2025
Transforming Filwood Broadway – ‘Art Sits Right at the Heart’
Synopsis
Bristol City Council, working in partnership with the local community and stakeholders, is delivering a significant programme of capital investment and cultural change for Filwood Broadway.
The goal is to transform Filwood into a creative, vibrant, and thriving area where people want to dine, shop, and play.
In January 2023, Filwood secured £14.5 million from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, alongside £1.72 million of council investment. Together, this funding is supporting a programme of projects identified in the Filwood Broadway Framework, helping to drive the long-term regeneration of the area.
Description
The programme is being led by Bristol City Council’s Housing team and has considered cultural and community value from the outset by working in partnership with local community and cultural partners including Filwood Community Centre, Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) and Filwood Alliance, with ongoing cultural advice and support from Bristol City Council’s Arts Development team.
The resulting Transforming Filwood Broadway programme delivers to the community’s vision:
“Restore Filwood to its former glory and showcase the creative, vibrant community that lives here. Create a neighbourhood where local people and visitors can thrive.”
The £14.5 million investment is funding six major capital projects across Filwood Broadway, including the refurbishment and reimagining of Filwood Community Centre, a new library, improvements to public spaces, a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), high street activation initiatives and wider environmental improvements.
A defining feature of the programme is its area-wide approach to public art, led by Knowle West Media Centre and supported by Bristol City Council’s Public Art Officer and Arts Development team.
Rather than treating public art as a series of separate commissions linked to individual developments, partners pooled resources and contributions to view Filwood Broadway as a single cultural zone.
The initial public art planning requirements were delivered through Filwood in Motion, a year-long programme that embedded artists within the neighbourhood, making artwork in and with the community. This ensured local people could come together during the construction phases and test out new ways of being together in public space for a lasting legacy.
Importantly, the work placed community voices at its centre and avoided predetermined outcomes, allowing projects and activities to evolve in response to local interests, ideas and aspirations.
Filwood in Motion
Artists Linzy Na Nakorn and Rachael Clerke were appointed as artists in residence for Filwood Broadway throughout 2025, as construction work across the regeneration programme gathered pace.
Linzy & Rachael are friends, co-workers and collaborators who have known each other since 2016. They work together on playful, participatory projects that support communities to engage with complex themes and have their voices heard. They value learning by doing, serious play, big ideas and the right of everyone to be creative.
The pair worked on Filwood Broadway as it physically transformed, taking up residence in an empty shop on the Broadway. They created opportunities for the community to connect socially, to share stories, dreams and hopes of change through a community-led podcast, and to practically test out new ways of being together on the High Street through public events and pop-ups.
‘Let’s give an opportunity for the community to accept change in a positive way.’from local engagement sessions as part of Transforming Filwood Broadway
‘Young people need to be at the heart of these creative projects, as they’ll be custodians of that space going forward’.from local engagement sessions as part of Transforming Filwood Broadway
10 tips for Transformation – Knowle West Style
Transformation takes time, maintaining trust throughout a regeneration programme can be challenging, and full of learning along the way. In Filwood, organisations such as Knowle West Media Centre and Filwood Community Centre have played a vital role in supporting local people through that journey. Enabling trusted spaces on the high street, they provide opportunities to share ideas, explore creativity, build relationships and nurture local pride.
Recognising the value of sharing the learning from this long-term collaborative work, Arts Council England commissioned the animation featured above, and the accompanying guide, 10 tips for Transformation – Knowle West Style. Together, they capture key lessons from Filwood’s regeneration journey and offer inspiration for other communities embarking on similar programmes of change including through Pride in Place.
Resources
Click here to download a PDF version of the 10 tips for Transformation – Knowle West Style
Want more inspiration?
Check out this selection of past and current Filwood projects and initiatives that align with our tips – expand the symbol (+) below to reveal the project links:
