Many wonderful Bristol City Centre buildings are having new life breathed into them and, this summer, the magnificent old Guildhall and Assize Courts, in the heart of Bristol’s Old City, will join them to become home to a new regeneration effort – The Bristol Guildhall Arts Centre.

The Trevor Osborne Property Group, which plans a luxury 5 star hotel on the site, has given Mike and Bonnie Porter of Art Ventures Ltd., in association with their partner charity; The Prince’s Trust, the opportunity to do something useful with the courtrooms, meeting rooms, corridors and cells, pending redevelopment, and create a unique Arts Centre which will be open for the rest of the year.

The Centre will be home to exhibitions of painting and photography. It will provide studios for painters with spaces for workshops, lectures and theatrical events. Artists will have the chance to present their work in the heart of Bristol for everyone in the City to view the work in an unusual and remarkable building.

A programme of events and exhibitions has been assembled, including several novel painting and photographic competitions, generating significant prizes. With up to 40,000 sq. feet to fill this is no easy undertaking, but Art Ventures intend to make the most of this remarkable opportunity. They plan to open areas of the building phase by phase for various media and competitions etc.

The first phase of the Centre opens to the public on Saturday June 22nd with: INSPIRED! An opening exhibition of painting and sculpture, which will launch in “Gallery One”. The show will then run through to December 20th, with regular changes of work throughout that period.

Please drop in – all welcome.

The Guildhall Arts Centre, Small Street, Bristol, BS1 1DW

More info www.guildhallartscentre.co.uk