Bristol Community Festival is a city wide, multiday programme packed with workshops, events and exhibitions aimed at getting you involved in social action! From 22 March to 5 April 2025 we will come together to celebrate people in Bristol who make positive change in their communities, and connect and inspire those that want to get involved.
The festival’s diverse programme is led by passionate community groups, voluntary organisations, and local residents who are at the forefront of social action. You’ll find events hosted by Bristol City Council teams where you can learn how they collaborate with residents to drive change. From intimate, community workshops and discussions, to mass participation campaigns, there’s a whole range of different events to explore and actions to take!
This is just a taste of what’s to come. The full programme of over 50 different events, including details of the City Hall Take Over day and the Social Action Fair, will be available in February. Sign up to the festival mailing list to be the first to know of new announcements.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bristol Community Festival has been coordinated by the Community Resilience Fund team. The festival is an opportunity to continue the legacy of the fund and build on participatory practices in the city.
Voluntary organisations and community groups working with and in communities that experience the greatest inequalities were invited to apply for a grant of up to £3,000 to organise an event around social action.
Voluntary organisations and community groups who were not eligible to apply for this funding, could apply to organise a self-funded event instead.
To be included in the festival programme, all events had to meet at least one of the festival’s aims, these are:
- celebrate the efforts of Bristol residents who are leading community activities and recognise the knowledge and experience of those who make these activities possible
- share stories of how citizens have successfully made their voices heard and influenced decisions in their community
- highlight lessons and best practices from projects that were created and carried out with community involvement
- connect people with opportunities to join together and make positive changes in their neighbourhoods
- inspire, teach, and connect individuals so they feel empowered to take action on issues that matter to them and set up a community group, join one, campaign for a cause or get involved in a neighbourhood group
Some events will require you to sign up to attend. You can do this by:
- Signing up through Can Do Bristol's booking platform
- Signing up through a link to an external booking platform
- For some events you won’t need to book and you can just turn up.
Head over to the festival event listings to view all events and check if you need to sign up to attend.
Bristol Community Festival events are to be inclusive and open to everyone. All event holders have put in measures to ensure events are as accessible as possible, including undertaking an access audit checklist. If you have a particular accessibility need, please contact the event organisers who should be able to assist.
Events are free, unless stated otherwise in the event description. Please contact the event organiser if you need more information.
Some event holders may need some extra support during the festival. You can search for volunteer opportunities through the Community Activities page using the festival tag.
All festival volunteer opportunities will be tagged with the Bristol Community Festival badge.
Please sign up to receive festival updates.