Bristol Homeless Action Week

By Owain Astles, Third Year Theatre & Spanish, BHAW Lead Organiser  

With a series of dynamic events planned, the lead organiser of Bristol Homeless Awareness Week details what you can do to help the homeless

Bristol Homeless Action Week - formerly Bristol Homelessness Awareness Week - is returning from May 13th to 19th. This year’s theme‘What Action Can We Take?’ focuses on celebrating the volunteers and organisations in Bristol’s homelessness community and empowering the public to get involved and make a change.

The week features over 10 events that will take place in The Station on Silver Street and other locations around Bristol. These include a variety of informative and artistic events that range from live spoken word and music performances, to photography and artwork exhibitions, film screenings, and theatre and activism workshops. These offerings aim to encourage the public to get involved and think creatively about how to make a change in Bristol’s homelessness community.

The week will get underway with a Launch Night on Monday, May 13th at The Kitchen café on Silver Street, with live spoken word and music performances and speeches from homelessness representatives. Beginning at 6pm, individuals will have the opportunity to listen and have a conversation with some of Bristol’s most important figures in the homelessness community.

The first evening of the week will premiere the photography exhibition created by local photographer Ken Abbott. Volunteers invites the public to observe the work done by local volunteers who give their time and effort to help Bristol’s homeless population. The exhibition not only aims to portray the work done by various homelessness charities in Bristol, but also raise funds throughout its crowdfunding campaign to support the week’s events. The exhibition runs throughout the week at the Kitchen café, from 10am — 4pm, and is free to all.

About Bristol Homeless Forum

Bristol Homeless Forum is a collective of charities, organisations and individuals working with homeless people and homelessness issues within Bristol and the surrounding area. The organisation is dedicated to communication, collaboration and sharing of resources and knowledge around homelessness in Bristol and has been the principal force behind Bristol Homeless Action Week over the last 5 years.

About Volunteers Crowdfunding Campaign

Bristol-based photographer Ken Abbott created the Volunteers exhibition as part of the ongoing project he is undertaking with the homelessness community in Bristol. Located in the Old Fire Station in Silver Street, the exhibition will run from Monday, May 13th to the 18th and according to the photographer aims “to raise awareness about the many different and diverse ways that people can offer their help. Many people would like to help but often they don’t know how. Hopefully with this exhibition we’ll be able to show people the many different ways they can get involved and encourage people to take part in Bristol.” Currently, the exhibition has an ongoing crowdfunding campaign on fundsurfer.com with a target of £1000 to cover the exhibition and marketing costs, as well as to provide donations to all the charities involved in the project. Donation options range from £10 to £250 and provide rewards to supporters, such as signed postcards and A1 prints from the exhibition, and personal photoshoots.

Website: www.bristolhomelessactionweek.org

Featured image: BHAW