THE SHOP
MAY DAY
THE FILWOOD TIMES
FILWOOD ON BROADWAY
WRIT LARGE
HOARDINGS PROJECT
Hello, and welcome to the online archive of Filwood in Motion - a year-long artist residency that took place on Filwood Broadway, a high street in Knowle West, Bristol across 2025. On this website you can find information, photos, videos and audio documenting the artworks and events created by community members working in collaboration with resident artists Linzy Na Nakorn and Rachael Clerke.
With multiple large developments changing the face of the high street, we worked to support local people - especially children - to take up space, be visible and be heard in the midst of the huge changes taking place on their doorsteps. This meant collaborating with the local primary school, high street businesses, the community centre and almost anyone who walked past the door of our temporary shop space at number 8 Filwood Broadway.
Public art usually happens in Bristol through the city’s planning policy, which requires development at a big scale, and/or with significant impact on public space to include a public art strategy. Normally this is negotiated for an individual building or project, but in Filwood the council encouraged a joined-up approach, meaning the whole of Filwood Broadway is viewed as a cultural zone, rather than a set of disconnected projects.
Filwood in Motion is the result; bringing the Knowle West community together and increasing the visibility of local stories throughout the first construction phase of the Transforming Broadway Project throughout 2025.
The programme has been designed and delivered by Knowle West Media Centre in collaboration with Bristol City Council, and funded by UK Government & Bristol City Council.
Public art usually happens in Bristol through the city’s planning policy, which requires development at a big scale, and/or with significant impact on public space to include a public art strategy. Normally this is negotiated for an individual building or project, but in Filwood the council encouraged a joined-up approach, meaning the whole of Filwood Broadway is viewed as a cultural zone, rather than a set of disconnected projects.
Filwood in Motion is the result; bringing the Knowle West community together and increasing the visibility of local stories throughout the first construction phase of the Transforming Broadway Project throughout 2025.
The programme has been designed and delivered by Knowle West Media Centre in collaboration with Bristol City Council, and funded by UK Government & Bristol City Council.
Background from Martha King, Creative co-director at Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC)
KWMC and Bristol City Council Arts Development team were appointed as the Public Art producers for the Transforming Filwood Broadway project. This was a great choice by BCC as very often public art producers are brought in from outside a neighbourhood to commission and deliver public art. Instead, a local arts organisation, who have been in the community since 1996, and a local arts development team who know the context really well were able to advocate for a programme that would include community at every step of the way. Knowle West is unique in having its very own Public Art strategy - 'The Manual' which states that community must be placed at the heart of any Public Art commissioning. These principles really informed the creation of the Filwood in Motion artist residency.
We heard from community members, businesses and stakeholders that what they wanted to see was something creative happening on the high street through the time of change / during building works. They wanted public art that would bring communities together through this disruption and enable positive activation and visible profiling of the local community. Ideal activity was described as including young people, celebrating history/local culture and community led storytelling.
KWMC and Bristol City Council Arts Development team were appointed as the Public Art producers for the Transforming Filwood Broadway project. This was a great choice by BCC as very often public art producers are brought in from outside a neighbourhood to commission and deliver public art. Instead, a local arts organisation, who have been in the community since 1996, and a local arts development team who know the context really well were able to advocate for a programme that would include community at every step of the way. Knowle West is unique in having its very own Public Art strategy - 'The Manual' which states that community must be placed at the heart of any Public Art commissioning. These principles really informed the creation of the Filwood in Motion artist residency.
We heard from community members, businesses and stakeholders that what they wanted to see was something creative happening on the high street through the time of change / during building works. They wanted public art that would bring communities together through this disruption and enable positive activation and visible profiling of the local community. Ideal activity was described as including young people, celebrating history/local culture and community led storytelling.
As a producing team we purposefully wanted to commission artists to be in residence over a long period of time, as it takes time to get to know a community and involve them in co-creation. We were clear that ideas needed to emerge from collaborations with community and fought to put out
an open call that didn't have prescribed outcomes. We believed that outcomes needed to arise from genuine engagement with community members. We also took a bold approach to pool resources from across the scheme and ensure that is was joined up seeing the high street as a whole shared public space and not a series of designated build areas (e.g library, shops, cinema
We are thrilled with how the residency has manifested, with so much engagement and so many
ideas for ongoing activity. The team (KWMC and BCC arts) always imagined that this first year of activation would springboard more public art commissioning in the coming years - arising from
Filwood in Motion hopes, dreams and happenings. Watch this space for more.
Rachael Clerke is a Bristol-based artist working across many mediums. They make generous artworks that sit somewhere on the edge of live art and community infrastructure; playful experiments about what real life might look like if we were less concerned with what real life 'should' look like. Rachael has lived in Bristol for 13 years, and works nationally and internationally often collaborating with children and young people.
Linzy Na Nakorn is a movement director, dance/theatre maker, community organiser and facilitator. For the past 15 years she has made work nationally and internationally for stage, film and unconventional performance spaces, working alongside place based communities using theatre & dance practices as a tool for re-commoning, activating and advocating. Working collaboratively
with creative artists of different mediums, change makers and organisations, Linzy draws from a wide range of influences to make work that is playful, visceral, celebratory and provoking. She is a regenerative activism practitioner facilitating workshops exploring structures of care, global movement building and relational organising. She lives in Bristol and is part of INTERVAL, an artist-led collective.
About Knowle West Media Centre
Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) is a community hub, digital manufacturing space, and neighbourhood living lab rooted in Knowle West, Bristol.
At KWMC, we use arts, technology, and making for people to create positive change in their lives and communities. We’re motivated by social purpose. We believe arts can change lives, bring communities together, build agency for people experiencing systemic injustices, and drive positive social change. We think everyone should have the opportunity to make and participate in arts, culture and creative change making.
Our programmes range from regular after-school social action, music and digital fabrication sessions for young people to public art commissions, adult digital skills and employability, neighbourhood science projects, international research projects and more. Through our work we aim to model a systems approach to thinking about communities, empowerment and social innovation – shaping the way we live in the future through experimentation and sharing ideas with people.
TeamArtists in residence - Linzy Na Nakorn
and Rachael Clerke
Producer (for KWMC) - Jazz Loveys
Supporting artists - Eshiva Wright
& Claudia Collins
Graphic design & identity - Jakub Vronsky
& Jemimah Sutton
KWMC team - Martha King, Ellen Havard,
Ella Chedburn, Tom Newman, Gabriel Drewitt, Chris Ingram
Hoardings artist - Dani Hale
Filwood Community Centre team - Suzie Davidson, Amber Hennesy, Sophie Kilgour, Makala Cheung, Heather Pickford
Knowle West Alliance - Gemma Mathieson
BCC Arts Development - Jo Plimmer, Seth Richardson
BCC Transforming Filwood Broadway team - Matt Brown, Kate Bedney