The Bristol Commons is a project seeded and launched by Coexist, a community group that set up and ran Hamilton House in Stokes Croft from 2008 to 2018. Hamilton House was a vibrant and internationally renowned community hub that offered support to and was enlivened by over 500 artists, charities and small businesses. It offered a wide range of services to the local community such as a community theatre, dance studios, a community kitchen, wellbeing rooms, artists shop and gallery (to name just a few!).
Following the eviction from Hamilton House in 2018, which went ahead despite widespread support from over 15,000 people, Coexist saw the need for a movement to safeguard community spaces, services and organisations.
After research and consultation across Bristol, they launched The Bristol Commons in March 2023. Coexist invited individuals, groups and organisations from all over Bristol to share their experiences, take part in talks and workshops, and explore creating a new community movement based on the idea of “commoning”.
Since this launch event the Bristol Commons has grown and evolved, so far having engaged with over 800 individuals and 70 organisations, developed a governance structure inspired by sociocracy, and is powered and guided by three primary working groups.
We have held five large-scale community gatherings at community hubs across the city (SPARKS, Trinity, St Anne’s House, Circomedia), which have focused on cultivating a culture of connection and joy as well as fostering a deeper understanding of the commons as a powerful concept for systemic change. For an idea of what our gatherings are like, see this reflection document (pdf) from our gathering in Autumn 2023 or check out our Instagram.
What else have we been up to?
Alongside hosting our community gatherings and the significant time and energy that has gone into forming our governance structure and strategic aims, we have held some other events and projects over the last 18 months.
In conversation with David Bollier
In January of this year, we hosted world-renowned commons thinker and writer David Bollier for a talk and discussion on the promise of the commons in developing practical alternatives to the increasingly dysfunctional market/state system.
The talk was followed by a workshop exploring potential definitions and ways of understanding the commons, which ultimately fed into creating our first living definition of the commons and commoning (See What is The Bristol Commons).
If you are interested to learn more about the commons, check out David’s podcast.
Book Club – Free, Fair and Alive
After hosting David in Bristol, we explored his work on contemporary commons by hosting a reading group on the book Free, Fair and Alive – the Insurgent Power of the Commons, co-written by David with Silke Helfrich.
The book explores how commons are a powerful vehicle for change around the world, and it was in fact exposure to this book that initially seeded the idea of the Bristol Commons!
We started another book club this January, reading Hospicing Modernity. Sign up to the mailing list if you’d like to hear about any we are doing in the future.
Many hands make light work
In April of this year, we collaborated with local artist Roze Waudby (@rozewaudbyarts) and the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) to create a mural of commoning.
Over the course of a week, Roze held an open call-out design process to participate in a collaborative collage, share knowledge and experience of commoning, write poetry and co-create a visual storyboard.
This was followed by four days of painting the mural, inviting passers-by to join in painting the wall and offer their reflections and insights on community, connection and wellbeing. In this way, the creation of the mural was in itself an act of commoning! Read more about the mural on Leoni Fretwell’s website.
There are many other exciting projects currently in the works, and if you would like to get involved then please join any of our three working groups.