Pro Cathedral

Date : 2007 – 2008

Revelations at the Pro Cathedral was our most ambitious and challenging project in Bristol at this point. It took seven months of regeneration work to transform it from a semi-derelict shell into a fully equipped two-auditorium arts venue for the four month festival season.

It attracted a lot of support and attention and gave Artspace Lifespace a reputation of being able to work within historic, sensitive buildings whilst delivering a vibrant and dynamic season of multi arts events.

Pro cathedral was a partnership project with local developers Urban Creation and saw an incredible amount of different arts events happen across the four month festival season. The project was funded by Arts and Business, Bristol City Council and Arts Council South West and supported on the ground by The Invisible Circus CIC, who undertook the regeneration and management of the site, producing four new shows and managing the ongoing program of events.

The site had been vacant for over 30 years in some sections and had an ongoing problem with vandalism and fly tipping. We worked closely with the developers and the local community to manage the space sensitively and bring the site back to life. Improvements made during this project have remained in place and helped safeguard the site and save it from further dereliction.

Due to a stalling of plans for its development we ended up taking the site back on as care takers and housing a bicycle project there for a period before its eventual re-development could proceed.