Bristol Beacon unveils huge A New Song For Bristol artwork to ‘toast the talent of the city’

A huge artwork has been unveiled outside the Bristol Beacon to celebrate A New Song For Bristol and ‘toast the talent of the city’.

The 42ft artwork was installed on the outside of the former Colston Hall and was revealed to the public last week.

The artwork was created by Bristol artist Parys Gardener and takes inspiration from the stories and artistic work submitted to the project.

Bristol Beacon launched ‘A New Song for Bristol’ in 2020, calling on the public to convey their experiences of living in Bristol during the pandemic through words and music.

It received hundreds of entries from Bristolians of all ages, communities, and backgrounds, from poetry and letters to fully fledged songs and music videos, spanning a huge range of experiences, topics and emotions.

The result was a string of collaborations between local artists and members of Bristol communities.

These pieces have now inspired the huge artwork which is being applied to the glass frontage of the distinctive Bristol Beacon foyer building and will remain in place for the next few months.

Julia Roderick, community engagement manager at Bristol Beacon, said: “This project came about last autumn and was really a response to the challenges that we were all facing at that difficult time.

“It was an opportunity to encourage people to work through feelings and express themselves through music and song.

“It’s just got bigger and bigger. When we launched it in 2020, we didn’t have a sense of the response we would get.

“But we had over 150 individual submission covering everything from poetry to handwritten letters to video to photography.

“With everyone sending in so much of their sense of self, their most vulnerable and honest selves, we really want to thank everyone who contributed and toast the talent of the city.”

The ‘A New Song for Bristol’ project has brought about collaborations with a diverse range of Bristol artists and collectives, including Kayla Painter and KALA CHNG, This is the Kit and Bucky, Lady Nade, Javeon, Grove, and composer, musician and associate director of Paraorchestra, Lloyd Coleman.