Hypha Studios is a new charity that provides free-of-charge studio and exhibition space to creatives in vacant commercial and high-street locations. Broadwalk centre is home to the local library and the bingo, but also many empty units. Since August 2021, Hypha Studios has managed 5 units, hosting 9 local artists selected via open call. They have brought photography, poetry, performance, visual and digital arts into Broadwalk.

 

Where is the project located?
Broadwalk Shopping Centre, Knowle,

Bristol

BS4 2QU
 
Who is the developer/client of the project?
The site’s owner is BBS Capital. A planning application for the site led by BBS, Melburg & Galliard Homes is forthcoming: redcatchquarter.com/

 

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

Hypha Studios is a young charity designed to give creatives free making and exhibiting space in empty high street and commercial spaces. In its first year, Hypha Studios have supported 32 artists/artist groups (over a hundred individual creatives) across 11 different locations in the UK, and these artists have collectively delivered 84 public events. 

 

We do not charge the artists for space, which means creatives who may not normally afford workspace, who want to test new approaches or public-facing work, and those who may have other work/family commitments or personal barriers to a full-time creative space, could apply. This opens up a breadth of artistic practices to develop, and for the public to see and engage with diverse creative approaches.

 

Bristol is well-served for culture, but residents of Knowle may not be inclined to travel to, for example, the Old Vic Theatre or the Arnolfini gallery. By offering culture in a familiar and commercial environment, thresholds or softer and barriers to access are dissolved.

 

Broadwalk centre is, as many are, a somewhat struggling community space. It is home to civic services including the local library, and some very well attended units such as the bingo, but also has many empty units. There is a long-term plan for redevelopment, the scheme recently opening up for public consultation, and Hypha Studios were approached to support the vitality and use of the space for the long-term meanwhile period.

 
Tell us what you did and how the project, event or installation enlivened the place in a creative way?

This is not a single or short-term action, but rather a commitment to bring life, culture, and public activity to empty units in shopping centre. 

 

Since August 2021, Hypha Studios has managed 5 units, hosting 9 local artists selected via open call. They have brought photography, poetry, performance, visual and digital arts into Broadwalk, including:

 

Poet-publisher Paul Hawkins organises ’Poem Brut’ events in an ex-newsagents, collaborating with visual artists, and holding book launches. He says: ’having a studio space helped legitimise my work and me as an artist for the first time.’

 

Photographer Tom Skipp used the ex-ShoeZone as a free portrait studio for passers-by, creating a series of portraits called ’Broadwalkers’, asking each person what makes them sad or happy?, building an intimate portrait of the Knowle community.

 

Owl on the Roof theatre collective used a ex-grocers for rehearsals and held prop making workshops with the public. Flying Chairs, another theatre collective sharing the same space, developed their play, Mojo. Both collectives have been inspired by documentary photographs of Broadwalk in the 80s and 90s - when bustling with community activity - for a planned recreation of a ‘village fete’ in a day of performance and games.

 

Tangle Immersive, a digital artist duo, developed playful digital installations for the community, solidified a network of crypto-artists, and have gained the backing of Bath University’s Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications and Bristol and Bath’s Creative R&D to develop a community-based immersive experience in and around Broadwalk.
 
Please share any data or figures that support your entry, for example increased footfall, happiness surveys, event attendance and/or observed changes in behaviour. 

Hypha Studios is young, with most Broadwalk events taking place prior to developing data gathering and reporting systems. 

Consequently, we don’t have precise data for all 40 events by the 9 artists, but do have anecdotal information specifically about an open studios weekend held early on:

 

Flying Chairs’s theatrical performance with over 50 attendees.

 

Rachel Nee’s soldering workshops created Christmas lights.

 

Owl on the Roof’s prop-making workshops created buzz with attending children.

 

All age groups interacted with Tangle Immersive’s temperature-responsive augmented reality installation.

 

There were well-attended exhibitions, a photography walking-tour by David Griffiths, and portraits by Tom Skipp.

 

 

Feedback:

 

Local residents on Paul Hawkin’s events: “Absolutely wonderful to see some art today! Lovely surprise and my boys enjoyed having a go too”, and “More of this please!”.

 

Rachel Nee: “I’ve honestly never had this level of support, not just financial, but interest in career growth, engagement with community, promotion… Really marvellous”

 

Jonah Kensett, Owl on the Roof: “As young creatives, having a space that is our own to rehearse and build props has been an incredible gift; not to mention continued support and access to Arts Council Funding. Being trusted to have a space to focus on the skills we have has made all the difference.”

 

Landlord: “It has been a pleasure to work with Hypha Studios. The cultural offer they brought forward really helped to keep the “lights on” and enabled us to do something for the community while generating footfall to the other businesses in the centre”

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? Please provide any evidence or data to support this. 

Hypha Studios selects local artists. Existing cultural and studio offers are often not near where creatives live and with familial or work commitments can’t access space. Here, they can walk or cycle to a studio and are from the local community.

 

The spaces are empty and require no extra architectural work to turn them into studios, with some artists appropriating commercial fabric into their use of the space rather than it being thrown away.

 

By choosing artists from the community, there is less a sense of culture being “dropped in” from outside. In our application form we desire creatives committed to public engagement, selecting artists who are approachable. Many of the events and projects are rooted in listening to and working with the community’s daily experiences.

 

Knowle has many social concerns, and we acknowledge that the artists are not social workers though our placed artists have reported public do confide in and talk openly to them and appreciate how art can open that conversation.

 

Anecdotal public feedback has been wonderful, exemplified by a letter one artist received after an event:

 

“Friday evening was a most unexpected treat, a totally inclusive evening providing an opportunity for performative and spoken-word artists to be heard and experienced in all their delicious uniqueness! We were all made incredibly welcome and it was fantastic seeing new creative, idiosyncratic life being breathed into The Broadwalk. Long may it continue!”

 

Property Week article by Hypha Studios, including Bristol Broadwalk:www.propertyweek.com/legal-and-professional/helping-to-bring-life-to-empty-units/5118141.article

 

Daily Telegraph article on Hypha Studios, including Bristol:www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/12/27/charity-giving-turning-ghost-shops-art-studios/

 

Interview with Camilla Cole for Maxwell Museums:maxwellmuseums.substack.com/p/can-art-save-the-high-street?s=r
 

Bristol Live video coverage of the Hypha Studios Broadwalk project: www.facebook.com/watch/?v=292282102707988&ref=sharing