COMMUNITY EVENTS PIERIAN HISTORY
A History of Community Events at the Pierian Centre
Social Enterprises play an increasingly important role in the regeneration of disadvantaged areas. They can empower communities and deliver innovative services at a local level. In its first 5 years, the Pierian Centre has combined first class conference facilities with a growing programme of community activity to bring over 55,000 people into St Pauls and through the Centre’s doors.
What the Pierian Centre does with excellence is to build bridges between communities through social inclusion, creative activities and bringing into St Pauls people who would otherwise shun the area. Simple things like the number of evening events mean that Portland Square is now more active at night – a fact reinforced by Circomedia’s arrival 2 years ago.
Last year alone over 20,000 visited us, generating a mixture of income and social capital. If they came for a work meeting then they found a Centre that combined their professional interests with a commitment to the world and communities around it. The granting of Community Interest Company status reflects the Centre’s engagement with the life that surrounds and sustains it.
Our participation in every Doors Open Day since September 2003 has allowed the community and the wider public to explore what, for 200 years, had been a relatively private world. It also set in train a programme of activities that has grown steadily and involved collaboration with Portland & Brunswick Association, St Pauls Unlimited, Bristol Zimbabwe Association, BEST, BRAVE, Bristol City Council and many other organisations.
2003
September Doors Open Day
2004
September Doors Open Day
September Bread Youth Project begin weekly sessions (still going)
November Communal bulb planting in Portland Square
2005
June 1st Celebrating Sanctuary art exhibition (8 days)
plus Zimbabwe Day cultural celebration
September Doors Open Day
September Open Exhibition by local artists (weekend)
2006
March Towards Enlightenment exhibition by local artists (w/e)
June 2nd Celebrating Sanctuary art exhibition (9 days)
plus Blind Flight, Zimbabwe Day & many other events
June Ma Helba’s Artists for Africa fundraiser
June Calling – residencies with Kuumba
July Book Launch – In Search of Belonging: Reflections by Trans-racially Adopted People by Perlita Harris
September Doors Open Day
September U.N. World Peace Day – gongs, chants, film and erection of
the Pierian Peace Pole
October Our Environment: Planet Earth exhibition by local artists (w/e)
December Christmas Art Fair for local artists (w/e)
2007
March Slavery Power & Freedom – exhibition by local artists (w/e)
Book Launch – Satan's Kingdom: Bristol & the Transatlantic
Slave Trade by Pip Jones
Bells Unbound – an international marking of Abolition
April Party in the Park: celebration of Portland Square’s new
railings (part of St Pauls’ Open Space week)
May Speakeasy with Nii Obodai (Watershed’s Artist in Residence)
June 3rd Celebrating Sanctuary art exhibition (9 days)
with Zimbabwe Day, school parties, Somali storytelling,
discussions and many other events
September Doors Open Day
September St Pauls Carnival with Pierian Centre’s Healing Tent, etc
September U.N. World Peace Day – musical procession along Docks
October A Time to Heal – partnership with Black History Month
October Afrika Eye Film Festival – 2 weekends of screenings
December Ending Slavery: the Next Steps after Abolition200 – exhibition
by local artists with workshops, music & discussion (4 days)
