in a row (2009, 2010), Bristol Events and Festivals City Council won Landscape Institute‟s Festivals and events are a vital part of the prestigious national heritage prize for city‟s cultural landscape, gaining Bristol both restoration projects in the city for the Arnos national and international recognition as a Vale Cemetery restoration and Queen‟s festival city and the street party capital of the Square Enhancement Projects. UK. Hundreds of festivals are held in the city For the third year running, Bristol City Centre each year attracting thousands of visitors and has been awarded the prestigious national providing an opportunity for the citizens of Purple Flag (2012) as a well-managed and Bristol to engage in cultural life. vibrant place to visit and enjoy. Bristol Harbour Festival continues to be a Libraries flagship event for the city, attracting over Bristol is well served with libraries, with 27 local 250,000 visitors annually and showcasing local libraries and the Central Library. At a time artists, performers and the city‟s maritime when many local authorities are considering attractions. The 35th Bristol International closing libraries, Bristol has bucked the trend Balloon Fiesta, Europe‟s largest annual hot air and opened a new library at the Junction 3 balloon event, attracted crowds of 500,000 for Lawrence Hill and Easton, in March 2013. This a weekend of hot air balloon ascents and library has been hugely successful with 1,340 family fun. new memberships from residents – many of whom have never used libraries before. The The annual programme of festivals is bursting council are also building a new Bishopston with an eclectic mix, embodying the Library to replace Cheltenham Road, which will unorthodox image of Bristol. Each year the city be open in Spring 2014. hosts: • Theatre and live art festivals such as The library service has also been successful in Mayfest a contemporary theatre festival; In attracting funding from the British Library/Paul Between Time, a biennial live arts festival Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council to run 3 and Bristol Festival of Puppetry; major projects – a collaboration with the British Library called “Writing Britain: Writing Bristol”. 2 • Urban art festivals such as Upfest, which The first ever Bristol Circus festival also hosts 250 artists from across the globe for launched in 2013 at Creative Common, a weekend of live painting and music; showcasing 41 performances over 33 days • Industry festivals such as The Wildscreen and featuring 143 artists in a big top tent. Festival, an internationally acclaimed wildlife and environmental filmmaking event A number of Bristol‟s festivals have been and Encounters Short Film and Animation shortlisted in November 2013 in the UK Festival , the leading short film showcase Festival Awards, including: event in the UK; • Bristol Harbour Festival, is nominated in the • Music and arts festivals such as Brisfest; a categories for best major festival and best large outdoor event offering a mix of DJ‟s, family festival; artists, comedians, circus and cabaret • Upfest, Love Saves the Day and Bristol performances and Bristol International Festival of Nature have been shortlisted in Jazz and Blues Festival held at Colston the category for best medium festival; Hall; • Grillstock and Dot to Dot are shortlisted for • Food Festivals such as Eat Drink Bristol best small festival; Fashion, a two week pop up restaurant and • All six events are also nominated for the music venue and Foodie Fest, a national best metropolitan festival, due to their use food and drink weekend festival; of city-centre locations. • Community Celebration events such as St Pauls Carnival, which annually attracts Sports and Active Recreation around 90,000 visitors for the masquerade Sport and active recreation have long been at procession and cultural event and Bristol the heart of Bristol life. Across the city there is Pride, one of the largest Pride events in the an abundance of community sports clubs, a UK. range of high profile professional clubs, an The city‟s annual festival calendar continues to impressive sporting events calendar and flourish with new initiatives such as Make numerous high quality participation initiatives Sundays Special which opened up city centre and fun family activities. Bristol also proudly streets for play and performance. Five monthly boasts an excellent and expanding network of events were programmed for the first time in built and natural facilities and spaces for sport 2013, with the first event held in June to and active recreation. Recent projects include: coincide with Bristol‟s Big Green Week. • In 2012, the council opened Hengrove Park Make Sunday Special Leisure Centre, a new state of the art – 5 monthly events June – October fitness facility with the first Olympic- 2013 standard pool for the city and the only 50- – Each attended by between 6,000 metre pool in the country to open in this – 9,000 visitors Olympic year. – 99.5% enjoyed the event • The Bristol Bike Project, spreading the word about cycling and fixing bikes in local communities won the Observer Ethical Awards 2011 Grass Roots Award in 2011. The council‟s overall participation rates in sport and active recreation are amongst the highest of all major cities in England and compare well against national averages.