HOMECOMING

Thompson’s Role: Film Programmer/Partnership Curator
Venue: Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Avenue, Knowle West, BS4 1NL
Date: 19.09.2019

The ‘Homecoming’ music event, held in September 2019, was a collaboration with Gary Thompson of Cables & Cameras. It explored the significant impact of South Bristol and Knowle West artists on British music. The event featured renowned artists DJ Krust and DJ Bunjy alongside emerging Knowle West talent, 3Culture & Kala Chng. The evening was hosted by writer Joe Muggs.

This project was a unique opportunity to inform Bristolians and the general public about the lives of People of Color (POC) who grew up in Knowle West during the '70s and '80s, a predominantly white, working-class area of South Bristol. The event included conversations, live performances, and a short film screening. This screening was inspired by the 1982 film Wild Style, a loosely scripted documentary-musical directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. The film captured the early days of hip-hop culture in New York's South Bronx and served as a blueprint for Bristol's music scene.

Wild Style inspired my brothers and their friends to become DJs, breakdancers, and graffiti artists, which ultimately forged their careers as DJ-producers. This collective creativity shaped what has been known as the “Bristol Sound” for the past 30 years. This sound laid the groundwork for music culture in Bristol and in inner cities across the UK throughout the '80s and beyond.

The Homecoming event was a partnership with the Knowle West Media Centre and emerging local artists. The primary goal was to give these artists a voice to discuss their experiences growing up as Black and Brown young people in South Bristol, both in the '80s and in 2019.

This event was part of the ‘Homes For Heroes 100’ programme, a city-wide project coordinated by the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership to mark a century of council housing. The programme, which included "100 Years of Knowle West Style," was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Bristol City Council.