Arts Plan will put the sparks back into city’s Marks
THE empty Marks and Spencer department store in the centre of Bristol will be transformed into an ‘arts and sustainability hub’ after two local organisations signed a deal with Bristol City Council to use the building.
Called ‘Sparks Bristol,’ those behind the project said their ambition is to create a ‘vibrant, positive venue where local people and visitors can shop, recycle and explore what a greener, fairer and creative future could look like,’ and said the project will ‘breathe new life into the old M&S building.’
The transformation won’t be permanent – the deal signed is on a ‘meanwhile use’ basis, until the site is redeveloped permanently – and that might take a few years.
The M&S branch in the city centre closed in January.
The aim is for the project to open to the public in April next year, and run for at least six months – and those behind it are calling on everyone in Bristol to get involved.
“The building will be used as a hub for local artists, including an artist R&D space, as well as a re-use shop providing recycled goods, repair and education projects for schools. There will be installations, stalls and workshops to demonstrate how to take easy, and often money-saving actions on climate, equality and wellbeing – the themes of the sustainable development goals,” said a spokesperson for Sparks Bristol.
The project is a collaboration between Global Goals Centre, a Montpelier-based environmental education charity, and Artspace Lifespace, an arts studio complex based in the old police station round the corner in Nelson Street.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: “Since the store closed earlier this year we have been working hard to find an appropriate meanwhile use for the old M&S building until a longer-term plan is ready.
“Artspace Lifespace and the Global Goals Centre are two great local organisations and I’m glad that they’ll be putting both arts and sustainability at the heart of re-animating the space.”
Artspace Lifespace Company manager Kathryn Chiswell Jones said she hoped the space would become a place where people can ‘come to dream.’
“We are feeling really inspired by our upcoming partnership with Global Goals Centre and the opportunity to showcase tangible, positive alternatives, a centre where people can come to dream, learn practical tools and collectively devise a greener, fairer and more creative future for everyone,” she said.